Interdisciplinary Studies

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https://hdl.handle.net/10315/27606

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Open Access
The Psychological Impact of Traditional Grieving Processes: Dirge Performance and Healing Among the Dagaaba
(2024-11-07) Kuwabong, Delimwini; Hynie, Michaela
The Dagaaba are an ethnic group found on both sides of the Black Volta in the Upper West Region of Ghana and Burkina Faso. Like many West African communities, funerals are extremely important in the culture for the ritual performance of mourning. One of the key rituals performed is funeral dirges that are sung and played on the xylophone simultaneously. Each varies depending on the sex, gender, and social status of the deceased. However, these dirges target the living more than the dead. Transcribed and translated verses within this category were analyzed within the Dagaaba cosmology and using ethnopoetics and theories of grief, mourning, and attachment. These sociological, psychological, literary, and musical elements, when synthesized, paint a picture of the Dagaaba funeral dirge as a method of promoting not only individual consolation, but also the reaffirmation of bonds among and within communities.
Open Access
An Immigrant Experience on Indigenous Land: The Mennonites of Namaka Farm
(2024-11-07) Jansen, Elizabeth Ann; Podruchny, Carolyn
Beginning in 1925, thirty-six families, part of a mass migration of German-speaking Russian Mennonites (Russlaender), were settled on Namaka Farm, a large ranch in southern Alberta. With their arrival, the area became home to three disparate cultures and languages: Siksika Blackfoot, British colonial settlers, and Mennonite settlers. This thesis proposes that the experiences of these Mennonites prior to arriving in Canada influenced their adaptation. It shows how they were both marginalized and privileged within the existing colonial structure. Values they held tightly created unforeseen and inadvertent repercussions, including the perpetuation of systemic injustices and racism. Extensive oral interviews and primary document research illustrate how these immigrants formed relationships among themselves, with those in authority, and with their Siksika and “English” neighbours. The integration of Russlaender, Indigenous, and English voices has produced a coherent narrative conveying wisdom that can create thriving and sustainable intracultural, intercultural, and ecological relationships today.
Open Access
Exploring the Voices of Iranian Women in the Qajar Era: A Study of Taj Al-Saltaneh's and Bibi Maryam Bakhtiyari's Experiences and Legacies
(2024-11-07) Mohaghegh, Saba; Derayeh, Minoo
For a long time, the voices of Iranian women in history have been silenced and ignored. It is only recently that scholars have paid attention to the crucial role women played in shaping and etching their contributions to history. In this thesis, I attempt to amplify the voices of two iconic figures during the Qajar era (1789-1925): Taj al-Saltaneh (1884-1936) and Bibi Maryam Bakhtiyari (1874-1937). I use their memoirs to explore their contributions to women’s awareness. Three different angles are used in this study: literary, historical, and women and gender studies lenses. These disciplines help to understand the importance of their memoirs and their significance in women's studies by reviving their voices and experiences. This project aims to highlight women’s voices in the past that could influence the empowerment of contemporary women and girls.
Open Access
This is what we have, this is what we don’t have, this is what we need : The post-incarceration experiences of formerly incarcerated Black women in Canada
(2024-07-18) Darboh, Eva Nana; Kadar, Marlene
In recent decades, the burgeoning population of racialized women in Canadian prisons has begun to capture the attention of scholars. While there is widespread and growing awareness that Black women are disproportionately represented within these prisons, the research literature on the post-incarceration experiences of this population remains scant. The challenges that Black women encounter post-incarceration are riddled with sequelae of the structural discrimination that Black women experience both inside and outside of prison walls. The current work aims to uncover the diverse challenges that Black women face on their trajectory towards rebuilding their lives after prison in order to bolster our understanding of the uniquely complex and intersectional post-incarceration experiences of Black women in Canada. This study will also investigate the efficacy of ongoing initiatives and programming available to support formerly incarcerated women with reintegration into their communities. To address these aims, I adopted a qualitative study design utilizing a semi-structured interview approach to examine the post-incarceration experiences of 18 relevant stakeholders as they relate to the experiences of reintegration of formerly incarcerated Black women, with a specific focus on the impact of race, gender, and socioeconomic status. The sample was comprised of formerly incarcerated Black women (n = 13), non-Black formerly incarcerated women (n = 1), community organization members (n = 1), prison rights advocates (n = 2), and politicians (n = 1). Drawing upon fundamental Black feminist theories of law (e.g., intersectionality and critical race theory), I analyzed qualitative interview data by employing content analysis to uncover salient themes. The results indicated that for formerly incarcerated Black women, reintegration involves overcoming robust structural barriers, including difficulties securing employment, stigmatization, and lack of effective support. The insights shared by participants in the current study highlight the extent to which Black women’s marginalized identities adversely shape their experiences pre- and post-incarceration. Evidently, the reintegration experiences of formerly incarcerated Black women are unique and shaped by a multitude of factors. The current work shines light on the need for further investigations and efforts to mitigate post-release challenges in order to promote equitable post-incarceration experiences.
