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The Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts presents
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7| 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
A FINE CROWDFebruary 2013
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12
FUNDING ALONE IS NOT A MEASURE OF RESEARCH
SUCCESS IN ARTS
BUT $7.5 MILLION IS IMPRESSIVE
In 2011-12, Arts researchers were awarded $7,486,472 in funding from SSHRC, CFI, ACOA, and the NL Government’s Research Development Corporation. As our way of saying ‘congratulations’, we offer this newsletter, which showcases projects funded by SSHRC in 2011-12. We include only the external research grants on which Arts faculty are Principle Investigators.
Vol. 1, No. 1 mun.ca/arts
F a c u l t y o f A r t s O f f i c e o f t h e D e a n
S t . J o h n ’ s , N LC a n a d a A 1 C 5 S 7
T E L E P H O N E(709) 864-8254 F A C S I M I L E( 7 0 9 ) 8 6 4 - 2 1 3 5
Dr. Lynne Phillips, Dean of Arts
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE2
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
This research focuses on two themes:
the dynamics of the Newfoundland ice cap during the last glaciation from
retreat offshore to final melting in the
interior; and the history of sea-level fluctuations around Newfoundland in
response to deglaciation. Deglacial dynamics will be investigated through
examination of the "Digital Landforms
Database of Newfoundland" and field mapping of glacial landforms. A new
initiative in this proposal is to combine glacial landform data from the seabed
offshore, mapped using multibeam
sonar, with landform data onshore, mapped from aerial photographs and
satellite imagery. Topics of particular research interest are the evidence for
f o r m e r i c e s t r e a m s i n t h e
Newfoundland ice cap and the timing and configuration of ice-marginal
retreat. Results should provide new potential for drift prospecting studies
and will have immediate application to
the mineral exploration industry in Newfoundland. Relative sea-level
studies have gained increased attention as we attempt to forecast global sea-
level responses to climate warming over
the next century. Past sea-level records suggest strong regional variability in this
response, primarily due to residual effects from the last glaciation. The
proposed research addresses the spatial
and temporal variation in postglacial r e l a t i v e s e a - l e v e l c h a n g e i n
Newfoundland, a region that may
experience moderate to significant i m p a c t s eve n u n d e r t h e m o s t
conservative scenarios of future sea-level rise. A major focus of this research
will be the collection of precise sea-level
data to improve our understanding of sea- leve l processes,
specifically the glacio-isostatic evolution of
Newfoundland, and to
provide quantitative information for the
modelling community. Application of glacial
systems modelling to
questions of sea-level h i s t o r y r e q u i r e s
e x c e l l e n t d a t a t o constrain the models.
M y p r o g r a m i s s t r o n g l y
interdisciplinary in nature, involving collaboration with scientists from
archaeology, biology, geology, marine geophysics, and physics. There is also a
strong emphasis on graduate training
across these disciplines and this is reflected in the number of proposed co-
supervised PhD and MSc students.
Deglacial ice dynamics glacio-isostatic adjustments and relative sea-level history in Newfoundland
Trevor Bell, Geography
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE3
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
An estimated 560 million people, or 8% of the
global population, directly or indirectly depend on fishing for a living. According to the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
more than 90% of these people are involved in small-scale fisheries. These figures suggest that
small-scale fisheries are simply "too big to ignore".
