About
Don is a PhD candidate with the Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice Institute with the University of British Columbia. He is a settler scholar, sessional instructor, veteran broadcaster/podcaster, and community activist. He is interested in the relationship between media, art, culture, and our interconnectedness with each other, the world we share and learning the art of how to ask beautiful questions. Don is a strong supporter of community organizations promoting the important work that they do. He has served on the boards of Variety the Children’s Charity, PFLAG, the Kelowna General Hospital Foundation, the Canadian, Ontario, and British Columbia Association of Broadcasters, and Advisory Boards of the University of British Columbia and The British Columbia Institute of Technology. Don is a sessional instructor at BCIT, City University, and UBC’s Climate Hub. He volunteers with Vancouver Co-op Radio, The National Campus & Community Radio Association, and the Downtown Eastside Community Coordinated Response Network. He is a Climate Reality Project mentor and member of the Bowen Island Municipality Climate Emergency Action Committee.
I’m in my sixth year of doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia with the Social Justice Institute. My supervisors are Dr. Minelle Mahtani, a distinguished award-winning journalist and Geography and Critical Race professor; and Dr. Janice Stewart, Senior Instructor, Critical Studies in Sexuality, English professor, and Associate Dean, Faculty of the Arts.
My research and teaching Interests include media & communication, depth psychology, philosophy, environmental justice, art & culture and learning the art of how to ask beautiful questions.
As a CIS white male, broadcaster/podcaster, sessional instructor, settler scholar and community activist, I am uniquely situated to undertake my research interests as I rely on critically engaged, anti-racist, and anti-colonial approaches that challenge our assumptions and ways of being in pursuit of social change. I draw upon feminist theories and concepts from political ecology (and geography more broadly), environmental sociology, settler-colonial studies, and critical discourse analysis. My current academic guides, cohort, and prior educational and professional pursuits regarding the science of climate change and the psychology of denial, and work with some of Vancouver’s most marginalized and vulnerable groups during COVID 19 afford me a unique and relevant opportunity to explore these critical issues.
Research
Don’s research explores the causes and effects of polarized discourse, the words we use and how people talk about climate change and its interconnectedness with settler colonialism, white supremacy, and other intersecting social justice issues. He is interested in the psychological, cultural, and political components of these conversational ecosystems and how they influence our thinking and meaning making. He argues that many of these issues sit on the same foundations and that there are tipping points in conversations that open up or shut down how we talk across difference, which include race, gender, culture, politics and climate. He wants to find out if we can learn to speak to individuals and communities from different social, economic, religious, political, or cultural backgrounds and fill structural holes where we can build trust and bridges of understanding, changing hearts and minds one conversation at a time.
Publications
Publications
Dialogue, discourse, disjuncture’s: Building critically affirmative politics in radio; Minelle Mahtani, Don Shafer – University of Victoria
Climate Change and The Many Faces of Denial; Don Shafer – Simon Fraser University
On-Air & Online
The Conversation Lab is now in its 4th year with over 100 episodes with not-for-profit organizations, community groups, and changemakers worldwide. The program is written, produced, and hosted by Don and airs weekly on CFRO FM (Co-op Radio), campus & community radio stations across Canada, and dozens of podcasting platforms.
Academic Podcast Projects:
University of British Columbia (Dissertation Project) Sticks & Stones, Roots & Bones: Exploring the Power of Words in a Polarized World.
University of British Columbia: Governance Hack: The Unsettling University Governance Project
Kings College, London: Inequality; The Issue of Our Time.
Invited Speaker
Emerging Research in Podcast Studies Symposium. Virtual.
Sticks & Stones, Roots & Bones: Exploring the Power of Words in a Polarized World.
Memorial University of Newfoundland & Dublin City University. September 23, 2023
The Victoria Forum: Invited Speaker & Moderator; How to bridge economic, environmental, and social divides, focusing on three intersecting perspectives of turf, truth and trust. Ideas for a Better World, August 28-30th 2022. University of Victoria.
NASH81: Student Journalism Conference. The Heart of The Interview. Calgary. January 4, 2019
West Coast Liberal Studies Symposium, University of Washington. Climate Change and The Many Faces of Denial. June 26, 2017
Vancouver Board of Trade. Emergency Preparedness in a Changing World. April 5, 2017
Simon Fraser University. Researching the World. Media’s Role in Climate Change. March 8, 2017
BC Society of Landscape Architects. The Pope, The Poet and the Patriot; What Pope Francis, Rachel Carlson and Franz Fanon Have in Common. March 31, 2017
Variety the Children’s Charity. Media & Not for Profits. January 14, 2017
West Coast Liberal Studies Symposium, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. What is Wilderness? June 17, 2016
Awards
UBC Presidents Academic Excellence Initiative Award 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Faber Residency Recipient. New Journalism II, Olot, Spain 2018
British Columbia Association of Broadcasters, Community Service Awards 2017, 2018
Recipient of the Allan Waters Broadcast Lifetime Achievement Award 2015
Variety the Children’s Charity, The Heart Award for Community Service 1982, 2013
Graduate Supervision
Select Conference Presentations
Communicating Climate Hope 2024
“What is Hope? Or Do You Need a Little Darkness to Get You Going.”
University of British Columbia & Tilburg University, August 15, 2024
47th AHVA Graduate Symposium
“NDE: A Reflective Exploration of The Transformative Nature of Near-Death Experiences And The Profound Impact of Patient Centred Care.”
University of British Columbia. March 3, 2024
Emerging Research in Podcast Studies Symposium. Virtual.
Sticks & Stones, Roots & Bones: Exploring the Power of Words in a Polarized World.
Memorial University of Newfoundland & Dublin City University. September 23, 2023
University of Michigan: The Human Cost of Climate Change: Invited Speaker & Moderator. Virtual Workshop regarding climate migration. Friday, October 7, 2022.
The Victoria Forum: Invited Speaker & Moderator; “How to bridge economic, environmental, and social divides, focusing on three intersecting perspectives of turf, truth and trust. Ideas for a Better World”, August 28-30th 2022. University of Victoria.
Invited Speaker. NASH81: Student Journalism Conference. The Heart of The Interview. Calgary. January 4, 2019
Invited Speaker. West Coast Liberal Studies Symposium, University of Washington. Climate Change and The Many Faces of Denial. June 26, 2017
Invited Speaker. Vancouver Board of Trade. Emergency Preparedness in a Changing World.
April 5, 2017
Invited Speaker. Simon Fraser University. Researching the World. Media’s Role in Climate Change. March 8, 2017
Invited Speaker. BC Society of Landscape Architects. The Pope, The Poet and the Patriot; What Pope Francis, Rachel Carlson and Franz Fanon Have in Common. March 31, 2017
Invited Speaker. West Coast Liberal Studies Symposium, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. What is Wilderness? June 17, 2016