Open Access
Our Last Supper:
(2024-07-18) Giancola, Rita; Cado, Mike
This thesis argues that when Molisans have conversations about death and dying, they will be more willing to accept their own mortality. In addition, I advocate for musical theatre as a uniquely effective medium for death education through which Molisans will be inspired to continue to discuss death and dying. A comparison between Canadian-Molisans and Italian-Molisans perspectives on death and dying will demonstrate that Molisans fear death and dying and do not engage in death discussions because it generates anxiety. However, if prompted with ‘Death Dinners’ and/or with a musical theatre production reflecting their fears and anxieties, Molisans will be motivated to communicate their emotions, cope with their anxieties, and have the ability to live out an authentic life. Ultimately, this will assist in recognizing how these beliefs reflect the values ingrained in the Molisan culture.
Open Access
Tugging the Loose Thread of Canada's Political Tapestry:
(2024-07-18) Thomas-McNeill, Kathleen Hazel; Barras, Amelie
Canadian discourses of inclusion and multiculturalism struggle to reckon with the nation's violent history and ongoing injustices, demanding a confrontation with Canada's self-image. While Canada prides itself on being a multicultural forerunner, understanding its ties to settler-colonialism is crucial due to its continued dispossession of Indigenous peoples. The multicultural narrative often overlooks its political complexities, particularly in relation to Quebec's cultural identity, and the interconnectedness between bilingualism and multiculturalism is often ignored. This study examines how culture, nation, secularism, and religion are understood within relevant policies and legal cases, revealing their settler-colonial roots. Analysis shows how interpretations of these documents reinforce social divisions, Indigenous oppression, and a decontextualized Canadian identity. By revealing the settler-colonial roots of Canadian legislation, this research exposes hidden power dynamics and structural injustices within multiculturalism. Correcting this oversight is essential to situate the national narrative within its historical context and to align it with Canada's stated values.
Open Access
The Origin of Koreanness: Understanding the Gender of Modernity in the Wartime Films of Late Colonial Korea, 1937-1945
(2024-07-18) Kim, Jihong; Kim, Janice
This thesis investigates the popular origins of ethno-cultural subjectivity during the dawn of the cinematic age that, for Koreans, intersected with Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945). More specifically, it looks at films produced during the time of mobilization for the Second Sino-Japanese and Pacific War between 1937 and 1945, with attention to how the complex process of turning the peninsula’s human resources into participatory subjects of the Shōwa Emperor (1926–1989) affected Korean productivity and reproductivity. The contradictions of war mobilization of Koreans by the Japanese Empire created common gender representations in late colonial Korean films. Mobilization of adolescent male fantasies, whose aspiration for filial piety and patriarchal restoration, suppressed by colonial discrimination, materialized in queerness. Through the use of gender, culture, and colonialism as analytical lenses, this thesis argues that colonial subjects have come to sustain the system that restrained them, believing instead in the promises of individual mobility.
