JOHN W. BESSAI, PhD
Scholar • Educator • Media Practitioner
Applied research, teaching, writing, and media production focused on public institutions, cultural infrastructure, and environmental governance in Canada—connecting evidence to decisions, and ideas to public-facing storytelling.
Research framework:
The Canadian aporetic condition, counter-policy, and art as a public service.
Selected Publication 2026
The Aporetic Condition in Canadian Public Policy: Cultural Resurgence and Ecological Transition
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Available for research, writing, consulting, and video/film production engagements, as well as university teaching-stream and limited-term academic appointments.
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Partners & Organizations
I deliver decision-ready research and writing for governance, culture, environment, and public accountability.
Hiring Committees
Research and teaching profile across Canadian politics and public policy, human rights, media studies, Canadian and Indigenous histories, environmental governance, and documentary production with course design grounded in applied skills and collaborative work.
Producers & Collaborators
Documentary and interactive work that treats institutions, archives, and public communication as living systems—built for learning, broadcast, museum, and public scholarship contexts.
My academic work examines how institutions organize public responsibility through policy, media, and cultural infrastructure, with a sustained focus on the National Film Board of Canada.
What I do
Research & writing for decision-use
I support partners who need clear research synthesis, public-facing writing, and evidence-based storytelling. Work begins with a defined research question, scope, and timeline, then moves through targeted searching, source verification, and concise synthesis.
Services include:
- Research synthesis and literature reviews
- Briefing notes, backgrounders, and stakeholder – ready reports
- Qualitative analysis of public discourse and institutional materials
- Knowledge translation: web copy, short reports, narrative summaries
Media production with scholarly and pedagogical depth
I develop documentary and short-form video projects with strong academic content for learning, public communication, and institutional knowledge-sharing—supporting projects from story research to delivery.
Services include:
- Story research, treatments, scripting, interviewing
- Production planning and archival research
- Production, editing, and platform – ready delivery
- Media – development support for grant and pitch contexts
Research focus
My academic work examines how institutions organize public responsibility through policy, media, and cultural infrastructure, with a sustained focus on the National Film Board of Canada (NFBC). I study how institutions narrate crisis, structure public participation, and shape what can be seen, learned, contested, and carried forward in Canadian public life.
A core concept in this work is the Canadian aporetic condition—a framework for analyzing recurring tensions (identity, legitimacy, governance, and cultural memory) that shape institutional storytelling and public discourse.
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Research
Publications
CV
Teaching snapshot
Teaching is participation-driven and built around student-led discussion, short workshops, and group projects that culminate in applied deliverables students can show and use, research syntheses, and media outputs). Documentary film and public media are treated as core course texts.
Teaching areas include Canadian institutions and policy; human rights and institutional accountability; Canadian political, social, and cultural history; Indigenous–settler histories and policy legacies; environmental governance and public communication; documentary and interactive storytelling.
Contact
Email: john@bessai.com
Phone: +1 416 460 1331
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-bessai-391590/
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2755-6623
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Services
Research
Media
Publications
CV
Available for research, writing, consulting, and video/film production engagements, as well as teaching-stream and limited-term academic appointments. Online and distance delivery across Canada and internationally. Short engagements and longer-term contracts welcomed
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ORCID: 0009-0003-2755-6623
