Research Projects

Students who conduct and complete research projects in the Social Justice Studies program often enter the program with a research idea, they find a project supervisor, and they refine and propose that idea to the Academic Review Committee (ARC). Some students develop their research projects after they enter the MA program. Once approved by ARC and Research Ethics Board (REB) approval has also been obtained, students often spend two semesters conducting the research and writing up their findings. This is a demanding process, but a great learning experience for students. 

Research Projects

2024 Completions

Alanna Morgan, “Cancer Healing Narratives in Anishinaabe Traditional Healing.” 

Supervisor: Lana Ray 

Mino bimaadiziwin is an Anishinaabe concept of “the way of a good life.” Colonialism disrupted mino bimaadiziwin for many Anishinaabek and is understood as a key determinant of health for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Indigenous peoples experience poorer health outcomes, including significantly shorter life expectancy and overrepresentation in many chronic diseases including cancer. Traditional healing is positioned as one path towards decolonization in healthcare and equitable health outcomes. This research explores the experiences of Indigenous people who have participated in Anishinaabe traditional healing related to cancer treatment. This research employs Indigenous and decolonizing methodologies grounded in relationality, reciprocity and respect. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Indigenous people with cancer participating in Anishinaabe traditional healing. Through intuitive logic and relational accountability, three interconnected themes of (a) self-determination, (b) relationality, and (c) mino bimaadiziwin in Anishinaabe traditional healing are identified. As a researcher and Anishininiikwe this research was also personally transformative. Indigenous traditional healing contributes to wholistic wellbeing of Indigenous peoples during their cancer journeys and must be made accessible for Indigenous peoples as part of a decolonized cancer prevention and treatment strategy. 

 

Laija Beaulieu, “The Lived Experiences of Caregivers of Children With Congenital Cytomegalovirus Receiving Healthcare in a Remote and Rural Area of Northern Canada.”

Supervisor: Helle Moeller

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that rarely causes concerns in healthy individuals; however, when a fetus contracts the virus in utero (known as congenital CMV or cCMV), it may cause severe developmental and life-long health challenges for the infant. Northern Ontario, which encompasses the majority of the province, has an incredibly low population density, making healthcare accessibility challenging for those who reside there. To better understand caregivers' lived experiences with a child who has cCMV in Northern Ontario, Laija conducted a qualitative research project involving in-depth interviews with caregivers in the Thunder Bay District. The project aimed to advocate for health equity by raising awareness of the barriers and gaps that caregivers in remote and rural areas may face when accessing CMV-related healthcare, gain insight into the phenomenon of parenting a child with cCMV living in Northwestern Ontario, as well as evaluate what programs and services they would find helpful.

2023 Completions

Emily Collins (2021-23), "The Somalia Affair: Canada’s Neglect of Basic Human Rights through a Post-Colonial Lens." 
Supervisors: Dr. Jessica Jurgutis and Dr. Benjamin Maiangwa

Kamilah Gure (2021-23), "Assessing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Principles for Developing Leadership Practices Within the AOM (Association of Ontario Midwives). A Case Study Approach." 
Supervisor: Dr. Benjamin Maiangwa

Emily McFarlane (2021-23), "Race and Class in Media Coverage of Six Femicides." 
Supervisors: Dr. Lori Chambers and Dr. Jenny Roth

Nesteha Mohamed (2022-23), "The Contested Politics of Identity and Belonging: A Case Study of 'Kenyan-Somalis.'"
Supervisor: Dr. Benjamin Maiangwa

Alexandra Stargratt (2021-23), "Understanding Our Role and What We Can Do: How to Indigenize Research at Academic Institutions."
Supervisors: Dr. Lana Ray and Dr. Jessica Jurgutis

Tyna Legault Taylor (2021-23), "Supporting Food Justice and Ongoing Healing Through Stories of Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Food Insecurity in Attawapiskat First Nation." 
Supervisors: Dr. Barbara Parker and Dr. Lana Ray 

Miana Whitfield (2021-23), "The Truth Behind the Imposter Phenomenon: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis." 
Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer Chisholm

2022 Completions

Made Unknowable and Invisible: Transgender Experiences of Sexual Violence.

Raven Booth (2020-22)
Supervisors: Dr. Lori Chambers and Dr. Jennifer Chisholm.