Open Access
The COVID-19 Pandemic's Impacts On Post-Secondary International Students' Public Transit Usage In The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and The Greater Vancouver Area (GVA)
(2024-03-16) Huang, Mengyan; MacLennan, Anne
This master's thesis investigates the profound effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public transit usage of post-secondary international students (PSIS) in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA). The research aims to understand the diverse experiences of PSIS while using public transit in these two regions, explore their specific needs and challenges in transit utilization, and assess how universities can support PSIS by facilitating their use of public transit. The study adopts transportation studies, education, and sociology disciplines, employing a mixed-methods research approach, incorporating qualitative and quantitative research methods. The findings indicate that PSIS have concerns about long travel duration, safety, and expensive transit fees. The GVA's U-Pass program makes public transit access more affordable than that in the GTA. These insights underscore the tailored support from universities and policymakers to enhance PSIS experiences with public transit, which is significant in PSIS development.
Open Access
Queer-Diva Collaboration in 20th Century Pop Music
(2023-12-08) Iannacci, Elio; Latchford, Frances J.
This thesis explores the practice of “Queer-Diva collaboration” as it pertains to the work of pop music icons Grace Jones and Annie Lennox. Queer-Diva collaborations are a surprisingly common yet undertheorized artistic phenomena wherein female pop singers co-create music and art with members of the LGBTQ community. My study argues that through these collaborations, queer counterculture discourses critique and reform mainstream popular culture. While much scholarship revolves around the Diva and her Queer audience, this thesis draws on theories of artistic collaboration as “utopian modernist sites” (Green 175), forms of “gender collapse” (Butler 41, 121) and testaments to “Queer world-making” (Muñoz 22) in order to recover the Diva’s crucial relationship with LGBTQ art directors, stylists, choreographers and music producers. This study historicises and analyses two pivotal Queer-Diva collaborations as case studies, both of which reflect and broadcast the repercussions of watershed moments in LGBTQ politics. The first case study examines Grace Jones’s music video to 1986’s “I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect for You),” directed by Jones and Queer graffiti artist Keith Haring which fuses Jones’s racial and gender pluralism with Haring’s HIV/AIDS activism. The second case study analyses Annie Lennox’s and DJ Junior Vasquez’s “No More ‘I Love You’s’” (The Sound Factory Mix), a recording released in 1995, which embodies a proliferating era of LGBTQ civil rights and an aural armament against misogynistic and homophobic oppression. Focusing on these distinctive epochs within Jones’s and Lennox’s oeuvres, this thesis examines the effects, repercussions and implications of these Queer-Diva collaborations and determines how they disrupt anti-Black, anti-Queer and heterosexist discourses.
Open Access
Dancing an Expanded Habitual: Attuning to the More-Than-Human World
(2023-12-08) Acorn, Amanda Kathleen; Cauthery, Bridget
This interdisciplinary thesis explores dance creation-as-research and phenomenological methods to articulate an embodied dialogue with the more-than-human world. Drawing on original phenomenological writing generated through embodied research, the work argues for dance practice as a salient tool for reimagining traditional forms of knowledge production and enacts the speculative possibilities of our communicative capacity between human and more-than-human bodies. The project imagines and articulates how we can bring relational, responsible thinking and sensing to our everyday movements while navigating the ruins of the so-called Anthropocene. Using research-creation as a frame, this project posits that dance-based systems of improvisation have the potential to interrupt and inhibit our habitual modes of attention, expanding our capacity for interspecies dialogue and collaboration. The work engages with the fields of dance studies, research-creation, phenomenology and posthuman feminist theory, to create definitional anchors in dialogue with original, phenomenological writing. The research expresses a process of discovery through the lived body and articulates a practice that enlivens bodies and builds worlds, where thinking, practice, and theory can come alive inside everyday living. The research moves off the page and into the body, in the form of a site-adaptive soundwalk, as an embodied call to action for fleshy, earthly survival.
