Claudia Velimirovic began writing for Catalyst in the Fall Semester of 2020. Since then, she has published five different pieces with Catalyst. Her articles are consistently stand-outs: unique and well-researched approaches to topics mainly focused around gender & sexuality and politics across the US and Canada. Check out her work here. Find the transcript for her interview with Creative Director Saadwi Balaji below:
Saadwi Balaji (SB): So first of all, congratulations on being named Catalyst Author of the Month. That’s very exciting. Would you be able to introduce yourself; tell us a bit about yourself?
Claudia Velimirovic (CV): My name is Claudia. I’m a U2 student in Honours International Development and my minors in social entrepreneurship. This is my third year at McGill and I really like it. I’m from Toronto as well.
SB: What developmental topics are you interested in?
CV: Honestly, it kind of changes depending on the courses I’m taking. New material gets me interested in new things. I’m really interested right now in religion, feminism, and human rights, but recently, in economic inequality. So, kind of everything!
SB: What kind of piqued your interest in these areas?
CV: Right now, I’m taking a course in religion and human rights. The paper I’m writing right now is about the way your denomination in Christianity can influence how you perceive homosexuality and gay marriage. That’s something that’s really interesting to me. And then, in the economic inequality side, just looking at how different societal factors impact one’s economic inequality and then, in turn, how that economic inequality affects the way you’re perceived in society. I really love this major; it’s so interesting.
SB: So, based on all these classes in this entire major, what would you say is your favourite course?
CV: I don’t know, I really liked the course I took in first year so SOCI 254, which is Development and Underdevelopment. I really liked that one and I also liked INTD. I think it was 360, which was Development in the Environment and that was really interesting. I think those are my favourites.
SB: Is there a reason why you picked up these courses?
CV: For the environment one, I just thought that looking into how environmental challenges impact development was super interesting and something that I hadn’t really looked at before. And then, this year: this semester, I’m taking a history course that looks at it from the historical perspective. Which is also really interesting. I just find the whole development major is really cool because there’s so many different ways that you can approach it. So, looking at the same issue from all these different perspectives is really interesting and I think it’s a really great way to get a more holistic view of circumstances. That’s something that I just really like about the whole major. And honestly, I haven’t had a course that I’ve taken so far in it that I’ve been like, “oh, I hate this,” which is really nice.
SB: Moving on, why did you get involved with Catalyst?
CV: I found out about it through the IDS newsletter and I just thought it was super interesting because, so often, in courses, I’ll learn about something, or even just see it online in a newspaper. And then, you don’t get that external motivation to look into it and talk about it and give your own perspective unless you are writing a paper on it or you’re in a newspaper like this. And just looking at the website and the articles on the topics that Catalyst covers was really interesting to me, so I thought it was just a great opportunity to have experience that is still academic but is it a bit outside of a research paper but still kind of like employs those same values.
SB: What do you enjoy the most about being involved?
CV: I like just the versatility of the topics and the fact that you can choose anything that’s interesting to you so long as you can find a way to connect it to development themes. Learn about something even on TikTok and then be like, “Oh wow, this is interesting. Let me look into it,” and then try and make those connections” I think that it’s just a really cool paper to write for because it forces you to examine the things that you do in your daily life and then be like, this could be a paper, so I really like that.
SB: Is that what inspires your writing process in a way?
CV: Yeah, pretty much. I get daily emails from newspapers and stuff like that. So sometimes, I’ll see a headline there and wonder how I could spin this. Also just seeing stuff every day or in conversations with my friends. And then I’m like oh I wonder what the backstory of this situation is or something like that. So yeah, honestly, I get inspired for my articles just by my everyday life.
SB: And amongst all of those, what is your favourite piece that you’ve written for Catalyst?
CV: Probably the Q Anon article that I wrote in the winter semester last year. I just thought the whole conspiracy around Q Anon was super interesting and I took the lens looking at how it impacts the American democracy in a negative way. I thought just like having an opportunity to look into a conspiracy theory and then like write about it was something that you wouldn’t really get to do through another platform. It’s super interesting, especially with all the stuff that’s happening now and but that was my favourite one that I wrote, for sure.
SB: And in the future, what are you hoping to write about?
CV: I don’t really have any future articles aside from the one that I’m writing right now. I figure out what I’m doing the day before the pre-pitch forms are due because it takes me long to narrow down my ideas. But yeah, honestly anything that inspires me in a course or just in media. So really, anything.
