Schedule

Fat Studies Research Cluster

In the current worldmaking processes, Dorinne Kando (2018) argues, there is a production of structures of inequality rooted in the personal registry, thus enacting a multidimensional understanding of aesthetics of genre, affect and subjectivities limited to these very structures. The capacity of worldmakings in the realm of the personal registry prioritizes and privileges the “colonial matrix of power and its multiple industrial complex”, so it is pertinent to think outside these systems of domination across time and space (Mignolo, 2021) Critical fat praxis fulfills a version of ‘love ethics’ (bell hooks, 1999) by pushing forth a narrative on the intersectional interplay between bodies and worlds. As a theoretical framework rooted in fat liberation and projects of abolition, the practice of fat-worldmakings centers on fat-being, intersectionality, care and wholeness as a mode of reimagining, resistance and resurgence (Kafai, 2021). In line with multiple fields that study marginalized bodies and experiences, such as feminist studies, disability studies, critical race studies, and/or Indigenous studies, there is a thorough examination of how bodies intermingle with social discourses, structures, and members to understand fat experiences. In re-imagining a worldmaking that considers the interconnectivity and community, scholarship uses a critique of social, political, cultural, medical and other notions of fatness that have ascribed fat bodies and people as ‘non-normative’, ‘unhealthy’, ‘unproductive’ and lacking any futurity whatsoever. Through such critiques of the fear, grief, and violence of the hegemonic power relations that frame fat people with the negative connotations of sizeism; visions of fat futures and life are thought through with a sense of love and care. In doing this, critical fat praxis becomes practice as it cultivates an intersectional and interdependent fat epistemology and methodologies that bring upon a process of unlearning and nurturing of communities and stories. Session Organizers: Kelsey Ioannoni, Wilfrid Laurier University and Ramanpreet A. Bahra, Wilfrid Laurier University Session Chair: Ramanpreet A. Bahra, Wilfrid Laurier University

Research Methods

Drawing on vulnerability as a hidden but key element of social science and justice-based research, this presentation reflects on the significance of the methodologically unresolved as a critical consideration of intersectional, interdisciplinary research from the classroom to a variety of research contexts. Scholars we have collaborated with in our collection, Contemporary Vulnerabilities: Reflections on Social Justice Research, share everyday moments and experiences of vulnerability as they navigate unsteady and fluctuating engagement with communities/participants, social justice politics, students/mentorship, academic integrity, funding bodies, and institutional ethics expectations. In our ongoing work, we surface these tenuous moments and share new spaces and mediums to navigate vulnerability through our podcast and improvization workshops. Our presentation will include a six-minute clip of a vulnerable moment from the podcast and share some of our improv prompts to illustrate how we handle communicating moments of vulnerability and endeavour to support scholars with the unexpected and messy process of doing research for social impact. Session Organizers: Claire Carter, University of Regina, Chelsea Jones, Brock University, and Caitlin Janzen, University of Victoria

Social Event

Join us in the Greeting Table Room for light refreshments and to network with other delegates. Canadian Sociological Association Conference delegates only

Animals in Society Research Cluster

What difference does it make, if nonhuman animals are "agents" in similar ways to human beings? While continuities between humans and animals (such as emotional and linguistic capacities) have been more thoroughly interrogated, animal agency remains under-theorized and under-researched (Johnson, 2020). Working against what primatologist Frans de Waal (1997)calls, “anthropodenial,” or a refusal to recognize “humanlike characteristics of other animals, or the animal-like characteristics of ourselves” (p. 51), discussions about animal agency represent the cutting edge of debates about animal consciousness and its implications for the political inclusion of nonhuman animals (Garner and O’Sullivan, 2016). Dislocating both genetic reductionism and determinism, our panel will build on emerging knowledge that recognizes nonhuman animals as active participants in their societies and environments, including those they share with humans (Conradt and Roper, 2003; Donaldson and Kymlicka, 2011). The social sciences, including ethnography, sociology, and political theory, are uniquely positioned to explain and evaluate the agential characteristics of nonhuman animals, and on this panel we continue this exploration through four papers that highlight agentic dimensions of multispecies communities as well as challenges that may result from the granting of political agency to nonhumans. Session Organizer and Chair: Stefan Dolgert, Brock University

Applied and Community Engaged Sociology Cluster
Student Concerns Subcommittee

While many graduate students seek careers in the professoriate, research has found that only about 19 percent of PhD holders in Canada hold tenured or tenure-track positions (Canadian Council of Academies, 2021). The sociology community’s recognition of the scarcity of positions in academia has prompted calls for more information to be communicated to postgraduates about careers outside academia. School-to-work studies of sociology students and sociology departments’ stories about their alumni provide evidence that the list of fulfilling, well-paying, and challenging jobs held by people with a sociology graduate degree is long and diverse. Despite this, many graduate students are not shown different pathways to employment outside the academy and fewer still are taught how to prepare to seek out jobs outside the professoriate. This session will bring together a group of panelists who will discuss their experiences and knowledge of working outside of the professoriate and propose practices that can be used by sociology graduate students to facilitate their transition from school to non-academic positions. Session Organizers and Moderators: Kristyn Frank, Statistics Canada and Shane Dixon, Wilfrid Laurier University

