Dr. Dylan Clark is an instructor for Contemporary Asian Studies and the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice, where he teaches the PCJ362 (service learning) and PCJ363 (study abroad) courses.

Clark has worked at the University of Toronto since 2006; teaching and serving in the the departments of Anthropology, Geography, and Contemporary Asian Studies. Prior to arriving at the University of Toronto, he worked at the University of Colorado, where he was Undergraduate Advisor and lecturer in the department of Geography, and the Co-Director of Peace and Conflict Studies.

Tell us about yourself.

I used to be the director of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Colorado, but of course that was way back when in 2004, or something like that. That was my first start in peace and conflict studies. Relevant to Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies, I have also been somewhat of a lifelong activist, which for me, has manifested as someone who does prison justice work – sending books to prisoners and arguing for prison reform. In my more recent scholarship, going back a few years now, I am interested in the allocation of drinking water in Bandung, which is a big city in Indonesia. There is a kind of justice or equity aspect of that research in puzzling over how it is that the poor in Indonesia pay disproportionately so much more than wealthier people. Essentially, the poorer you are, the more you pay for water in Indonesia and the lower quality of water you get. I am trying to create a model that tries to explain that terribly unfair allocation of water in the region.

What past academic experiences led you to the Munk School of Global Affairs?

Oh, there are so many! I’m really quite an interdisciplinary person in my academic background, going back to my undergraduate years and graduate student years. As a professor and instructor, I have been interdisciplinary to the core. I have taught anthropology, geography, and Contemporary Asian Studies, and within those disciplines, I have taught countless sub-disciplines. I’m just guessing, but I counted this out the other day, and I think that I’ve done more unique classes since 2006 than any other instructor at the University of Toronto. I’ve done over twenty unique classes in four different departments. This is rather unusual because most people have a little repertoire that they go back to and end up teaching the same five classes over and over again. They rotate through those classes and revisit them and redesign them, but meanwhile, I’ve been teaching in four departments and doing over twenty different classes. So, I am inherently interdisciplinary. Even within those classes, I tend to be very interdisciplinary as well. In my Contemporary Asian Studies classes and Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies classes I will draw upon many, many different disciplines in the syllabus and so-forth. I see this as a weakness, but also a strength in being so interdisciplinary in my orientation.

What are your current research interests?

Currently, as I mentioned before, it’s the allocation of drinking water in Indonesia. It’s really taken my interest right now, but my true passion is writing a manuscript from an anthropological framework on reciprocity. It would be a model of culture through the lens of reciprocity; giving and receiving as a way to orientate one’s culture.

What is the most interesting fact you have uncovered in your research?

I think as an anthropologist and as an interdisciplinary person, I tend to question orthodoxies in any field and I tend to see things from a variety of different angles. I always appreciate geography, sociology, political science, and anthropology, and what they all have to offer. Of my own preference, I am not a great believer in disciplinary orthodoxy and I really love the eclecticism that brings a subject to light. I think as an anthropologist, too, I would really question the idea that there are indelible truths about nature, sexuality, gender, nations, ethnicity, or even culture. I really see all of those as fundamentally open to change and resistance and reinvention. I always try to show my students that there is the potential for rethinking and reinventing oneself and rethinking and reinventing ones’ society and the categories that one finds oneself in.

What are you most looking forward to in teaching your PCJ courses?

After just a couple classes, it is already apparent to me that this is a very motivated and sincere group of students. My impression of them is that they are not strictly driven by grades or personal enrichment, but that they are genuinely motivated in finding a way to have a career and a life that makes a more just and less conflictual world. Of course, they are not the only students like this at the University of Toronto, but on a per capita basis, they are densely prone to be inclined towards changing the world in a positive way and changing themselves in a positive way. I think that is a great student body to teach.

What advice would you give a student studying Peace, Conflict & Justice Studies?

I have already heard some anxiety from students about the job market, and my message to them is to believe in yourself and believe in your cause. If you truly have passion about what you do for a living – whether you are a baker or a kindergarten teacher or work for a non-profit or with the government – in whatever you end up doing, you will find success if you are excited to wake up every day. You will be able to make a living and you will be able to make a difference. I think you would also find that you would have a more personally rewarding life than if you had someone else’s definitions of success and wealth. I think you just really need to have faith that if you find something that you love, you will make a living and you will enjoy your life so much more so than if you got a pragmatic job or something else. I think a lot of students are on the edge of not knowing whether they can continue or whether they should compromise and how much they have to compromise, but my advice for them would be to keep on searching for what drives you. That is the best indication of where you will succeed.