Graduate student profiles

Denise Mahon, MA Student

I am entering the Sociology Masters program with a BA from UVic in Honours Sociology. During my undergrad, I completed an honours thesis titled ""Managing" the Homeless: Examining Structural Policing and Victoria's Homeless Population" under the supervision of Dr. Sean Hier. After my BA, I worked for a year at the London School of Economics and Political Science on two research programs, "Human Security" and "Global Civil Society" at the Centre for Global Governance.

My research interests are focused on issues of social control, governance techniques and processes, deviance and inequality. Specifically I am interested in social problems construction, maintenance and outcomes, especially concerning disadvantaged and marginalized populations.

Blair Wilkinson, PhD Student

After completing my BA[H] in Criminology (University of Windsor 2008), I completed my Master's thesis in Criminology (University of Windsor 2010), "A Study of the Influence of Video Surveillance Images on Institutional Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Practices", under the supervision of Dr. Randy Lippert. I am currently a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr. Sean Hier.

My primary research interests are in the areas of policing, security and surveillance. I have investigated the transfer and uses of private video surveillance images, including the use of images by "Crime Stoppers" programs in Canada and Australia. My SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship funded doctoral research will examine security provision at Canadian universities.

Publications

Wilkinson, B. and Lippert, R. 2011. "Moving Images Through an Assemblage; Police, Visual Information, and Resistance". Critical Criminology. Online 13 October 2011.
Lippert, R. and B. Wilkinson. Forthcoming. “Deploying Camera Surveillance Images: The Case of Crime Stoppers”. In A. Doyle, R. Lippert and D. Lyon (Eds.) Eyes Everywhere: The Global Growth of Camera Surveillance. Routledge.
Lippert, R. and B. Wilkinson. 2010. “Capturing Crime, Criminals, and the Public’s Imagination: Assembling Crime Stoppers and CCTV Surveillance”. Crime, Media, Culture 6(2): 131-152
Lippert, R. and B. Wilkinson. 2009. “The Transfer and Use of Camera Surveillance Images: The Case of Crime Stoppers”. A Report on Camera Surveillance in Canada: Part Two. Surveillance Camera Awareness Network.

Dan Lett, PhD Candidate

After earning a BA in Cultural Studies (Sheffield Hallam, 2002) and working as a teacher in Japan for two years, I achieved an MA in the UVic Department of Sociology and am currently completing my PhD under the supervision of Dr. Sean Hier.

My main research interest is surveillance and my dissertation focuses on the use of video surveillance cameras in public spaces in Canada. My other interests include moral politics, liberal governance, and religion. In addition to surveillance, I have published work on moral panics, racism, and the relationship between science and religion.

Recent Publications

Lett, D., S. Hier, K. Walby and A. Smith. 2011. Panic, Regulation and the Moralization of British Law and Order Politics. In S. Hier (Ed.) Moral Panic and the Politics of Anxiety
Hier, S. P., Lett, D., Walby, K. & Smith, A. 2011. Beyond Folk Devil Resistance: Linking Moral Panic and Moral Regulation. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 11, 3.
Lett, D., S. Hier and K. Walby. 2010. CCTV Surveillance and the Civic Conversation: A Study in Public Sociology. Canadian Journal of Sociology 35, 3: 437–462
Hier, S.P., Lett, D. and Bolaria, S. (Eds.) 2009. Racism and Justice: Critical Dialogue on the Politics of Identity, Inequality and Change. Vancouver, BC: Fernwood Press.
Hier, S., J. Greenberg, K. Walby, D. Lett. 2007. Media, Communication, and the Establishment of Public Camera Surveillance Programs in Canada. Media, Culture, and Society 29, 5: 727-751

Manda Roddick, PhD student

Manda Roddick is a doctoral student at the University of Victoria. After completing a year abroad at Queen’s International Study Centre in 2000, Manda attended the University of British Columbia for three years. She later returned to Queen’s and completed a Bachelor of Arts in Geography in 2006 before commencing a Master’s program in Sociology at the University of Victoria in 2008.

For her MA research Manda conducted a case study with one of Canada’s largest NGOs - the World University Service of Canada’s (WUSC). The study specifically focused on WUSC’s six week International Seminar program. Manda collected empirical data in Canada through a series of longitudinal interviews and also had an opportunity to complete a point-in time study with several International Seminar participants while they were in Ghana. The analysis in the thesis focused on an in-depth examination of global citizenship and public engagement activities.

Over the past decade Manda has worked, studied, or volunteered in countries on three continents, and her passion for examining aspects of global poverty and social inequality continue to guide her work in her doctoral degree. In her dissertation, Manda will focus on the ways international development and global social inequalities are discussed in Canada by those that have volunteered abroad. Manda received a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (www.vanier.gc.ca) in 2010 and is fortunate to have the generous support of SSHRC while completing her PhD program.