Criminology and Criminal Justice Research Cluster

Criminology is a multi-faceted field that uses 'crime' as its subject matter but has no single methodological commitment or paradigmatic theoretical framework. Many areas and conversations in criminology, however, are often dominated by work from the US, Britain, and the Scandinavian countries that differ from the Canadian context in significant socio-political, cultural, and economic respects. The main objective of this trio of sessions (CRIM1a, b, and c) is to connect researchers and discuss work that advances our understanding of crime and the criminal justice system in Canada as well as criminological knowledge more broadly. Session Organizers and Chairs: Timothy Kang, University of Saskatchewan and Daniel Kudla, Memorial University

Sociology of Disability Research Cluster

This session addresses the following questions: How do disabled people live and support one another in community? What does community mean in the context of disabled networks of solidarity and/or care? Session Organizers: Chris Churchill, University of Lethbridge and Athena Elafros, University of Lethbridge Session Chair: Elizabeth Cameron, Dalhousie University

Fat Studies Research Cluster

In the development of fat studies and other disciplines analyzing the experience of social inequality, race as an analytic has been left out of discussion as the focus has been very single-axis (Collins 1990; Hobson 2018; Strings 2020). There has been a wave in the theorizing of fatness that considers the intersectional aspects to the lived experience of fatness. Feminist sociology focusing on fatness and the body must be intersectional in nature. As Amy Farrell (2011) notes, “intersectional feminist theory, then, clarifies the ways that fatness as both an identity and as a category of discrimination and stigma must always be understood in context and in relationship to other forms of identity and oppression.” (p. 49). While many scholars have explored the intersections of gender and class with fatness, there is a need for stronger exploration of the ways in which race and fatness intersect (Strings, 2020). Strings (2020) argues that fatness is a ‘floating signifier’ of race. From this, Strings (2020) highlights how “given the necessary ambiguity of the race-craft, the meaning of fatness (as beautiful or grotesque) became politically contested and unstable. In this context, various elites … engaged in competing racial projects to either exalt or reject fat female bodies” (p. 7). The regulation of the fat body is a part of a larger system of regulation, and fatness is used to maintain categories of difference that are informed through other systems of marginalization, such as race, class, sexuality, gender, and ability (Jones, 2016). The intersection of fatness with larger systems of oppression has been underserved in fat studies literature, often essentializing the experiences of fat women (Friedman, Rice, and Rinaldi, 2019; Jones 2016; Wykes, 2016). As Baker-Pitts (2011) notes, “without an anti-racist, body-affirmative stance, all of us - fat, thin, of any size, are at risk of dwelling in body shame and spreading weight-based biases, regardless of how many hours we have spent analyzing our mind” (p. 19). Session Organizers: Kelsey Ioannoni, Wilfrid Laurier University and Ramanpreet A. Bahra, Wilfrid Laurier University Session Chair: Kelsey Ioannoni, Wilfrid Laurier University

Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization Research Cluster

This session features insightful and important scholarly works, projects and reflections on Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization so that we can centre these important issues for learning and discussion. Session Organizer and Chair: Kerry Bailey, McMaster University

Research Methods

This session creates space for researchers to reflect on and share lessons learned from their research experiences. Reflexive and reflective work that highlights the emotions, insights, and work of researchers allows for important discussion about ethical, impactful, and action-oriented sociological research. This is more true than ever as new and evolving research spaces (e.g., online platforms and virtual communities) demand contemporary approaches and practices from researchers. Papers will explore the dynamic work that researchers participate in both internally (e.g., reflexivity, emotional/psychological labour, identity work) and externally (e.g., recruiting participants, gaining and maintaining access to “the field,” data collection practices, researcher/participant relationships) are invited. The aims of this session are twofold. First, this session aims to creatively and critically learn from research experiences and places central importance on the researcher and their togetherness with their project, research participants, methods, and beyond. This session aims to explore the possibilities and potentials offered by researcher positionalities (e.g., by virtue of “insider”/“outsider” status, among other characteristics, relationships, and histories) and researchers’ commitments to (and committing of) reflexivity. Second, this session asks: How can we continuously commit ourselves to sociological research? As researchers are pressured to make themselves more public, for research reasons and beyond, what risks, challenges, and tensions might we face and, importantly, how can we navigate them? How can we commit our curiosity to sociology and research despite fatigue, social isolation, and polarization in times of technological, environmental, and social disorder? Altogether, papers for this session may offer lessons learned from dynamic research(er) experiences and creatively explore how we can commit ourselves to impactful and collaborative research. Session Organizer and Chair: Amber Lee Varadi, York University

