Grace Chapnik

Candidate, Ph.D. History (2026)

Current Program:

Ph.D. History (2026)

Degrees and Institution:

B.A. Honours (Trent), M.A (New Brunswick)

Supervisors:

Professor Stephen Azzi

Academic Interests:

Canadian and American foreign policy, Canada-U.S. relations, cultural nationalism, popular culture and mass media, Global War on Terrorism, representations of the Islamic world in Western thought

Publications and Current Projects:
Journal Articles Chapnik, Grace. “A Hell of a Fix: Television and Cultural Transfer During the Iran Hostage Crisis.” Madison Historical Review 23, no. 1 (2026): 135–163. Chapnik, Grace. “Tainted Love: Gendering Illicit Sex in Early Modern Europe.” The Mirror 42, no. 1 (2022): 119–133. Edited Collections Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, and Grace Chapnik, eds.“It is Necessary That They Should Understand That They are Under the Law”: The Murder Trials of Sinnisiak and Uloqsaq, 1917. Peterborough, ON: Trent University Frost Centre for Canadian Studies, 2023. Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, and Grace Chapnik, eds. The First Eastern Arctic Patrol, 1922: First Person Perspectives. Antigonish, NS: Brian Mulroney Institute of Government at St. Francis Xavier University, 2022.

Publications and Current Projects:

Journal Articles
Chapnik, Grace. “A Hell of a Fix: Television and Cultural Transfer During the Iran Hostage Crisis.” Madison Historical Review 23, no. 1 (2026): 135–163.
Chapnik, Grace. “Tainted Love: Gendering Illicit Sex in Early Modern Europe.” The Mirror 42, no. 1 (2022): 119–133.
Edited Collections
Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, and Grace Chapnik, eds.“It is Necessary That They Should Understand That They are Under the Law”: The Murder Trials of Sinnisiak and Uloqsaq, 1917. Peterborough, ON: Trent University Frost Centre for Canadian Studies, 2023.
Lackenbauer, P. Whitney, and Grace Chapnik, eds. The First Eastern Arctic Patrol, 1922: First Person Perspectives. Antigonish, NS: Brian Mulroney Institute of Government at St. Francis Xavier University, 2022.

Teaching Experience:

HIST 1825, Civil Wars since 1900 (Dr. Cindy Brown), Fall 2025, University of New Brunswick

Description of Research:
Grace Chapnik’s PhD research analyzes how Canadian and American understandings of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) in Afghanistan and Iraq diverged, and what role popular culture played in constructing and reinforcing those understandings. Her project aims to answer questions of how narratives about war are shaped in the cultural sphere, why these narratives took the form they did in the GWOT era, and how governments contend with policy critiques made in popular media. This research contributes a new cultural perspective to a rapidly evolving area of study, reshaping previous military and political understandings of the GWOT. Chapnik’s doctoral work at �Ӱ�ԭ�� builds upon her SSHRC-funded M.A. research at the University of New Brunswick. Her M.A. thesis, “Under the Veil of the Veil: Media and Governmental Messaging of Canada’s Role in the War of Afghanistan, 2001–2011,” argued that the Canadian narrative of saving Afghan women and children from the Taliban regime during the war in Afghanistan was a misrepresentation of the war’s purpose, meant to be politically expedient but ultimately causing the downfall of popular support for Canada’s commitment to the conflict. This project challenged popular assumptions about Canada’s role in Afghanistan and its national identity.

Description of Research:

Grace Chapnik’s PhD research analyzes how Canadian and American understandings of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) in Afghanistan and Iraq diverged, and what role popular culture played in constructing and reinforcing those understandings. Her project aims to answer questions of how narratives about war are shaped in the cultural sphere, why these narratives took the form they did in the GWOT era, and how governments contend with policy critiques made in popular media. This research contributes a new cultural perspective to a rapidly evolving area of study, reshaping previous military and political understandings of the GWOT.
Chapnik’s doctoral work at �Ӱ�ԭ�� builds upon her SSHRC-funded M.A. research at the University of New Brunswick. Her M.A. thesis, “Under the Veil of the Veil: Media and Governmental Messaging of Canada’s Role in the War of Afghanistan, 2001–2011,” argued that the Canadian narrative of saving Afghan women and children from the Taliban regime during the war in Afghanistan was a misrepresentation of the war’s purpose, meant to be politically expedient but ultimately causing the downfall of popular support for Canada’s commitment to the conflict. This project challenged popular assumptions about Canada’s role in Afghanistan and its national identity.