Open Access
The Educational Impact of Military Coup D'etats in Ghana on Education
(2023-12-08) Abbey, Abraham Ogbarmey; Visano, Livy
Thesis statement: Coup d’état is not beneficial for Ghana’s education Reasons: education funding cuts, teachers were not paid salaries. This thesis argues that coup d’états by the military in Ghana has stalled the education trajectory of many younger generations in Ghana. However, this phenomenon is not relative to Ghana alone. Many African nations who have fought the colonial rule and gained political independence were equally undermined by their military system. Most of these military systems connived with foreign agencies such as the CIA (Centre Intelligence Agency) to stage coup-d’états’ at a period some of the African countries were beginning to determine what kind of political system they should adopt (Birmingham 1998, p.48). These inner workings have tampered with the governance of the country at large, which has brought upon the Western powers to oversee the circumstances. Long before sexual orientation became a publicly discussed subject globally, Kwame Nkrumah, the first democratically-elected president of Ghana, provided a non-discriminatory provision to accommodate those segments of people in the Republican constitution, including race, tribe, religion or political beliefs in the early 1960s. As a principled individual, Nkrumah stood against corruption in his own party and dismissed his cabinet members and those officials who were to be culpable. The president did that to set a high standard of integrity as a public servant (Milne, 1999). The focus by Nkrumah’s political decisions has been focused on advancing all citizens’ welfare. Ghana was once a beacon of strength and inspiration to many African countries because it was the first country in the Sub-Sahara to gain independence from the British colonial regime. The country served as a home and training center for many aspiring African leaders and activists. Kwame Nkrumah who is the first President of Ghana after almost one hundred years of British colonial rule and he was branded a dictator by some Western countries such as the United States and Britain and Joseph Kennedy, the father of JFK, the President of United States, called him “the communist Nkrumah” when Nkrumah was actualizing a system of governance which meets the needs of Ghanaians and African peoples in the continent: education. Africa was never divided prior to Europeans scramble for Africa in 1884 and Africa must unite was a profound call which has a legitimacy in the African context. Nkrumah inaugurated National Council of Ghana Women in Ghana, instituted equal pay for equal work for women and assured full pay for women on maternity leave. The Ghanaian educational system suffered greatly on two fronts: firstly, the successive Ghanaian governments cut on educational funding and the exodus of noteworthy numbers of trained and highly qualified teachers to other African countries, which necessitated the recruitment of untrained teachers in primary and middle schools. The military organization first and foremost mandate is to defend the nation from foreign and domestic aggression, but sometimes, personal ambitions and the craving for power by some key military players served to fuel coup d’état in the country in which they have no mandate of the people to govern. In some situations, officers have led a coup to regain lost prestige or to preempt an impending purge; like what happened in Ghana when two judges and a retired major were killed as enemies of the revolution on a special assignment which involved a civilian agent as part of the assassins. The European trade mission to Africa was initially established to exchange material goods as merchandise, but turned out as mercantilism, a political economy in which capitalism gave birth to the slave trade. Africans were captured to work ruthlessly in Europe and the United States of America.
Open Access
Community Development Through Social Enterprise; A Case Study of a Vertical Farm Social Enterprise in Midland, Ontario for Women with a Lived Experience of Violence
(2023-12-08) MacDonald, Haily Elizabeth; Porter, Ann
Violence against women is prevalent across Canada. Governments and organizations, work to support women who have survived violence, but are these efforts effective? Are they addressing the root causes of violence? Often programs mandated to support women who have survived violence tend to focus on addressing immediate needs through emergency shelters, and supportive counselling. Despite the importance of such programming, they are reactive instead of preventative. Using a case study of a social enterprise (Operation Grow) in Midland Ontario that was designed to reduce poverty, food scarcity, and isolation for women who have survived sexual and/or intimate partner violence. This research takes an in-depth look at the unique needs of women who have experienced intimate partner violence and/or sexual violence, then uses these findings to articulate their unique needs, and examine how social enterprises can be designed to meet these needs. The research identified six key design elements critical for social enterprises to best support women with a lived experience of violence. These critical components include: a holistic design which supports each asset area of a woman’s life, an intersectional feminist lens and gender-based analysis, an active valuation of women’s unpaid labour, flexible programming, supports to access material resources, space for women to have and use their voices. Social enterprises must also be designed to challenge the current economic and social order and their systems that produce and uphold oppression. They ultimately must work to empower women, inclusive of their unique identities and experiences.
