Teaching

Currently Taught Courses – 2013-2014

Courses Taught

Survey Research Methods
Graduate Program in Sociology, SOCI 6120, half year course
This course provides students with a complete introduction to the theory and practice of survey research. The focus is on the historical development, design, and tools of this quantitative method. The course provides students with the skills to conduct their own survey. 

Gender and Critical Social Policy Analysis
Graduate Program in Sociology, SOCI 6684, half year course
In this course, students will be invited to think critically, analytically, and thoughtfully about social policy through the theoretical application of a gender lens. We primarily focus on the post-war inception of the welfare state and corresponding social policy and programs in Canada and how they have undergone transformations as a result of political, economic, and social forces. Social policy and its restructuring are analyzed as an outcome of multiple and often competing discourses and tensions surrounding ideas about gender, class, and race/ethnicity that materialize at local and community levels and all levels of government.

Families and Social Change
Undergraduate Program in Sociology, SOCI 3660, full course
In this course, students think critically and thoughtfully about “the family” and families and how they have changed over time. We explore: 1) the family as an institution and/or ideological construct and; 2) the relational experiences, interactive behaviours, and processes of everyday living that individuals experience as family life. In addition, we engage in critical analysis of the relational challenges that can materialize within families and how these challenges are also debated and discussed in broader political and policy discourses. Throughout this course, we adopt a sociological perspective that assumes that our ideas about family are shaped by race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and citizenship. We primarily focus on families in industrial Western societies (e.g. Canada) but will learn how families are diverse and varied through historical analysis and cross-cultural comparisons.

Feminist Perspectives on Families, Gender, and the State
Undergraduate Program in Sociology, SOCI 4685, full course

This seminar provides a critical approach to the study of the relationships between individuals, families and the state. You will use feminist perspectives to think critically and thoughtfully about the intersecting relationships between the sociological institutions of the family and welfare state, and the gender dynamics imbedded within each of them. Throughout this course, we focus primarily on the Canadian welfare state but draw cross-cultural comparisons to further elucidate key concepts (e.g. welfare regimes) and perspectives.