Sociology and Criminology, Saint Mary's University

Sociology and Criminology

Dr. Michele Byers
(Associate Professor, Full-Time Faculty)

Dept of Sociology & Criminology
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, NS, B3H 3C3
(902) 420 - 5869
(902) 420 - 5121 (fax)
michele.byers@smu.ca
Curriculum Vitae

Published Work

Publications: Edited Collections

Byers, Michele and David Lavery, eds. On the Verge of Tears: Why the Movies, Television, Music, and Literature Make us Cry . Cambridge Scholars Publishing Ltd. 2010. 260 pages.

Byers, Michele and Val Johnson, eds. “The CSI Effect:” Television, Crime, and Critical Theory. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2009. 310 pages.

Byers, Michele and David Lavery, eds. Dear Angela: Remembering My So-Called Life . Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2007. 256 pages.

Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity and Youth Cultures . Toronto: Sumach Press. 2005.

Refereed Journals

“Post-Jewish?: Theorizing the Emergence of Jewishness in Canadian Television.” Contemporary Jewry . Forthcoming.

Crocker, Diane and Michele Byers. “Feminist Cohorts and Waves: Attitudes of Junior Female Academics.” International Journal of Women's Studies . Accepted with minor revisions.

“The Stuff of Legend: T/Selling the Story of Reena Virk.” Canadian Ethnic Studies . Accepted.

Byers, Michele and Jennifer VanderBurgh. “Trafficking (in) the Archive: Canada, Copyright, and the Study of Television.” ESC: English Studies in Canada . Forthcoming.

Byers, Michele and Jennifer VanderBurgh. “What Was Canada? Locating the Language of an Empty National Archive.” Critical Studies in Television 5(2). 2010: 105–117.

“The Pariah Princess: Agency, Representation, and Neoliberal Jewish Girlhood.” Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 2(2). 2009: 33-54.

Byers, Michele and Diane Crocker. “A Place at the Table and Voice in the Hall: Third Wave Feminism in the Canadian Academy.” Atlantis 32(2). 2009: 19–31.

Byers, Michele and Evangelia Tastsoglou. “Negotiating Ethno-Cultural Identity: The Experience of Greek and Jewish Youth in Halifax.” Canadian Ethnic Studies . 2008: 5–33.

Byers, Michele and Rosalin Kreiger. “From Ugly Duckling to Cool Fashion Icon: Sarah Jessica Parker's Blonde Ambitions.” Shofar 25(4). 2007: 43–63.

“Material Bodies and Performative Identities: Mona, Neil, and the Promised Land.” Philip Roth Studies . 2006: 102–120.

With Rosalin Kreiger. “Beyond Binaries and Condemnation: Opening New Theoretical Spaces in Jewish Television Studies.” Culture, Theory and Critique . 42(2). 2005: 131–145.

“Scenes from the Frontier of the Material World: Television Images of Sexuality and Youth.” Studies in Popular Culture . October 2002.

“Gender/Sexuality/Desire: Subversion of Difference and Construction of Loss in the Adolescent Drama of My So-Called Life.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society . 23(3), 1998: 711 – 734.

Reprinted in Multicultural Studies in American Television . Edited by Jon Panish and Charles Krinsky. Forthcoming.

Reprinted in Dear Angela: Remembering My So-Called Life . Edited by Michele Byers and

David Lavery. Forthcoming from Lexington Books.

“Constructing Divas in the Academy: Why the Female Graduate Student Emerges in Prime-Time Television Culture.” Higher Education Perspectives . Vol. 1. 1996/1997: 99 – 118.

Invited Book Chapters

“I Am (A) Canadien(ne): Canadian Girls and Television Culture.” In Transforming Spaces: Girlhood, Agency & Power , edited by Yasmin Jiwani, Claudia Mitchell and Candis Steenbergen. Montreal: Black Rose Books. 2005: 227–242.

With Rosalin Krieger. “Something Old Is New Again? Postmodern Jewishness on The O.C. , Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm .” In You Should See Yourself: Jewish Identity in Postmodern American Culture , edited by Vincent Brook. Rutgers UP. 2006: 277–297.