Raven Booth (they/them, she/her) is a white non-binary person who completed their master's with Lakehead remotely while residing on the unceded M'ikmaw territory of Kjipuktuk ("Halifax, NS"). Their research takes an anti-carceral approach to understanding sexual violence in the lives of transgender people. Feminist in-depth interviews were conducted with eight trans survivors who spoke about their experiences with sexual violence and its aftermath. Throughout the interviews, the themes of invisibility and obscured violence emerged. Trans and queer identities often worked to make participants invisible and/or unknowable as victims/survivors. This overarching theme can be seen in the circumstances of initial experience of sexual violence, through disclosure and help-seeking, impact on health, and reporting and justice. This finding begs the question: Can transgender people simultaneously be understood as survivors of sexual violence? Can survivors of sexual violence be seen and respected in their transgender identities? Unfortunately for many of Raven's participants, trans identity and survivor identity were constantly put at odds with each other. 
The Jewish Question in Former Yugoslavia: The Case of Croatia. 
Irem Osmanoglu (2020-22)
Supervisor: Dr. Steve Jobbitt

The research project aims to analyse populist-nationalist movements in Croatia with a particular focus on the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the country since the end of communism. Situating the Jewish Question in Croatia in a deeper historical context, the project will apply postcolonial and postsocialist critiques to examine the deteriorating conditions of the political system and social structures in Croatia since the 1990s with particular attention being paid to Croatian patriotism during the transition toward the Western system."
Trapped in the city - Traplines as Indigenous Resurgent Praxis
Tina Munroe (2020-22). MA in English, SJS Specialization 
Supervisor: Dr. Max Haiven 

Tina Munroe is an Anishinaabe dreamer and thinker who has spent a LOT of time wondering what the repatriation of Indigenous Land and life could look like if imagined outside the parameters of capitalism and the Indian Act. For Tina, a non-status Indian, the streets of Thunder Bay have become her homeland where access to land is limited to space you can rent, buy or visit. Rather than think of “land back” as the transfer of property, she is interested in the subversive ways Indigenous people dispossessed of their homelands make life in the city in spite of heavy surveillance. Tina’s Master’s research focuses on the public library as a site of Indigenous resurgent praxis for those targeted and dispossessed by colonialism.
 Sexual Abuse & Rape Culture in Modern Transnational Yoga Case Study: Sivananda Yoga

Angela Gollat (2020-22). GWS specialization. 
Supervisors: Dr. Lori Chambers and Dr. Jennifer Chisholm. 

Over the past decade, and particularly since the rise of the #metoo movement, victims/survivors have streamed forward to report gendered-based sexual violence within the modern transnational yoga context, creating a distinct survivor movement; #metooyoga. To date, few have received any accountability, truth-telling, compensation, or repair in response to their disclosures. In contrast, nearly all accused and their yoga empires have continued business as usual, largely exempt from critical analysis by yoga scholars, practitioners, or the broader culture in which yoga has received amnesty. Situated within a newly emerging body of research on sexual abuse within yoga, this research aims to center survivors’ voices within the discourse.
 

 2021 Completions

Home and the Hinterland: Reflections of a Nigerian Intellectual in Anishinaabe Territory

Igbinijsu Nehikare (2020-21)
Supervisors: Dr. Travis Hay, Dr. Kristin Burnett, Dr. Jessica Jurgutis

We are Links in a Daisy Chain: The Important Role of Relationships in the Cultural Identity of Métis Women

Celine Wick (2019-21)
Supervisors: Dr. Lana Ray and Dr. Anita Vaillancourt

 

2020 Completions 

“It’s kind of a big grey area”: Undergraduates Understandings of Consent at Lakehead University”

Kasey Eagen (2018-20)
Supervisors: Dr. Jennifer Chisholm and Dr. Lori Chambers

Accounting for Gender: An Analysis of Indian Affairs Gendered Policies and Paternal Relationship with Attawapiskat First Nation

Kaye Leatherdale (2018-20)
Supervisors: Dr. Travis Hay and Dr. Kristin Burnett

The Wounded Healers: Building, Individuals, Families, and Communities from the Inside

Romani Makkik (2017-20)
Supervisors: Dr. Kristin Burnett and Dr. Rob Robson

 

2019 Completions


"You Have to Earn it": Barriers to Emergency Health Care in Thunder Bay for People with Chronic Illnesses

Elyse Cottrell-Martin (2017-2019)
Supervisors: Dr. Kristin Burnett and Dr. Geoff Hudson

The study is rooted in a historical and intersectional framework (Nash, 2008) that acknowledges the ways in which identity categories can impact a person’s health care experiences. The research is grounded in consideration of the context of the history of disability for present day barriers, as well as the history of systemic racism towards Indigenous people in Canada and in particular Thunder Bay (Hay, 2017, Talaga, 2017). Using quantitative (N=104) and qualitative (N=10) methods to build upon previous studies examining barriers faced by marginalized people when accessing health care, I will identify gaps in services by revealing the numerous assumptions built into our “universal” health care system, the history in which these assumptions are built, and the ways in which they increase marginalization for people already disadvantaged by the system. Identifying barriers may assist healthcare providers and community groups in improving access to care for marginalized groups.