UNFORTUNATELY, THE REALITY IS QUITE THE OPPOSITEData collection systems and policy discourses about
fisheries are centered on the large-scale, industrialized fishing sector, while small-scale
fisheries are seriously understudied. The lack of
detailed information about small-scale fisheries has resulted in systematic underestimation of their
importance in addressing global crises, including malnutrition, poverty and biodiversity loss. In turn,
the under-appreciation of small-scale fisheries has
led to policies that inadvertently undermine their ability to adapt to global change processes, such as
urbanization, globalization, and climate change. In many areas of the world, including Canada, fishing
agreements, quota allocations, user rights and
government subsidies favour industrial fisheries, and either generate conflicts with small-scale fishing
people or displace them altogether.The Global Partnership for Small-Scale
Fisheries Research, Too Big to Ignore, is a new
research network and knowledge mobilization partnership established to rectify the marginalization
of small-scale fisheries in national and international
policies, and to develop research and governance
capacity to address global fisheries challenges. The Too Big to Ignore partnership is comprised
of 15 partners, which are intergovernmental
organizations, research and academic institutions, environmental organizations, and non-governmental
organizations based in Canada, Norway, Italy, Mexico, Namibia, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
Thailand and the USA. It also includes 62
researchers from academic and non-academic institutions from
27 countries in fi v e r e g i o n s
a r o u n d t h e
w o r l d . A l l m e m b e r s o f
T o o B i g t o I g n o r e a r e
committed to
work together to c o n d u c t t h e
research and knowledge mobilization activities in order to fulfill the goals of the partnership, which
are to elevate the profile of small-scale fisheries and
to encourage policy discussions for improving decision-making about this important sector.
Too big to ignore: global partnership for small-scale fisheries research
Ratana Chuenpagdee, Canada Research Chair, Geography
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE4
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
The recent emergence of the Web
2.0 has the potential to significantly change the way geospatial datasets are
produced. While datasets were largely
p r o d u c e d a n d d i s t r i b u t e d by government and industry mapping
e x p e r t s , r e c e n t t o o l s s u c h a s OpenStreetMap now allow any Web
user to contribute to the creation of
large free geospatial datasets. This p h e n o m e n o n , d e s c r i b e d a s
" V o l u n t e e r e d G e o g r a p h i c Information" (VGI), faced an initial
skepticism among mapping experts but
led to the creation of datasets that compete in accuracy with government
maps. This generated in the past two years an increasing interest from
National Mapping Agencies and the
mapping industry as it could potentially have a major impact on mapping
processes, by having citizens collecting, updating or verifying geospatial data.
The potential economic impact of such
change is huge for a world mapping industry which is already valued at tens
of billions of $US. Beyond the economic impact, the distribution of
high-quality free data is likely to have
strong social impacts by allowing more informed decisions to be made in
various fields. Assessing and informing
users of the quality of maps produced
by VGI will be key to the successful use of VGI maps in decision-making
processes. Despite two studies published
in 2010 that assessed the quality of VGI data from UK and France, there are
still no appropriate methods for assessing and communicating the
quality of VGI. The goal of this
research is to provide methods and tools for assessing and
communicating the quality of VGI. The
expected benefits
include the creation of a safer framework
surrounding the use of VGI in various
d e c i s i o n - s u p p o r t
contexts, resulting in minimization of risks
o f n e g a t i v e consequences that
can arise from data
m i s u s e . We a l s o expect the approach
wi l l improve the overall quality of VGI mapping
products and hence benefit a broad
range of map users.
Designing methods for evaluating and communicating the quality of volunteered geographic information
Rodolphe Devillers, Geography
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE5
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
Deep-sea corals are important long-
lived structure-forming organisms in deep waters of Canada's three oceans.
Deep-sea corals in Atlantic Canada's
waters include more than thirty species of sea fans, black corals, soft corals, cup
corals, and sea pens. Most of the sea fans, black corals and soft corals require
rocky bottom on which to grow. This
project will examine the geological origins of hard bottom areas in which
corals grow, most of which are thought to be related to remnant glacial
deposits. Some deep-water coral species
can live for several centuries. This project will measure the growth rates
and lifepans of the sea fans, black corals and cup corals, and examine the
oceanographic factors af fect ing
variation in growth rates. Corals will be aged using carbon dating and annual
growth rings deposited in their skeletons. Deep-sea corals are thought
to provide habitat for a variety of deep-
sea invertebrates and fishes. Corals may be important as habitat for juveniles of
several commercially important species. Corals also form biodiversity hotspots
in the deep sea, which is generally not
well explored. The diversity of fish and invertebrates inhabiting coral and non-
coral habitats in similar depths and on
similar substrates will be compared, in order to assess the importance of deep-
sea corals to marine biodiversity and its
conservation. Deep-sea corals are t h r e a t e n e d b y
b o t t o m - c o n t a c t fi s h i n g u s i n g a
variety of fishing
gears. This project will continue studies
o f t h e r e l a t i v e impacts of different
fisheries and gear
types on deep-sea corals in the waters
of Atlantic Canada. The distribution of
c o r a l s w i l l b e
compared with the d i s t r i b u t i o n o f
fi sh ing e f fo r t t o s u g g e s t o p t i m a l
conservation plans for deep-sea corals,
to achieve maximum conservation benefit combined with minimum
disruption to fisheries. This project will prov ide much-needed sc ient ific
guidance for deep-sea conservation in
Atlantic Canada.