Open Access
Pedagogy, Practice, and Parity: Prayer Experiences of Modern Orthodox Jewish Women in Toronto
(2023-12-08) Markus, Ariella Chana; van Daalen-Smith, Cheryl; Rowley, Sherry; Schnoor, Randal
Through the disciplinary lenses of Religion, Education, and Gender/Feminist Studies, my research discusses pedagogy, practice, and parity. I conducted research with 9 Jewish women who self-identified as being part of Toronto’s Modern Orthodox Jewish community. This stream of Judaism is unique, in that girls have the opportunity to be prayer leaders in school at a young age, even though there are no female prayer leaders in mainstream Modern Orthodox synagogues. Girls learn to pray together with boys for the first eleven years of their lives, while knowing that they will pray on the other side of a gender-partition when they become Bat Mitzvah at twelve years of age. And yet, despite being independent women with agency, and despite having many other options in Toronto’s diverse Jewish landscape, many women choose to remain in this particular community in adulthood. This retrospective research endeavour asked participants to reflect upon their adulthood prayer practices, as well as their girlhood experiences of praying in Jewish day school. Connections were explored, leading to discussions about identity construction and conceptions of self, gendered experiences, and contradictory practices. My research seeks to uncover the relationship between prayer education and identity formation for girls, and the implications that this has on women’s communal leadership roles in adulthood.
Open Access
Treating Adoption Trauma with Writing Interventions
(2023-12-08) Berg, Laura Anne; Mar, Raymond; Shivener, Rich; O'Reilly, Andrea
Adoptees have a higher likelihood of experiencing mental health symptoms and developing mental disorders due to adoption-related trauma. Writing interventions, specifically expressive and creative writing, both show some promise in alleviating the symptoms of mental disorders. However, little research has explored whether these writing interventions can be effective in helping adoptees heal and recover from adoption trauma and related mental issues. Guided by inductive and ethnographic research methods, this study investigated how writing can help adoptees recover from adoption-related trauma. By analysing three writing workbooks, this study animates the idea that writing can help adoptees connect deeply with themselves and reconstruct their life stories. A parallel autoethnographic investigation in the form of a novel written from the perspective of the researcher as an adoptee illustrates the firsthand experiences of adoption trauma. Ultimately, this study and the book substantiate a process of healing and recovery through narrative expression and creative writing.
Open Access
Chasing the Food, Chasing the Names: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Culinary Culture of Turkic Peoples of Eurasia
(2023-08-04) Yesil, Emrah; Embleton, Sheila
This thesis takes a critical stance on the conventional approaches to the nomadic societies based on the historical sources written by the agents of the sedentary entities and interrogates the dominant discourse regarding the nomads. It examines an essential part of the culinary heritage of the Turkic peoples in Eurasia by focusing on the primary Turkic lexical sources available. It attempts to discover the culinary and linguistic interaction among the ancestors of Turkic peoples, “the pastoral nomads” of inner Asia, and between them and their sedentary neighbors. It focuses on pastry food items consumed by these peoples since the misrepresentations of the historical accounts about the nomads tend to define and marginalize them with their alimentation. Thus, this thesis tries to challenge one of the most common arguments underpinning the traditional approach to the nomadic peoples and also means to test its validity by examining the essential lexical material available.
Open Access
The Matriarchitects: The Creation and Maintenance of the British Imperial Simulacrum in the Journalism of Helen Gregory MacGill, Madge Macbeth, and Kathleen Blake Coleman
(2023-08-04) Williams, Melanie Vanessa; McPherson, Kathryn M.
This thesis examines the lives and work of three early Canadian women journalists, Helen Gregory MacGill, Madge Macbeth, and Kathleen Blake “Kit” Coleman. The argument expands on the work of Sara Mills in Discourses of Difference (1991), using a similar Foucauldian approach to determine constraints on the production and reception of the three women’s writings; additionally, Jean Baudrillard’s simulacrum theory is used to determine the effects produced by those writings. The analysis focuses on articles the three journalists wrote about nations beyond the control of the British empire – Japan, Spain, and Cuba respectively – using an interdisciplinary approach. By situating the three journalists within the Canadian context of British high imperialism, and then assessing their articles as travel writing rather than journalism, the impact of their work emerges: through their journalism work, MacGill, Macbeth, and Coleman contributed to the creation and maintenance of a simulacrum of the British empire.