Understanding the barriers that people with chronic illness face when accessing health care is essential to improving services. Studies (Chapman, Kaatz & Carnes, 2013; Gomez et al, 2012; Kurtz et al., 2008) have revealed that different identities (race, class, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, etc.) increase these barriers as they can impact both the medical and social treatment a patient receives. I will demonstrate how consideration of the historical context for these barriers and experiences is essential to improving health care.

Navigating and Negotiating Racial Identity in Thunder Bay

Kristen Kowlessar (2017-2019)
Supervisors: Dr. Barbara Parker and Dr. Kristin Burnett

Thunder Bay, northwestern Ontario is a regional city that is home to a predominantly white population. Thunder Bay’s population is 90% white and has a growing Indigenous population which now constitutes 8% of the total population (Macdonald, 2017); thus, the remaining 2% is comprised of all the racialized peoples, defined here as those who do not self-identify as white or Indigenous. This study aims to understand how place shapes the lived experiences of racialized peoples in Thunder Bay. 

This project takes a social constructivist approach, wherein eight participants took part in face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews to discuss their experiences in Thunder Bay. Through a hermeneutical phenomenological approach to analysis, their stories revealed themes of overt aggressions, microaggressions, and lateral violence. These themes initiate discussion of what “Thunder Bay” means, racism in Thunder Bay, and racialized people’s feelings of safety in Thunder Bay.

 Showing Artful Inquiry: Investigating the Mental Wellbeing of St. James Town Area Youth Through Community Participation in Painting Activities

Mehdia Hassan (2017-19)
Supervisor: Dr. Pauline Sameshima

Community participation in visual arts promotes the social inclusion of youth facing systemic social and health inequities (Robson & Ashbourne, 2016). This research project uses a social justice lens to examine the effectiveness of visual-arts based community activities, such as painting, and its impact on the mental wellbeing of five marginalized youth living in the underserved St. James Town area of downtown Toronto. Visual artistic inquiry and the Catechization Process from the interdisciplinary Parallaxic Praxis (Sameshima et al, in press) Research Model is used to explore feelings of belonging and self-esteem, which are two important indicators of youth mental wellbeing. Thematic analysis is also used to investigate the impact of painting activities on youth mental wellbeing. 

Participants of the project were five youth from the St. James Town and Regent Park communities, who were 17 years old and 18 years old. As part of data analysis, the researcher also created an original canvas painting that creatively interprets and synthesizes ideas, in response to the five participant paintings. Results generally indicate that the community art-making sessions fostered positive social change through increased feelings of belonging, self-esteem, critical self-reflection and social capital in the five marginalized youth participants. 

 

 2018 Completions

 

Critical Shifts in 21st Century Social Justice: Disciplinary Art History and Critical Curatorship in Contemporary Canada

Tuija Hansen (2016-2018)
Supervisor: Dr. Kristy Holmes

This research essay examines meaningful decolonization practices within art galleries, museums, and disciplinary art history in Canada. The first part of this paper discusses settler-colonialism, feminism, decolonizing approaches, and critical theory in regards to disciplinary art history in Canada. The second part of this paper relates these recent critical discussions to emerging curatorial practices in Canada, including exhibiting contemporary Indigenous artwork in de-colonial frameworks. To conclude, I examine and analyze key exhibits that employ this curatorial framework and I discuss some successful elements of gallery exhibition and methods to improve de-colonial curatorial practice. The majority of the exhibits examined and discussed occurred in 2017, during a moment of deep reflection in Canada due to the 150th anniversary of confederation.

 

A Community Food Mapping and Photovoice Project: The Lakehead University Food Environment and the Experiences of Students

Samantha Stewart (2016-2018)
Supervisors: Dr. Kristin Burnett and Dr. Barbara Parker

 
The Effects of the Acculturation Process on the Identities of International Muslim Students

Jasra Rahmath (2017-2018)
Supervisors: Dr. Kristin Burnett and Dr. Barbara Parker

This study looked at the shifts in Muslim international students' religious and/or cultural identities at a university in Northern Ontario. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, data was analyzed to better understand what acculturative stressors are contributing to the shifts in international Muslim students' religious and/or cultural identities and what the implications of those shifts are. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from South Asia and the Middle East. The results of the study revealed that many participants did experience a shift in their religious and/or cultural identity after moving to Canada with female participants experiencing more challenges than their male counterparts. The shifts in their religiosity were often conveyed in various displays of religiosity.