Geology, biogeography, and conservation of deep-sea corals in waters of Atlantic Canada
Evan Edinger, Geography
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE6
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
The working poor, generally defined as those
living in low income households where at least one member is employed, pose a puzzle, as
employment is often seen as key to poverty
exit. However, sociological research on the working poor is limited. Only a handful of
sociologists have studied the working poor in select low-wage industries (e.g. fast food,
health care, accommodation) and compared
working poor rates between countries. This is problematic, considering the growth of the
working poor in post-welfare reform Canada and the US. The two countries are ranked the
fourth and first respectively in their working
poor rates among developed countries (9% and 14% respectively) (Brady, Fullerton, and
Cross 2010). Studying this emerging, vulnerable population has timely implications
for better understanding social inequality. A
focus on working poor immigrants is particularly important, as a large proportion
of poor immigrants are categorized as such.
This project will be the first quantitative and
comparative research on working poor immigrants in Canada and the US. The
research results will extend Dan Zuben's qualitative study (2006) of the working poor in
Vancouver and Seattle to include national-
level quantitative analysis. Our research will inform discussions of social policies on
immigrant integration and poverty /welfare
by empirically comparing the achievements of working poor immigrant children in Canada
and the US. The research results will
contribute to well-informed, evidence-based p o l i c y
evaluations. It will also help
c o m m u n i t y
g r o u p s ( e . g . poverty activists,
immigrant rights groups, low wage
workers' rights
g r o u p s ) g a i n more ins ights
in to how the issues of poverty,
i m m i g r a t i o n ,
a n d l a b o u r m a r k e t
inequa l i t y go hand in hand in
today's North America and engage in
constructive dialogues.
Growing up working poor: short- and long-term consequences for immigrant children in Canada and the United States
Lisa Kaida, Sociology
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE7
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
The housing and infrastructure crisis in Attawapiskat First Nation and other Aboriginal communities throughout this country has brought the socio-economic disparities between First Nations and non-Aboriginal communities to the forefront of debates over policy initiatives. The d i s cour se su r round ing Abor ig ina l administration has ranged from those who allege financial mismanagement on the part of First Nations, to others who point to chronic underfunding on the part of the federal government. The contemporary colonial relationship that exists in Canada makes headlines, but it is important to view it as part of a longer historical pattern. As First Nations have gained varied degrees of control over funds since the 1951 revisions to the Indian Act, it is now more important than ever to examine debates in historical context. The ways in which the Indian Act and the Department of Indian Affairs interacted with First Nations communities were undergoing profound changes during this time, and their assimilative nature has been well-documented. The postwar period is often seen as a period of decolonization in Canada and internationally, but the top-down approach of many scholars has excluded the experiences of Aboriginal peoples, and the responses of First Nations women in particular. I argue that the story of politicization on the national scale needs to start at the community level, where many Aboriginal women were and are politically and socially active. Understanding historical developments is essential to formulating a way forward for First Nations in Canada. A n ex a m p l e o f s u ch c o m mu n i t y involvement is the Homemakers' Club, an
o r g a n i z a t i o n e n c o u r a g e d by t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f C i t i z e n s h i p a n d Immigration (which, at the time, was responsible for Aboriginal affairs). First Nations women were encouraged to participate and to exhibit 1950s ideals of charity and domesticity. It is unclear how t h e s e w o m e n r e s p o n d e d t o s u ch encouragement. It is apparent, however, that Aboriginal women used it for their own purposes such as infrastructure, protection and enhancement of community property, employment opportunities, and recreational activities to keep their children busy and in school. Did Aboriginal women, who could not vote in community elections until 195I and in Canada until 1960, develop their own sense of feminist activism? Did they see their actions in political terms? Were their actions political in nature? How can we define political action w h e n c o l o n i a l e x p e r i e n c e s a n d responses are gendered? How did these women use the Homemakers' Club as way to subvert colonial presence and policies, and/or as a way to strengthen traditional kinship and social welfare practices? This project will examine the Homemakers' Club as a case study of Aboriginal womanhood and feminism and seeks to understand the club's ties to community- (and thus nation-) building at a time that has been traditionally known as a period of decolonization in Canada.