Open Access
Green Strings vs. Purse Strings -Role of Eco-Emotions in Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour
(2023-08-04) Bose, Rahul; Goel, Vinod
This study explores the influence of negative mixed emotions on consumer purchase choices in the context of environmental degradation. Previous research has focused on attitudes and emotions affecting preferences and willingness to pay, but understanding the gap between willingness to pay and actual behavior is crucial. The study uses a discrete choice experiment to examine the direct effect of "mixed integral eco-emotions" on purchase choices. Participants make a discrete purchase decision between two products with different environmental attributes and prices. Results show that eliciting mixed emotions, including sadness, anger, and guilt, significantly impacts pro-environmental purchases across various price points and product categories. The research also considers environmental attitudes, antecedents to emotions, risk attitudes, and construal level. This study emphasizes the importance of comprehending the intention-to-action gap and the role of mixed emotions in predicting pro-environmental consumer behavior, necessitating new models for understanding and explaining such behavior.
Open Access
From Discourse to Reality: A Critique of the Sustainability Discourse for Activities in Earth Orbits
(2023-08-04) Ebrahimpoor, Tanya; Berland, Jody
Political-military-economic elites have exerted hegemonic abuse of power towards the peoples and ecosystem of Earth through production and propagation of misleading and manipulative discourses on the fundamentals of space sustainability. The elites have utilized their discursive powers to create knowledge, attitudes, and ideologies among the general public in favour of geopolitical, military, and capitalist domination, commodification, and exploitation of Earth orbits for their own benefit. Manipulative discourses on space sustainability have enabled the elites to exercise control over the minds and actions of the public while suppressing different forms of resistance and dissidence. A sociocognitive critical discourse analysis of major discourses on space sustainability demonstrates numerous ways through which the elites have led a campaign of mind control to justify their expansionist and imperialist activities in outer space, particularly in Earth orbits. The results of the analysis demonstrate the urgency of challenging and shifting the stream of manipulative discourses on space sustainability, proposing awareness raising, counter-discourse and civil movements as the most effective approaches.
Open Access
Tracing Sexual Violence in Conflict as a Continuum of Violence Against Women and Girls in Northern Nigeria: Pitfalls of Law and Policies
(2023-03-28) Nwankwo, Chidinma Umahi Odi; Mianda, Gertrude
Sexual violence is a human rights infringement that causes harm in the lives of individuals when committed and may lead to severe complications, disabilities or even death. In Nigeria, women suffer from a chain of violence which is traced from regular times to post-conflict situations in addition to other social problems like gender discrimination, gender inequality, to name but a few. As a result, this work focuses on the experiences of Nigerian women with sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings in Northern Nigeria, especially with the abductions of girls in Borno and Yobe States between 2014 and 2018. This research approaches the problem through desk research using the socio-legal methodology, which draws insights from the interdisciplinary lens of human rights law, international security, and women/development using post-colonial feminist theory. The primary question this work poses is how the Nigerian National Action Plans (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) can be utilized to help end the conflict-related sexual violence continuum in Nigeria and advance the protection of women against sexual violence? The research finds that there are insufficient policy guidelines and legal frameworks for the prevention or eradication of sexual violence in Nigeria, and where policy guidelines or frameworks exist, there has been poor or no implementation.
Open Access
From Death Sentence to Disappearance: The Invisibility of West Asian LGBTQ Refugees
(2023-03-28) Ghorbanizadeh, Mehdi; Hynie, Michaela
West Asian queer refugees face severe oppression, such as moral exclusion, denial of existence in their home countries, and multi-marginalization in Canada, making them invisible and one of the most understudied populations. I believe the invisibility of vulnerable populations is one of the highest levels of injustice which places them at higher risks of discrimination. Despite the most visible injustice, why do they remain invisible? I began to seek answers by myself through a critical autoethnography with an analytical approach throughout my journey as a West Asian queer refugee in Iran, Turkey, and Canada to tackle the reasons behind this invisibility. In the absence of a support system locally and globally for the West Asian queer refugees, simply living, surviving, and thriving is an act of resistance. This research introduces self-acceptance and self-compassion as a strategy at a grassroots level toward visibility and equality for the West Asian queer refugee.