Dr. Lisa McLean

Dr. Lisa McLean
Associate Professor

Thanatology

Phone: +15195180424
Email: lmclea43@uwo.ca

Lisa McLean, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Thanatology and is the Director of the Grief and Loss Research Lab (Loss Lab). In 2024, Dr. McLean was awarded the King’s Research Excellence Scholar Grant for her collaborative arts-based research focusing on experiences of loss and survival among Yazidi refugee women. This research was conducted in partnership with Dr. Carrie Traher and South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre (SLNRC). Dr. McLean was also the PI of a SSHRC Connection Grant that funded the Grief Literacy Symposium and Yazidi Photovoice Exhibit held at King’s on September 19, 2024.

Education

  • Ph.D. Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University
  • M.A. Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba
  • B.A. (Hons) Political Studies, University of Manitoba
  • C.T. Association for Death Education and Counseling

Teaching

  • Thanatology 1025: Introduction to Thanatology

  • Thanatology 2225: Topical Issues in Thanatology

  • Thanatology 3322: Diversity and Social Justice Issues in Thanatology

  • Thanatology 3326: Grief Activism

  • Thanatology 3331: Climate Grief & Eco-Anxiety

  • Thanatology 3335: Grief and Sexuality

  • Thanatology 3355: Ethics in Death, Dying and Bereavement

  • Thanatology 4331: Social and Political Discourse in Thanatology

Research

Lisa is an experienced qualitative researcher having conducted fieldwork in Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, and Central America. Lisa's work emphasizes interdisciplinary, drawing upon critical feminist theories and frameworks from Thanatology, Peace and Conflict Studies, and Critical Migration Studies to examine vulnerability and agency in migratory contexts. Her most recent research projects include examining the concept of 'grief activism' (Stierl, 2016) with members of the Youth Coalition Combating Islamophobia (YCCI), participatory arts-based research with Yazidi refugees, and the transnational activism of Central American mothers of disappeared migrants. Lisa's core research themes include migration, disappearance, traumatic and ambiguous loss, and grief activism.

For more information, please visit the Loss Lab website. 

Selected Publications

Books

  • Harris, D., Bordere, T., & McLean, L. (Eds). (2026). Handbook of social justice in loss and grief. 2nd Edition. Routledge.
  • McLean, L., Hyde, J., Dueck-Read, J., & Jafari, S. (Eds). (2025). Critical feminist peace and conflict studies: Bridging critique, vision and praxis. Edinburgh University Press
     

Journal Articles

  • McLean, L. (2026). ‘Why did you send them away?’: Moral suffering and maternal activism among mothers of disappeared migrants. Feminist Studies, 51(1-2). 19-48. https://doi.org/10.1353/fem.2026.a987000
  • McLean, L. (2024). Sowing life in places of death: The grief activism of relatives of disappeared migrants. Illness, Crisis and Loss. DOI: 10.1177/10541373241298209
  • McLean, L. (2020). A question that has no end: The politics of life and death in the search for disappeared migrants. Citizenship Studies, 24(8), 994-1009. DOI: 10.1080/13621025.2020.1769027
  • McLean, L., & Stobbe, S. (2020). The evolution of Canadian settlement programming from the mass resettlement of Indochinese (Southeast Asian) refugees to the present. Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies, 52(1 & 2), 81-112. http://www.peaceresearch.ca/issues/52-1-2/
  • Varela Huerta, A. & McLean, L. (2019). Caravanas de migrantes en México: Nueva forma de autodefensa y transmigración [Migrant caravans in Mexico: A new form of self-defence and transmigration]. Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, 122(September), 163-185. DOI: //doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2019.122.2.163
     

Book Chapters

  • McLean, L. (2026). Disappearance, forced disappearance, and ambiguous loss. In D. Harris, T. Bordere, & L. McLean. (Eds.), Handbook of social justice in loss and grief. 2nd Edition. (pp. 233-241). Routledge
  • McLean, L., & Jisrawi, A. (2026). Understanding femicide and feminicide. In D. Harris, T. Bordere, & L. McLean. (Eds.), Handbook of social justice in loss and grief. 2nd Edition. (pp. 193-201). Routledge
  • Barraclough, L. & McLean, L. (2026). Grief activism: Climate Grief and Youth-led Activism. In D. Harris, T. Bordere, & L. McLean. (Eds.), Handbook of social justice in loss and grief. 2nd Edition. (pp. 245-252). Routledge
  • Bordere, T., Harris, D., & McLean L. (2026). Introduction. In D. Harris, T. Bordere, & L. McLean. (Eds.), Handbook of social justice in loss and grief. 2nd Edition. (pp. xxi-xxvii). Routledge
  •  Bordere, T., Harris, D., & McLean L. (2026). Conclusion: Hope, empowerment and compassion. In D. Harris, T. Bordere, & L. McLean. (Eds.), Handbook of social justice in loss and grief. 2nd Edition. (pp. 295-298). Routledge
  • Harris, D., & McLean, L. (2026). Death education and literacy as a social justice issue. In D. Harris, T. Bordere, & L. McLean. (Eds.), Handbook of social justice in loss and grief. 2nd Edition. (pp. 285-293). Routledge
  • McLean, L. & Hyde, J. (2025). Introduction: Generative feminist ‘misfitting’ in Peace and Conflict Studies. In L. McLean, J. Hyde, J. Dueck-Read, & S. Jafari (Eds.), Critical feminist peace and conflict studies: Bridging critique, vision and praxis. (pp. 1-16). Edinburgh University Press. (Peer reviewed)
  • McLean, L. (2025). Building peace by disturbing the peace: Vulnerability as a critical methodology and vision for just futures. In L. McLean, J. Hyde, J. Dueck-Read & S. Jafari (Eds.), Critical feminist peace and conflict studies: Bridging critique, vision and praxis. (pp. 75-91). Edinburgh University Press.
  • Al Sabawi, M., Islam, A., Islam, E., Khorshed, J., McLean, L. & Jisrawi, A. (2024). ‘It’s how we’re leaving a mark’: Youth Coalition Combatting Islamophobia and grief activism. In C. Traher & L. Breen (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of child and adolescent losses in contemporary contexts. 309-320. Routledge.
  • Varela Huerta, A. & McLean, L. (2021). From vulnerable victims to insurgent caravaneros: The genesis and consolidation of migrant self-defence in America. In G. Grappi (Ed.), Migration and the contested politics of justice: Europe and the global dimension. (pp. 185-203). Routledge.
  • McLean, L. (2020). Protesting vulnerability and vulnerability as protest: Gender, migration, and strategies of resistance. In S. Byrne, T. Matyók, I. M. Scott, & J. Senehi (Eds.), Routledge companion to Peace and Conflict Studies. (pp. 178-188). Routledge.
  • McLean, L. & Zapata, M. L. (2015). Peace Studies and feminism: Debates, linkages, and intersections. In M. P. Flaherty, T. Matyók, J. Senehi, S. Byrne, & H. Tuso (Eds.), Gender and peacebuilding: All hands required. (pp. 281-298). Lexington.