Indigenous women and nation-building in Ontario: the postwar experience
Lianne Leddy, Anishnaabe,Department of History
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE8
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
Estimates suggest that in 2011,
C a n a d i a n s w i l l d i s p o s e o f 140,000-200,000 tonnes of electronic
equipment (e-waste). Activist groups
claim that anywhere between 50-80 percent of that material eventually
makes its way to the 'developing world' where it is processed under hazardous
conditions, even if it first enters a
formal recycling system in Canada. It is certain that e-waste initially disposed of
in Canada eventually arrives in 'developing' countries where it is
processed by poor and marginalized
populations who risk their health due to exposure to toxic substances and other
environmental dangers. In this sense, Canadian environmental issues and
their associated costs are being exported
to other countries. At the same time, electronics deemed obsolete in the
'developed world' are, in the 'developing world', a crucial source of materials for
t e c h n o l o g i c a l u p g r a d i n g ,
remanufacturing, and new production, as well as employment and livelihoods
for those on the receiving end of Canada's exports of electronic waste.
The entanglement of what is
treated as 'waste' in one place (e.g.,
Canada) and 'value' in others (e.g.,
Bangladesh, China, Mexico, and Peru) h ighl ights the need to rethink
assumptions about the
nature of electronic waste and whether
there may be ways to reconcile economic
and environmental
justice. Our proposed research will be, to
o u r k n o w l e d g e , among the first of its
kind to examine the
possibilities for, and l i m i t a t i o n s t o ,
ethical/fair trade e-waste processing. Our
findings will inform
Canadian e-waste disposal, trade and
export policies. It will also raise greater aw a re n e s s a m o n g t h e g e n e r a l
population of the complex implications
of discarding electronics. In turn, it may he lp to improve work ing
conditions, health, and safety for those who depend on e-waste processing for
their daily survival.
Geographies of rubbish electronics: community assets, worker skills, and the possibilities of ethical trade
Joshua Lepawsky, Geography
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE9
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
Atlantic Canada's northern shrimp industry
provides an excellent empirical case for examining the relationship between natural
resource use, regional development and global
production chains. Since the extension of the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone in 1977
there has been a long history of using shrimp quotas to support regional development. The
beneficiaries include fishing crews on large
factory freezer trawlers, independent harvesters and plant workers and fishing communities in
remote parts of Atlantic Canada and the Canadian north. Northern shrimp quotas have
b e e n g r a n t e d t o c o m mu n i t y g ro u p s ,
cooperat ives, F i r s t Nat ions and Inui t communities. Despite the long history of
resource allocation, we know little about how effective these policy initiatives have been in
terms of creating and sustaining livelihoods,
enterprises and coastal communities.Research on Canada's northern shrimp
chain is timely and pressing. This resource contributes to more than $280 million to export
earnings in Atlantic Canada-- a substantial
increase from the 1990s. Now, for the first time in almost two decades, quotas are declining and
the industry is struggling to survive the combined impacts of smaller quotas, low prices due to
changes in global markets, and high production
costs. The solutions that are being proposed to insulate the industry from these pressures and
increase its resilience are primarily focused on
local and regional policy initiatives such as industry buy-outs, ignoring the fact that industry
options must be developed and evaluated in
relation to global production chains. Our research will provide new insights into the
challenges facing this important resource based export sector, and the role it plays in regional
development in Atlantic Canada.
