07/2018 - 09/2024
Assistant Professor, MacEwan University, Anthropology, Economics and Political Science
Since arriving at MacEwan, my research has become more focused on race, racism and whiteness in Alberta. I also research applied anthropological methods and teaching tools.
Domain research
In partnership with the Office of Human Rights, Diversity and Equity at MacEwan University, we designed and facilitated a survey to students, staff and faculty on experiences of racialized exclusion and belonging on campus. Results were presented to various bodies throughout the university.
I was the principal investigator in two research projects from 2018 until 2024:
Team-based community research project with the City of Edmonton's Community Development in Neighbourhoods. Using mixed methods, our interdisciplinary research team will collaborate with the Community Development in Neighbourhoods Initiative at the City of Edmonton to explore systemic barriers faced by precariously employed racialized groups in Edmonton. This project is supported by MacEwan's Strategic Research Grant. For more information, visit: https://sites.google.com/view/macewancdinresearch/home
Whiteness in Edmonton. In collaboration with three research assistants, this project will explore 'whiteness' that we define as a privilege afforded to white-skinned people and, an ideology that works to uphold white supremacy, at work through our ideologies, institutions, and our nation's infrastructure, here in Edmonton. This project is supported by MacEwan's Undergraduate Student Research Initiative, Mitacs Research Training Award, and Yorkville's Support for Scholarly Activity Funding. For more information, visit: https://sites.google.com/view/rowedmonton/home
Pedagogical Research
I am also collaborating on a pedagogical and transformative education project with a colleague from the University of Waterloo in Ontario. In February 2020, we facilitated a trip with MacEwan and Waterloo students (and community members) to Ghana where we explored slavery heritage tourism and homegoing, as white, Black and Brown Canadian travelers. Outcomes from this work include a website (link) and forthcoming graphic novel about our experiences. This work was supported by internal grants from MacEwan's Teaching and Learning Services and other supplemental funding.
In the Fall of 2019, I developed and facilitated a fourth-year Design Anthropology course for MacEwan undergraduates. This course integrated community-based research on behalf of local stakeholders. Students learned about design thinking, design tools, and developed community reports and prototypes of their design outcome. In collaboration with MacEwan scholars, we developed and facilitated an online survey about student experiences of this course to explore student experiences of design as pedagogy and research practice. I taught this course again in Winter 2022 and collected more data. Publication forthcoming.
01/2016 - 07/2018
Assistant Professor, McMaster University, School of Engineering Practice & Technology
As a contract teaching-track Assistant Professor, I focused on pedagogical research on teamwork among undergraduates and mature students learning preferences and competing responsibilities.
I also collaborated with McMaster Community Nursing scholars to investigate refugee youth experiences' of educational provision (and gap) in Hamilton, ON, Canada. We discovered issues with educational provision and support services for youth aged 18-21 who are in effect, becoming a lost generation.
01-2014 - 06/2018
Independent Researcher
During this period, I worked as a consulting ethnographer for market research firms involved in design technologies and strategies. Outputs from this work are proprietary.
I also worked as a qualitative research and program evaluation consultant for community organizations in the area of immigrant settlement and integration services. Copies of these community reports for local immigration partnership councils can be found at:
2018. Chatham-Kent Local Immigration Partnership. Recommendations for Future Practice: Research Overview and Recommendations: Link
2016. Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council. Promising practices for innovation and effective governance of Local Immigration Partnerships: Link
2015. Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council. Supporting immigrants to Hamilton in an evolving immigration environment: Link
01/2012 - 12/2013
Postdoctoral Researcher - Centre for Research on Migration and Ethnic Relations, Western University
Project Title: Investigating Intercultural Skills Development and Needs Assessment of Medium and Large Businesses in Ontario
This eight-month research project was conducted on behalf of the London Cross Cultural Learner Centre and in collaboration with The Achievement Centre. This project investigated factors related to cultural diversity and intercultural skills development training in medium and large sized businesses in London, Kitchener, and Toronto, Ontario. The project involved the examination of current theories and practices of intercultural skills development, industry partners' experiences of such training, as well as employees' and employers' perceptions and experiences of cultural diversity in the workplace. This research used multiple methodologies for investigation including in-depth interviews and focus groups.
