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Benjamin Forest

Benjamin Forest at Halifax harbour 2016
Image by Noelani Eidse.

Political and Social Geography

Associate Professor in the Department of Geography

Office: Burnside Hall 308A
Phone: 514-398-4953
Fax: 514-398-7437

benjamin.forest [at] mcgill.ca (E-Mail)


Academic background


Research interests

I study the geographical nature of identity and identifications, and I am especially concerned with the political representation and construction of race, ethnicity, and nationality. My current research examines the political representation of ethnic minority groups, the use of monuments and memorials for (re)constructing post-Soviet national identities, and various issues of electoral geography, political parties, and governance.


Current projects

  • Shaping Democracy: Boundary Commissions, Parties, and Citizens
  • The Politics of Complex Diversity in Contested Cities (Montreal)
  • The Power of Symbolic Capital:

Some recent publications

Forest, Benjamin (2022) “As Maine Goes, No Goes the Nation: The 2020 Senate Election" in , edited by Robert H. Watrel, et al. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield: 225-228.

Forest, Benjamin and Mike Medeiros (2021) “Contiguity, Constituencies and the Political Representation of Minorities” EPC: Politics and Space 39 (5): 879-899.

Medeiros, Mike, Benjamin Forest, and Patrik Öhberg (2020) “The Case for Non-Binary Gender Questions in Surveys” PS: Political Science & Politics 53 (1): 128-135. DOI:

Medeiros, Mike, Benjamin Forest, and Chris Erl (2019) “Where Women Stand: Parliamentary Candidate Selection in Canada” Politics, Groups, and Identities 7(2): 389-400.DOI:

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