The findings of this research will be of immediate interest to the wide range of
stakeholders in the shrimp export industry. The
results will also be of interest to policy makers and researchers in Canada and beyond
concerned with the challenge of using natural resources for regional advantage in a globalizing
economy.
Natural resources, regional development and global value chains: insights from Canada's northern shrimp industry
Charles Mather, Geography
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE10
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
Employment-related geographical mobility entails extended travel and related absences from places of permanent residence for the purpose of, and as part of, employment. A substantial but hard-to-document number of Canadian employees work in different municipalities, provinces or even countries from those in which they live and are away from their primary residence for substantial amounts of time above and beyond working hours. Large numbers of non-Canadians are employed as Temporary Foreign workers in Canada. Existing research on employment-related geographical mobility in Canada is limited and fragmented. It shows that it takes diverse forms and is likely affecting key domains of Canadian life. These domains include: labour recruitment, training requirements, absenteeism, turn-over and broader social relations at work; requirements for, and effectiveness of, key infrastructure (e.g., housing, health, transportation, training); the effectiveness of policy and planning at the municipal, provincial and federal levels; work-life balance and spousal and parent-child relations within families; and (through its impact on investments and consumption patterns) regional economic and community development. But we know little about its diverse and changing patterns and its actual consequences at work, home and in the community. We also know little about how changes in mobility patterns relate to larger-scale changes in the nature of work, competitiveness and prosperity. Our Partnership will produce the first comprehensive study of the spectrum of employment-related geographical mobility in Canada from extended daily travel to long distance travel for periods of weeks, months and, in the case of Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada, even years. Our research will track regional, sectoral and socio-demographic patterns and trends in this mobility since 1980 as well as the changing policies that have contributed to it and its consequences. Researchers working in seven provinces and multiple industrial sectors (oil and gas, mining, smelting, retail service, health, construction, transportation and shipping), will carry out in-depth field research among employers, employees and their families, community leaders, and service agencies. They will track
their experiences with such mobility, its role in their larger strategies and assess its ultimate consequences for these different groups in different contexts. We will carry out on-line surveys with human resource managers, union shop stewards and small business owners (among others). We will include new entrants to different types of mobility and those who have exited for different reasons; males and females; those engaged in skilled, less-skilled, professional and managerial jobs; and both Canadian and non-Canadian employees. We have recruited 42 co-applicant researchers and 2 collaborators f r o m 1 7 disciplines and 22 universities across Canada and four other countries. We h a v e b u i l t p a r t n e r s h i p s with 36 partner organizations (11 academic and 25 community). Our academic and community partners will help us design our research, to interpret the results and their policy implications, and to disseminate the results to multiple audiences. We will provide training and mentoring for 68 students and postdoctoral fellows from many disciplines and have devised a comprehensive suite of knowledge mobilization activities. Our research is relevant to two of the SSHRC's priority funding areas: Innovation, Leadership and Prosperity (because of the economic and social impacts of mobility) and Canada's Northern Communities (where such mobility is an especially pervasive phenomenon).
On the move: employment-related geographical mobility in the Canadian context
Barb Neis, Sociology
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE11
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
The Working Group on Mixed
Methods in Research on Gender, Environment and Health will hold two
meetings, one in St. John's and the
other in Montreal. The meetings will b r i n g t o g e t h e r a b i l i n g u a l ,
multidisciplinary team of university researcher s, g raduate s tudents,
knowledge-users and partners. The
Working Group is part of the CIHR Team in Gender, Environment and
Hea l th (GEH) , wh ich a ims to contribute to the development of new
approaches and methods for the
integration of sex and gender (s/g) in environmental and occupational health
research. The main aim of the meetings is to develop a mixed methods research
model to examine sex/gender in studies
of environmental and occupational health, and to produce outputs for
dissemination to academics and knowledge-users.
