Noreen Cauley-Le Fevre
PhD student studying the geographic dimensions of how sexual abuse survivors experience place, using mixed methods to reveal how trauma shapes spatial practices and to advance more holistic understandings of survivors’ lived worlds.
Noreen Cauley-Le Fevre is a PhD candidate in the department of Geography and Environmental Studies at ÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ University. Her doctoral research puts geographic theory in conversation with other academic fields including psychology, critical disability studies, and material feminisms to address gaps in understanding long-term impacts of sexual abuse and trauma. Using a mixed methods approach that combines auto-ethnography, one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and collaborative story mapping, she examines the geographic dimensions of how sexual abuse survivors experience places, and how this affects their spatial practices. This research articulates the more nuanced, subjective elements of place that are central to human experience and well-being, aiming to give voice to a more holistic understanding of survivors’ lifeworlds. Noreen’s research is supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Noreen holds a Master of Environmental Studies (MES) from York University. Her master’s portfolio built on Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery (1997) to explore a more than human, survivor-centric model of trauma recovery through artistic works, literary analysis, and modified collaborative auto-ethnography. Her work received the Faculty’s Outstanding Graduate Student Paper award. Noreen’s undergraduate degrees are in gender and women’s studies, psychology, and mathematics.
Outside of her research, Noreen is a dedicated trade unionist and activist. She is currently serving her fourth term as the President of CUPE local 4600 and second term as one of CUPE Ontario’s trustees.
She is grateful for the support of her supervisor Dr. Derek Smith (Geography & Environmental Studies), and her committee members Dr. Sheryl-Ann Simpson (Geography & Environmental Studies), Dr. Dale Spencer (Law & Legal Studies), and Dr. Ann Cvetkovich (Feminist Institute of Social Transformation). She would be remiss not to recognize the endless patience, love, and support from her partner, two children, and cat.