“Canadianizing Canadians: Television, Youth, Identity.” In Between Empires: A Canadian Cultural Studies Reader , edited by Imre Szeman, Gail Faurschou, and Sourayan Mookerjea. Duke UP. Forthcoming.

Chapters in Books

“ Canadian Idol and the Myth of National Identity.” In Between Reality and Fiction on Canadian Television , edited by Zoë Druick and Patsy Kotsopoulos. Forthcoming from Wilfred Laurier Press.

“Education and Entertainment: Degrassi does Degrassi Talks. ” In Between Reality and Fiction on Canadian Television , edited by Zoë Druick and Patsy Kotsopoulos. Forthcoming from Wilfred Laurier Press.

“Revisiting Teenage Truths: Engaging with Simonetti's Questions of National Identity and Culture Ten Years Later.” In Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity and Youth Cultures . Toronto: Sumach Press, edited by Michele Byers. 2005: 31–51.

With Rebecca Haines. “That White Girl from That Show .” In Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity and Youth Cultures . Toronto: Sumach Press, edited by Michele Byers. Forthcoming 2005: 167–190.

“Have Times Changed?: Girl Power and Feminism on Degrassi .” In Growing Up Degrassi: Television, Identity and Youth Cultures . Toronto: Sumach Press, edited by Michele Byers. 2005: 191–209.

“Those Happy Golden Years: Beverly Hills, 90210 , College Style.” In Imagining the Academy: Higher Education and Popular Culture . Edited by Gunilla Holms, Susan Edgerton and Toby Daspit. Routledge, 2005: 191–209.

“Race In/Out of the Classroom: Degrassi (Junior High) as Multicultural Context.” In Racism Eh? A Critical Inter-Disciplinary Anthology of Race in the Canadian Context . Edited by Charmaine Nelson and Camille Nelson. Captus Press, 2004: 298-315.

“Waiting at the Gate: The New, Postmodern Promised Land.” In Suburban Sprawl: Culture, Theory, and Politics . Edited by Hugh Bartling and Matt Lindstrom. Rowan & Littlefield, 2003: 23-44.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Next Generation of Television.” In Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century . Edited Alison M. Piepmeier and Rory C. Dicker. Northeastern University Press. 2003: 171-87.

Encyclopedia Entries

“Degrassi .” Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia, edited by Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh. Forthcoming from Greenwood Press 2007.

“Bat Mitzvah.” Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia, edited by Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh. Forthcoming from Greenwood Press 2007.

“J.A.P.” Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia, edited by Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh. Forthcoming from Greenwood Press 2007.

Conference Proceedings

“Not just a Princess: Beyond the JAP in Jewish Girlhood ” Conference Summary Report: What Are We Holding in Our Hands Now? Montreal: PowerCamp National/Filles d'Actions. 2004: 63-65.

Book Reviews

Turbo Chicks: Talking Young Feminism . Edited by Lisa Bryn Rundle et al. RFR/DFR , February 2003.

Non-Refereed Publications

“I Lost my Wife to Facebook, and Other Myths that Might be True." FLOW.

“Little Mosque on the Prairie : The Life and Times of the CBC.” FLOW. 5(8). 2007.

“Post- CSI TV: The Ecstacies of Dexter .” FLOW. 5(4). 2006.

“Degrassi : Media Literacy and Literate Media." Orbit: OISE/UT's Magazine for Schools . April 2005.

“Creating a Departmental Video Library (2000/01).” Office of Instructional Development Newsletter . Saint Mary's University. Winter/Spring 2003: 1-2.

“Cultural Studies Research Group.” The Times . Saint Mary's University. 34(3). December 2003: 2, 4.

“Creating a Video Archive and Library.” Office of Instructional Development Newsletter . Saint Mary's University. Fall 2001: 11-12.

“Diversity in the Classroom: Dalhousie Conference on University Teaching and Learning.” Office of Instructional Development Newsletter . Saint Mary's University. Fall 2001:4.

Course Listing