Mixed Methods in Research on Sex/Gender, Health and Environment
Nicole Power, Sociology
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE12
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
This proposal is part of the ongoing
Northern Peninsula Archaeology and Landscape History Program, which is an
expansion of the earlier Port au Choix
Archaeology Project. The over-arching objective of this research is a comparative
understanding of how, from 6000 to 300 cal BP (calendar years before present), a
series of Palaeoeskimo and Amerindian
cultures adapted to and impacted the changing social and physical environment
o f t h e N o r t h e r n P e n i n s u l a o f Newfoundland, how they created cultural
landscapes and how they interacted with
others on those landscapes. Phillip's Garden is a large site (2.2 ha)
dating to 1990-1180 cal BP. We have divided this time span into three phases:
early ( l990-1550 ca l BP) , middle
(1550-1350 cal BP) and late (1350-1180 cal BP). Phillip's Garden was a seasonally
occupied permanent settlement from which hunters cooperatively hunted the
large harp seal herds that in the spring
were available a short distance offshore. Cooperative hunting and processing
activities were organized through large multi-family houses (88-l05m2). This
characterization is based on the middle
phase of site occupation which was the main focus of the earliest and most
extensive archaeological investigation. It is
now time to shift the focus to the early and late phases, the former to understand the
initial occupation and evolution of Phillip's
Garden and the latter to understand the process of site decline
and abandonment. This proposal begins that
reorientation by focusing
on the late phase.T h e g e n e r a l
objective of the proposed five-year project is to
characterize the late
phase of Phillip's Garden occupation leading up to
site abandonment. T h i s p r o j e c t i s
important because it
looks at the processes behind abandonment of
a uniquely large and intensively occupied Dorset settlement, which had repercussions
for Dorset populations throughout
Newfoundland and southern Labrador. It is also important as a detailed examination
of human-environment dynamics in a region which, situated at the margins of
the Arctic and boreal ecosystems, is highly
sensitive to climate change.
The Dorset Palaeoeskimo site of Phillip's Garden, northwestern Newfoundland: late phase occupation and site abandonment
Priscilla Renouf, Canada Research Chair, Archaeology
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE13
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
The "reasonable accommodation" of non-
Christian minorities in Canada has emerged contemporarily as a pressing sociopolitical issue.
This project will gather and analyze data
regarding the negotiation of diversity with reference to the small and dynamic religious community of
Muslims in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The vibrancy of St. John's one mosque and the
community's recent population growth reflect a
crossroads in how religious diversity and its management are treated. The small city context of
St. John's differs significantly from more populous urban metropolises of Vancouver, Montreal and
Toronto where recent debates like the Ontario Sharia
debate, the Bouchard Taylor Commission, the N.S. (the woman's name anonymized) niqab case currently
before the Supreme Court, and Bill94 which seeks to limit public services for full-face-hijab-wearing
women have garnered a great deal of attention.
These cases are problematic as barometers of accommodation, however, as they emphasize
religiously orthodox perspectives and do not reflect most Muslim Canadians' experiences.
To consider these two elements of everyday
negotiations and representations of orthodoxy in this Easterly city, we ask: (1) Among Muslims in St. John's,
how, where and by whom are religiously-understood negotiations experienced? How are they framed? Do
individuals, families and groups see themselves as
equals in bargaining processes? Do they experience satisfactory resolution(s) of their requests for
"accommodation"? (2) How are internal theological
and cultural differences settled in a highly diverse
one-mosque community? In the representations of Muslims and Islamic practices in government
documents and commissions, how and why are more
conservative versions of Islam given greater credence? To what extent do these conservative
versions of Islam reflect the realities of the everyday lives of Muslims?
We will examine
these two issues with individual
interviews, a pilot internet survey
and analysis of
media discourses specifically related
t o I s l a m a n d "accommodations"
and p rov inc i a l
p o l i c y recommendations
for religious minorities.These issues are pertinent not only within
academic and public policy circles but they also
concern the broader public. This research is innovative and ground breaking in that it focuses not
on problems, but on positive ground-up solutions. Understanding the ways in which people negotiate
religious difference offers positive narratives, which is
key to building strategies for diversity management that facilitate fairness and justice.