Dann Hoxsey, MA student

Surely, Sociology would not be worth an hour’s trouble… if it did not give itself the job of restoring to people the meaning of their action. (Grenfell 2004, quoting Pierre Bourdieu)

I began the Sociology Masters program in 2010 after completing my honours degree in sociology at UVic (titled “ ‘We’re not trained to give peer support’: Activating a discourse of ‘professionalism’ in an on-campus GLBTQIA2 organization,” supervised by Drs. Steve Garlick and Dorothy Smith)

I am a gay working class male and this standpoint (objectivity be damned) has had a strong influence on my research interests. My master’s thesis will employ institutional ethnography to explicate the ways in which gay and lesbian elites are subversively shaping the Pride Movement. Beginning with the statement that “Pride’s not really for me,” this research project will use Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence to ask, “How have we come to the point where GLBTQIA2 people are inhibited from participating in the Toronto Pride Parade.” Preliminary work on the Pride Movement indicates that this shift is marked by a turn away from a decidedly political challenge to the status quo in favour of a more homogenized (often described as an ‘elite’ and assimilationist) agenda.

Publications

Hoxsey, Dann. (Forthcoming 2011). “Debating The Ghost Of Marshall: A Critique Of Citizenship.” Citizenship Studies 15 (5).
Hoxsey, Dann. 2010. “Are Happy Employees Healthy Employees? Researching the Effects of Employee Engagement on Absenteeism.” Canadian Public Administration, 53(4): 551-571.
Hoxsey, Dann. 2008. “Mixed Communities Require Mixed Theories: Using Mills to Broaden Goffman's Exploration of Identity Within the GBLT Communities.” Sociological Research Online 13 (1-2).

Tim Sevenhuysen, MA student

In 2008 I graduated with distinction from UVic with a BA in Sociology and Professional Writing. I balanced attention to both qualitative and quantitative methodology with interests in social psychology, the environment, religion, and online communities. I entered the UVic MA program in 2008, worked through two coop terms, and completed my coursework in spring 2010.

I am currently working towards completing my thesis, which is titled "The Role of the Internet in the Anti-HST Movement." In this study I am applying constructivist grounded theory to an analysis of the ways that the internet affects and is affected by social and political movements. I am being advised by Dr. Steve Garlick.

Cristal Sargent, MA student

I am a MA candidate in sociology and I graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University's Bachelor of Arts program in 2007 in honours sociology. My research interests include homelessness, housing, social movements and poverty.

My current MA research will investigate participation in tent cities in Victoria, BC. I am specifically interested in understanding participation in tent cities as forms of resistance and alternative forms of self-help housing. During my time in the sociology department at UVic I have had the opportunity to participate in colloquium presentations, present at national and local conferences in the community and at UVic and have I participated in many practical workshops. These opportunities have been invaluable to my experience at UVic and in my growth in academia.

Laura Funk, post-doctoral fellow

After completing a BA at the University of British Columbia and a diploma in Gerontology at Simon Fraser University, I came to the UVic Sociology Department, where I completed my MA and, then PhD (2008). My area of research and theoretical interest is the intersection of responsibility, caregiving and health across the life course. My current, CIHR-funded post-doctoral research is an examination of the meaning and practice of "family responsibility" in interactions between home care nurses and family caregivers (an observational study). I have over ten years of experience in implementing and disseminating research using a variety of approaches, including both qualitative (interpretive inquiry) and quantitative designs. Stemming from my initial involvement as a research coordinator on a health promotion project from 2001-2005, I have since also became active in promoting food security and access to community gardens in the Hillside-Quadra neighbourhood of Victoria.

Laura Funk, PhD, Centre on Aging, University of Victoria

Katelin Bowes, MA student

I am a first year graduate student in sociology and graduated from Vancouver Island University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majors in Sociology and Psychology. Currently, my interests include sociological and social theory, interdisciplinary studies, and knowledge and power relations.

My MA research will use institutional ethnography to investigate the inclusion of social science research into scientifically dominated funding agencies to examine how organizational documents play a significant role in coordinating and organizing both the social scientist herself and the knowledge produced.

Ashley Pullman, MA student

After completing a joint major in sociology and communication at Simon Fraser University I began the MA program in 2009. My research interests stem from the experience of studying Mandarin at Zhengzhou University in central China. I became fascinated by the intersections of culture and knowledge an individual experiences through an overseas education. Furthermore, I began to question how this educational experience impacts larger communities once the individual returns home.

From this personal experience and a greater sociological interest in China, my research focus is on a group of Chinese citizens, known as colloquially as haigui, socially defined by their overseas educational credentials. Historically this small group of elite citizens had great political and social impact; however, more recently, a higher-education abroad has become attainable for a greater number of affluent individuals. My research will look in-depth at this group with the intent of exploring their social position, and through planned fieldwork in summer 2010, examine how foreign education credentials form social capital within China.

Emily Pridham, MA student

I am a first-year MA student in the sociology department. I completed a BA in sociology with a minor in professional writing at UVic in 2009. My research interests include aging, health and health promotion, and informal caregivers.

For my MA thesis I will investigate how informal caregivers of older adults engage with and make sense of the current health-promotion discourse. As a research assistant at the Centre on Aging, I have had the opportunity to research policies and programs that show potential for supporting informal caregivers' health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on seniors caring for seniors.