Associate Professor, Political Science
Ph.D.: McMaster University (2020)
M.A.: University of Ottawa (2015)
B.Soc.Sci.: University of Ottawa (2012)
Office: Plaza 353
905-688-5550 x3987
[email protected]
Dr. Midzain-Gobin is a settler scholar whose research focuses on how settler colonialism has persisted into today, and how Indigenous peoples are revitalising their own governance practices to undermine it. He focuses on settler colonial states, including Canada, and his work centres questions of sovereignty. His book, Settler Colonial Sovereignty: Visions of Improvement and Indigenous Erasure (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2025) studies settler colonial worldmaking, and how the racialized, imperial, ‘logic of improvement’ has become a ‘settler common sense’ that is constitutive of international order. He argues the logic rests on cosmological assumptions about human dominion over the earth and its continued relevance is key in how settler sovereignty is continually remade.
Working from his background in critical international relations and decolonial theory, Dr. Midzain-Gobin studies Indigenous-settler relationships as a form of international politics. This helps frame his upcoming volume, Handbook of Critical Understandings of Canada in the World, co-edited with Dr. Heather A. Smith, Dr. David Black, and Dr. David J. Hornsby.
Employing community-engaged methods in research projects, Dr. Midzain-Gobin also works directly with Indigenous communities to support their self-determination. This includes researching the governance practices of Indigenous nations and local visions for a decolonized future. Dr. Midzain-Gobin has two ongoing projects using this approach:
- Building Inter-National Sovereignty: The Case of the Big Salmon River, funded by an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
- Indigenous Visions for Making Home in Niagara, funded by a David S. Howes Grant from the Niagara Community Foundation
In addition to his research, Dr. Midzain-Gobin is also an Associate Editor with Critical Studies on Security, and teaches in the areas of Indigenous politics, settler colonialism and Indigenous/settler relations, and research methods.
Areas of specialization:
Indigenous politics; Settler colonialism; Coloniality; Indigenous-settler relationships; Critical approaches to international politics; Decolonial political and international thought
Books:
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2025. Settler Colonial Sovereignty: Visions of Improvement and Indigenous Erasure. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Academic Journal Articles:
- Midzain-Gobin, L., F. Snagnovsky, & C. Cowie. 2024. “Indigenous Diffuse Support and Descriptive Representation in the Canadian House of Commons.” Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics. Vol. 9, Issue 3, pgs. 512-538.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. & J. McEvoy. 2024. “Contesting Colonial Beachheads: Settler Colonial Security and Indigenous Peoples’ Energy Infrastructure.” Security Dialogue. Vol. 55, Issue 4.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2022. “Legibility, Misrecognition and the Aboriginal Peoples Survey: Understanding Knowledge Production as a Settler Colonial Project.” Ethnic and Racial Studies. Vol. 45, Issue 9, pgs. 1715-1737.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. & Dunton, C. 2021. “Renewing Relationships? Solitudes, Decolonisation, and Feminist International Policy.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies. Vol. 50, Issue 1, pgs. 29-54.
- McEvoy, J. & Midzain-Gobin, L. 2021. “Embedded Bordering: Territorial Authority, Indigenous Utilities, and Settler Colonialism in British Columbia.” Borderlands. Vol. 20, No. 1, pgs. 140-170.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2021. “Comfort and Insecurity in the Reproduction of Settler Coloniality.” Critical Studies on Security. Vol. 9, Issue 3, pgs. 212-225.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. & Smith, H. 2020. “Debunking the Myth of Canada as a Non-Colonial Power.” American Review of Canadian Studies. Vol. 50, No. 4, pgs. 479-497.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2019. “‘Come out and live on your land again’: Sovereignty, Borders and the Unist’ot’en Camp.” International Journal of Migration and Border Studies. Vol. 5, No. 1/2, pgs. 12-28.
- Budd, B., Midzain-Gobin, L., Gabel, C. & Goodman, N. 2019. “Digital Democracy and Self-Determination: Lessons from First Nations in Canada.” McMaster Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition Working Paper Series Special Issue on Digital Democracy (ed. Porter, T., Bannerman, S. and Tan, N.), pgs. 14-18.
Reports, Studies, Etc.:
- Midzain-Gobin, L., C. Dunton and R. Tay-Burroughs. July 2023. “Reimagining Canada as Inter-National: Understanding First Nations-Provincial Relationships.” Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, Institute for Research on Public Policy.
Book Chapters:
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2025. “Unlearning the Domestic/International Divide While Teaching Indigenous Theory” in Palgrave Handbook on the Pedagogy of International Relations Theory (Eds. Frueh, J., Ala, J. Murphy, M. & Diehl, P.). Palgrave Macmillan. Pgs. 321-332.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2025. “From International to Domestic (and Back Again?)” in Teaching Political Science and International Relations for Early Career Instructors. Eds. Murphy, M. P.A. & Hyder, M. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 978-3-031-70732-2. Pgs. 43-56.
- Cowie, C. & L. Midzain-Gobin. 2022. “Progress or the status-quo: Indigenous peoples, participation and representation” in The Canadian Federal Election 2021 ed. Pammett, J. & C. Dornan. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. ISBN: 9780228013822: pgs. 220-245.
Book Reviews:
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2023. “Review of Making and breaking settler space: Five centuries of colonization in North America.” International Journal. Volume 77, Issue 4.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. “Internationalism, Reconstruction, and Indigenous Futurity.” Legal Form. June 26, 2020.
Other:
- Midzain-Gobin, L. 2020. “Reimagining the Mosaic” in APSA International History and Politics section Fall 2020 newsletter roundtable: “Race, Indigeneity, and the Global South in IHAP: Missed Opportunities and Possible Futures.” Vol. 6, Issue 2. Fall 2020.
- Midzain-Gobin, L. “Decolonizing Borders.” E-International Relations. January 12, 2019.
Courses taught at Brock University:
- POLI 2F20: Introduction to International Relations
- POLI 2P80: Introduction to Research Design and Methods
- POLI 3P05: Canadian Political Thought
- POLI/CANA 3P14: Indigenous Politics in Canada
- POLI 3P96: Global Indigenous Politics
- POLI/CANA 4/5P37: Indigenous-Settler Relations in Canada and Beyond
- POLI 5P81: Research and Research Methods
- SJES 5P65: Race, Ethnicity and Indigenous Peoples
Dr. Midzain-Gobin is open to supervising graduate student research projects in the following fields:
- Indigenous politics
- Settler Colonialism
- Critical and/or decolonial international politics