Religion in the everyday: negotiating Islam in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Jennifer Selby, Religious Studies
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE14
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
The purpose of the proposed outreach
project is (a) to update the design of the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage
Web Site to provide high quality access
to all users regardless of the medium; and (b) to update the content of the site
to incorporate the latest in recent scholarly, polit ical and cultural
developments.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web Site (www.heritage.nf.ca)
deals with all aspects of the history and h e r i t a g e o f t h e p r o v i n c e o f
Newfoundland and Labrador in the
broader context of Canadian history and identity. Possibly the largest
heritage web site in the country, and one of the largest in the world, it now
contains approximately 1500 entries
and well over 5000 images, and audio and video clips. Started in 1997, it has
gained a national and international reputation for the quality, accuracy and
reliability of its content. The principal
target audiences for the site have been high school students and teachers, and
members of the general public who wish to learn more about the unique
history and culture of Newfoundland
and Labrador. Experience has shown that the site also attracts elementary
school students and university students.
Since going public in August 1997, almost 36 million pages have been
visited. The majority of visitors are from Canada, but the
site has been used by
people in over 180 countries. The Faculty
of Arts at Memorial University ensures the
maintenance of the web
site.A r e d e s i g n e d
N ew fo u n d lan d an d Labrador Heritage Web
Site will be accessible
and highly appealing, a n d p r ov i d e t h e m o s t r e c e n t
information available to all users, including students and educators at all
levels and the general public.
Cod trap to iPhone app: bringing Newfoundland and Labrador history into the 21st century
Vincent Walsh, Maritime History Archives
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12! PAGE15
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
Understanding the nature of our
e c o n o m y a n d i t s u n d e r l y i n g relationships is important for optimizing
the prosperity currently being felt by the
province and sustaining its benefits for future generations. Such investigations
require the skills and experience drawn from a number of diverse fields in
economics.
The areas which require applied e c o n o m i c r e s e a r c h w i t h i n
Newfoundland and Labrador and throughout the region run the gamut,
for example, from local and regional
economic growth to productivity measurement and the economics of
R&D to petroleum and energy economics to resource (mining, fishing
and forestry) and environmental
economics to public finance analysis and social accounting such as the
Community Accounts to labour market economic analysis, including assessing
the balancing of demand and supply,
demographic issues such as an aging labour supply and analyzing poverty
and the growing earnings inequalities and, finally, to applied economic
analys is, including cost-benefit,
simulation and input-output analyses. CARE is a 3-year pilot project, a
collaborative approach to applied
research in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is
curiosity-driven research that is
both technica l
and of interest to N e w fo u n d l a n d
and Labrador. It aims to build the
research capacity
of students and make them better
e m p l o y e e s . I t could eventually
develop into an
economic think t a n k f o r t h e
p r o v i n c e t h a t would be a go-to
institute to help
i m p r o v e empirically-based
policy analysis within the province.
Collaborative Applied Research in Economics (CARE)
Wade Locke, Political Science
GRANTS TO ARTS FACULTY, 2011-12 ! PAGE16
Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7 | 709-864-8254 | www.mun.ca/arts
The Faculty of Arts gratefully acknowledges Arts Departments, the Office of the VP (Research), the Office of the VP (Academic), and the School of Graduate Studies, who provided cash and in-kind contributions towards these grant applications.
Staff in the Office of Research Services worked many weekends and evenings to make sure we put forward the best grant applications ever: thank you.
G r a n t a p p l i c a n t s i n A r t s universally acknowledge the valuable contributions made by Theresa Heath (SSHRC Grants Crafter from 2004 to 2012). We all wish Theresa the best in her new position at ICEHR.
Acknowledgements…BECAUSE NO MAN IS AN ISLAND
Lisa Rankin, Acting Dean for 2011-12