Current Research Projects

The Department of Sociology and Criminology is engaged in a wide variety of different research projects. Faculty and staff research is funded by many different sources. Listed below, are some of the past and current projects of faculty and staff members in the Department of Sociology and Criminology. Please, visit individual faculty and staff pages for more up-to-date listings.

Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FSGR) Grant.  Saint Mary's University. The Jewish American Princess in American Popular Culture (2007-08) and Project Grant. Senior Scholar. Hadassah-Brandeis Institute for the Study of Jewish Women.  The Jewish American Princess in Popular Culture. (2006-2007) $1000 USD
Dr. Michele Byers, Principal Investigator 

These two grants are funding a common project in which I examine the way that the stereotype of the Jewish American Princess or JAP is produced and circulates within the popular public sphere.

SSHRCC and Atlantic Metropolis Centre of Excellence (2005, ongoing)

“Profiles of Immigrant Communities in Atlantic Canada: The Role of Networks in Attracting, Retaining and Integrating Immigrant Men and Women in Atlantic Canada” ($ 105.000 from the Atlantic Metropolis Centre of Excellence, plus 30,000 from Citizenship and Immigration). View Project Description.

Principal Investigator: N. Gallant, Université de Moncton, Co-investigators: A. Akbari,  P. Gardiner-Barber, L. Quaicoe, E. Tastsoglou., S. Weerasinghe.

Canadian Race Relations Foundation (2005, ongoing)

“La force du prejugé et l’ introspection de la communauté Arabe et Musulmane du Nouveau Brunswick et de la Nouvelle Ecosse aux lois sur la securité nationale” ($ 25,000.00),

SSHRC Standard Research Grant

Not in Front of the Children:  Canadian Media and the Production of Youth Cultures. (2004-2008) $58 000

Dr. Michele Byers Principal Investigator
This is the second SSHRC grant that I have held in this area. The first focused specifically on the Degrassi series. With this grant I take a bit of a step back to look at the way that youth is and has been produced across a number of Canadian television texts since the 1980s. Texts being studied include Degrassi, Ready or Not, Northwood, Madison, Drop the Beat, Straight Up!, Moccasin Flats, The Rez, Renegadepress.com, Edgemont, Naked Josh, and Radio Free Roscoe.

Federal Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (National Crime Prevention Centre)

Crime Prevention through Social Development

Project Manager/Principal Researcher: Stephen Schneider

Grant of $380,000 for a three year project to develop, implement and assess a comprehensive development program for “at-risk” children, based on the principles of crime prevention through social development. Awarded by the National Crime Prevention Centre in February 2006.

Community University Research Alliance-SSHRC

Beyond Theory: Restorative Justice in Practice (2005-2010) $1, 000, 000

Principal Investigator: J. Llewellyn (Dalhousie)

Co-investigators: B. Archibald (Dalhousie), D. Clairmont (Dalhousie), D. Crocker (Saint Mary's)

This CURA is broadly concerned with the practice of restorative justice (RJ) and its institutionalization.  Restorative justice (RJ) offers a new approach to dealing with crime which brings together all parties affected by wrongdoing in a deliberative process to address resulting harms with a view to restoring equality to the affected relationships.

Specifically, the CURA focuses on the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program, the most comprehensive restorative justice initiative in Canada. The CURA research will focus on five themes related to the practice of restorative justice: institutionalization: translating principles into practice; community; diversity & equity; gender; and conceptualizing and measuring success.

SSHRC Standard Research Grant
SSHRC Standard Research Grant Canadian Juvenile Justice Reform & Liberal Governing, 1960-82 (2005-08), Val Marie Johnson and Sandra Bell are investigating how, beginning at least as early as the 1960's, the shift from welfare-based to advanced forms of liberalism was linked with trends in juvenile justice reform. This shift culminated in both the final draft of the Young Offender's Act and reconfigurations in how youth, rights, responsibilities, citizenship and risk are governed in Canada. The project is particularly focused on tracing the gradual construction of youth as ³offenders,² and the shift from social to individual conceptions of rights. This is accomplished through a qualitative analysis of legislation proposed in this era, and connected political and social debates. In order to contextualize these developments internationally, the project also involves a comparison of reforms that led to the establishment of a Scottish children's hearing system based on the welfare principles that were increasingly abandoned in Canada in this era.