Overall, it was found that immigrants, Aboriginals, LGBT, non-White participants and certain religious believers (predominantly Muslim) were more likely to encounter prejudice and racism in the workplace than White, Canadian-born, heterosexual participants. This finding supports other research in the area of workplace diversity and prejudice. Notable findings included the importance employees placed on prejudice during the hiring process, and the general lack of information and awareness concerning racism and bias in the workplace, on behalf of employers.
This research succeeded in its primary function to provide our partners with Intercultural Competency Training materials. Our output included a core module and three supplementary modules, all of which included up-to-date background information, case studies, and activities that addressed the major concerns found in the literature concerning contemporary diversity and cultural competency training.
Project Title: Optimizing the Delivery of Programming for Newcomers in London, Ontario
This research explores what type of programming for immigrants is best suited to be delivered through universal, targeted, or mixed services, so that these programs are most effective and well-utilized. In particular, this research will address three questions. First, why do immigrants choose to use universal, targeted, or mixed services? This may include information sources and perceptions of access, availability, barriers, and comfort level surrounding programs that are being offered. Second, what personal characteristics of immigrants and specific characteristics of programs influence immigrants’ preferences for use of universal, targeted, or mixed services? Personal characteristics of immigrants may include source country, language proficiency, age, gender, and length of time in Canada. Program characteristics may include the focus of the service (e.g., settlement versus recreation), the duration of the program, characteristics of staff who run the program, and the general demographics of those who frequently use the program. Third, how do immigrants see the costs and benefits of utilizing universal, targeted, or mixed services? Costs and benefits may include integration with the host society, contact with other immigrants, and overall perceived effectiveness of the program.
09/2007 – 12/2011 Doctoral Research Department of Anthropology, Western University, London, Ontario
Project focus: Belonging in everyday life through an exploration of discourses on citizenship, participation and integration in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
I conducted ethnographic research in three different neighbourhoods in Rotterdam (Bergpolder, Liskwartier, and Nieuwe Western), the Netherlands in order to explore how local and national discourses of belonging are expressed in everyday practices. Although other scholars have explored immigrants’ integration and the politics of belonging in the Netherlands, this project takes a unique approach by exploring ideas of belonging using space as an entry point for analysis, paying particular attention to how individuals’ use, access and understand neighbourhood public places. Using Ryan Centner’s concept of ‘spatial capital’, I argue that “autochthonous” individuals are more spatially privileged in their ability to define and design public places in the neighbourhood than individuals who would be perceived as “allochthonous”. Contrary to the declared objectives of official citizenship “tests” and integration programs, the process itself reproduces boundaries and differences between “autochthons” and “allochthons”.
I found that official and populist discourses concerning non-western Muslim immigrants in Dutch society today work to inscribe difference onto “foreign” (“allochthonous”) residents of the Netherlands while upholding an idealized notion of “Dutch identity”. My research revealed that it was not just government-sponsored integration programs that reproduced dominant understandings of belonging or difference through integration activities, but also, the everyday discursive practices of Dutch “natives” (called “autochthons”) who, at times inadvertently, reproduce exclusionary notions of national identity and belonging.
Collaborators
City of Edmonton RECOVER Urban Wellbeing Initiative
Dr. Christopher Stuart Taylor, University of Waterloo, Canada
Dr. Doriane Intungane, MacEwan University, Canada
Dr. Hellen Gateri, MacEwan University, Canada
Dr. Rita Dhungel, MacEwan University, Canada
Irfan Chaudhry, MacEwan University, Canada
Kim Peacock, Norquest College, Canada
Dr. Olive Wahoush, McMaster University, Canada
Dr. Amin Reza Rajabzadeh, McMaster University, Canada
Silvie Tanu Halim, McMaster University, Canada
Allan MacKenzie, McMaster University, Canada
Dr. Vicki Esses, Western University, Canada
Dr. Secil Ertorer, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Dr. Melissa Stachel, Western University, Canada
Dr. Randa Farah, Western University, Canada
Dr. Adriana Premat, Western University, Canada
Dr. Irene Stengs, Meertens Institute, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Dr. Carmen Becker, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, the Netherlands