M.A. Social Justice and Equity Studies

That Power: Performing Power, Trauma, and Queer Religious Futurity

Brower, Jonathan Duncan

Conservative religious ideology is a key contributor to the ongoing violence of LGBTIQ2S+ exclusion and discrimination in Canada. This qualitative arts-based research project foregrounds the life experiences of 2 queer ...

“We Had More Eyes on Us Than the Boys”: Recollections of Girlhood at Residential Schools for the Blind

Grossman, Keely

This thesis explores experiences of girlhood within residential schools for the blind in North America. The analysis draws upon and contributes to theorizing in feminist disability studies and gendered embodiment in schooling ...

To Know Their Stories: Using Playbuilding to Develop a Training/Orientation Video on Person-Centered Care

Hobbs, Kevin

This study explores the experiences of health care staff and family members who provide support for people living with dementia and traumatic brain injury. Using a playbuilding methodology (Belliveau, 2006; Norris, 2009; ...

Animal Cruelty Officers and the Intersections of Daily Labour and the Law

Nicholls, Bridget

This study explores the relationship between animal cruelty investigation work and the legal terrain. Specifically, I analyze how Ontario’s animal cruelty investigation officers understand and navigate the legal requirements ...

Protecting Animals and People: The Role of the Public Sector in Improving Animal Cruelty Investigation Work

Campbell, Brittany

Animal cruelty investigation work in Canada has typically been the responsibility of humane societies and/or SPCAs (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), charities that are mandated to enforce government ...

Gendered Power Relations and Household Decision Making in Rural Ghana. A study of Zambo in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region of Ghana

Bieteru, Anella N.

Some Western scholarship on African studies have shown that patriarchy is absolute in many African societies and women are mostly the victims of this system. Such patriarchy has created wide gender gaps between men and ...

Is the Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full? An Exploratory Study of Defence Lawyers’ Constructions of Plea Negotiations and Accused Persons’ Rights within the Ontario Criminal Justice System

Cabot, Jennifer

Plea bargaining is a pervasive practice in North American legal systems, as well as internationally. In Canada, the majority of criminal cases are disposed of by plea negotiations. Although plea negotiations are a staple ...

Wearing Yourself or Dressing the Part: Navigating Workplace Dress Codes as Queer, Androgynous Women

Kelly, Kailey

In this thesis, I explore various workplace dress codes and expectations in the Niagara Region through the experiences of six queer, androgynous women. Through a theoretical perspective that is informed by both Erving ...

Inside Voices: Witnessing Oral Disclosures of Trauma

Kitchings, Shannon

Examining the relationship between speaker and listener provides insight into empathy and ethical responses to disclosures of trauma. This study examines the delivery and reception of testimony in performing arts contexts ...

(Play)Building Sexuality Education: Using participatory drama as queer pedagogy to explore youth experiences of sexuality education

Sanche, Charissa

The recent sex education curriculum update in Ontario sparked controversy in the media, reflecting a moral panic around sex education in Canada. Since its introduction in 2010 and implementation in 2015, debates ensued ...

Care amidst the condos? Understanding gentrification’s unjust impact on social and health service delivery to vulnerable populations in Ottawa, ON

Deschamps, MJ

For cities’ most vulnerable populations, community-based social services have long served a critical need, offering diverse health and social programs geared towards those who have traditionally faced barriers accessing ...

Girlie Girls Aren’t “Real” Athletes: A Critical Examination of Girls’ Experiences of Aesthetic Sports within a Post-Feminist Masquerade

Kovac, Laura

The purpose of this feminist research was to understand the experiences of adolescent females currently participating in aesthetic sports. Specifically, I aimed to critically examine the ways in which the new feminine ideal ...

Mishandled: Turnhill University’s Approach to Sexual Violence

MacAndrew, Samantha

Sexual violence on college and university campuses in Canada and the United States has been an unsettling issue for several decades. However, the understanding that politicians, policy makers, and academic administrations ...

"It was easy to look for a place, but hard to actually get one": University students' experiences of racial discrimination in off-campus housing

Nightingale, Cara

This study examines university student perceptions of and experiences with racial discrimination in off-campus housing in Ontario’s Niagara Region. Using a qualitative methodology informed by critical race theory, the study ...

“It’s just inappropriate”: The normalization of sexual harassment in Ontario schools as revealed through teachers’ stories

Quinn, Lauren

This study examines teachers’ experiences witnessing and addressing the sexual harassment of girls by boys in elementary and secondary schools in Southern Ontario. Through a feminist, poststructural framework using feminist ...

-“Where are you, darling?” -“Here I am, darling!”: Call and Response as LGBTI Resistance Formation Before, During and After the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey

Sarioglu, Ezgi

This social justice project examines the extent to which the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexual (LGBTI) movement in Turkey has been affected by its participation in the Gezi Park protests that took place ...