SSHRC Standard Research Grant

The Dynamics of Regime Change in Latin America: Democratization and Social Development 2006

Dr. Henry Veltmeyer, Principal Investigator ($85,000)

SSHRC Standard Research Grant

Popular Responses to Neoliberal Globalization in Latin America 2006

Dr. Henry Veltmeyer, co-applicant ($67,500)

SSHRC Standard Research Grant

Poverty Alleviation and Human Development: Kerala and Cuba 2006

Dr. Henry Veltmeyer, co-applicant ($155,000)

Past Research Projects

Status of Women Canada, Policy Research Fund; Canadian Heritage (2003-2006)

Other Support: Citizenship and Immigration, Canada; “Gender, Migration and Diversity / Immigrant Women Research Domain, Atlantic Metropolis Centre of Excellence; the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association, and Saint Mary’s University

Security and Immigration, Changes and Challenges: Immigrant and Ethnic Communities in Atlantic Canada, Presumed Guilty? ($154,710): Project Website

Principal Investigator: E. Tastsoglou.. Research Team:  E., Keeble, A. Dobrowolsky, D. Crocker, C.C. Moncayo (on behalf of the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association).

This study explores changes and challenges arising out of new security and immigration laws in Canada, specifically the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). While we trace the growing interface between security and immigration, more generally, we pay specific attention to the impact of these developments on women and men in immigrant and ethnic communities in Atlantic Canada. Multiple research instruments are used (from reviews of secondary literature, to town halls, focus groups, surveys and interviews) and the data is derived from work in 6 sites (Halifax, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Moncton, Saint John and St. John’s) throughout the region. Final Report: English (PDF) and French (PDF)

Status of Women Canada, Policy Research Fund (2005-2006)

“Navigating Anti-Violence Work in Atlantic Canada in a Culturally Sensitive Way” ($ 77,564.00)  

Research Team: E. Tastsoglou, Barbara Cottrell (Meta Research and Communications) and Peruvemba Jaya (Memorial University).

Alcohol and Gaming Authority, Halifax, Nova Scotia: 1997-1998
Social Impacts/Effects of Gaming
Researchers - Dr. Martha MacDonald, Dr. John McMullan, and Dr. David Perrier One-year funded study on the social impacts/effects of gambling in Nova Scotia. Principal researchers also include Dr. Martha MacDonald and Dr. John McMullan, Saint Mary's University. (Amount Awarded = $102,000.00)

CIDA Tier Two Grant: 1995-1999
Community Partnerships and Women's Studies
Co-Ordinator and Co-Manager - Dr. Linda Christiansen-Ruffman
This research is funded by a CIDA Tier Two Grant, 1995-1999, and includes an international team of scholars.

Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration (1997-1999)
Immigrant Women Organizing for Change: Integration and Community Development by Immigrant Women in the Maritimes
Principal Researcher - Dr. Evangelia Tastsoglou
A collaborative research project involving Saint Mary's University (SMU) and the University of New Brunswick (UNB) analyzing the process of immigrant women organizing for change in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This project was funded by the Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research (SSHRC) Grant: 1993-1997
Private Coercion & Crime Control: A Study of Profits, Markets, & Power in Entrepreneurial Police Work
Researcher - Dr. John McMullan
This research is funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research (SSHRC) grant, 1993-1997.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research (SSHRC) Grant
Gender, Ethnicity, Race, Class and State Policies in the Experience of South Asian Immigrant Women in Pacific Countries: A Comparative Study
Researcher - Dr. Helen Ralston
An on-going Social Sciences and Humanities Research (SSHRC) -funded research program that has involved field work in British Columbia, Canada as well as Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and India.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research (SSHRC) Grant
The Dynamics of Community-Based Development: International Experiences
Co-Investigator - Dr. Henry Veltmeyer
A three-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research (SSHRC) -funded research project. (Amount Awarded = $100,000.00)

Strategic Fund for Children's Mental Health
Evaluation Framework Development for Health Canada's Nobody's Perfect Parenting
Co-Researcher - Dr. Madine VanderPlaat
A research project funded by the Strategic Fund for Children's Mental Health. (Amount Awarded = $3,000.00)