Sociology of Culture Research Cluster

The regulation of our everyday pleasures by government institutions has long been a source of sociological interest. Beyond merely denying pleasure, the state also cultivates, directs, and produces enjoyment towards its own ends, be it nationalist identity, revenue generation, or administration of communities. Points of resistance, creativity, and choice arise in everyday life as people practice leisure, consumption, sociability and community in the context of this mediation. Papers in this section explore consumption and symbols of nation, the cultivation of community and friendship in the context of social income support, and internet use in the context of data nationalism. Session Organizers: Michael Follert, St. Francis Xavier University and Patricia Cormack, St. Francis Xavier University Session Chair: Michael Follert, St. Francis Xavier University

Social Policy and Social Equality Research Cluster

This session features papers on social policy and social equality, and the relationship between those two themes. In line with the orientations of the Social Policy and Social Equality research cluster, papers focusing on poverty, social and health inequalities, and social policies aimed at reducing them will be included in this session. We also invited papers unpacking how social and welfare policies aimed at poverty reduction and at fighting inequalities are developed. Session Organizer: Xavier St-Denis, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)

Teaching and Learning Cluster

Introductory courses are typically large, mandatory classes that include both sociology majors and non-majors at the beginning of students’ experience with postsecondary education. The range in exposure to the discipline as well as the varying academic skills and experience of students presents unique opportunities and challenges for educators. For this panel discussion we invite short (5-10 minute) presentations from sociology educators to present their innovative ideas for teaching introduction to sociology courses. Presentations may include an outline of ideas for assignments, assessments, strategies for student engagement and support, experiential learning, integration of decolonial perspectives, or any other pedagogical insights or innovations relevant for a first year sociology class. Session Organizers and Chairs: Amanda van Beinum, York University and Tonya Davidson, Carleton University

Critical Sociology of Families, Work and Care Research Cluster

The Critical Sociology of Families, Work, and Care Research Cluster meeting is open to current members and those interested in learning more about our cluster activities. Attendees will have an opportunity to network with others working in this field of research and/or teaching. We welcome feedback on our current activities and encourage suggestions for future initiatives.

Fat Studies Research Cluster

The CSA Fat Studies Research Cluster extends an invitation to new members who are interested in engaging in critical research related to weight, bodies, stigma, ‘health’, and social justice. This cluster serves as a communication hub and a meeting place for sociologists who work in the field of fat studies, both within Canada and globally. As a space committed to advancing scholarship, attendees will have the opportunity to network and share their research. We welcome feedback on our current activities and encourage suggestions for future initiatives. Session Organizers: Kelsey Ioannoni, Wilfrid Laurier University and Ramanpreet A. Bahra, Wilfrid Laurier University

Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization Research Cluster

We seek to connect sociologists, other academics, activists, artists, and others who are engaged in the study of Indigenous-settler relations and/or the struggle for decolonization. This Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization Research Cluster (ISRD) meeting is open to current members and those interested in learning more about our cluster activities. Session Organizer: Kerry Bailey, McMaster University

Social Policy and Social Equality Research Cluster

The Social Policy and Social Equality Research Cluster meeting is open to current members and those interested in learning more about our cluster activities. The SPE cluster is especially welcoming new participants and emerging scholars who would like to contribute their opinions to the activities of the cluster or to volunteer their time to its work. Attendees will have an opportunity to network with others working in this field of research and teaching. We welcome feedback on our current activities and encourage suggestions for future initiatives. Session Organizers: Ivanka Knezevic, University of Toronto and Xavier St-Denis, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)

Student Concerns Subcommittee
Social Event

Hosted by members of the Canadian Sociological Association's Student Concerns Subcommittee, this is a wonderful start to your conference experience! Light refreshment will be served. Open to student delegates in the Canadian Sociological Association Conference. Additional student meet-ups will be posted once finalized.

Anti-Islamophobia Subcommittee

Hegemonic discourses do more than represent; they construct, discipline, and delimit who can be seen, heard, or imagined. Yet fissures emerge—moments of negotiation, refusal, and reinvention that open new subject positions and conditions of possibility. This panel assembles scholars and practitioners whose work inhabits and expands these spaces, intervening in dominant narratives to forge alternative ways of knowing, being, and belonging. The presentations unpack how art-based interventions counter Islamophobia in public and digital arenas; interrogate the politics of “safe space” pedagogies in discussions of Palestine; examine nuanced forms of “artful obedience” among Muslim South Asian women navigating cultural conflicts in Canada; and complicate entrenched stereotypes of SWANA subjects that persist in Hollywood casting practices and media representations, offering an active reform agenda. Collectively, these inquiries move beyond analyzing anti-hegemonic cultural praxis to charting the openings they create, tracing emergent subjectivities that unsettle normative scripts, disrupt existing taxonomies, and expand the terrains of possibility. Session Organizers: Nadiya Ali, Trent University, Ayesha Mian Akram, University of Calgary, Lucy El-Sherif, McMaster University, Leila Benhadjouja, University of Ottawa, and Muna Saleh, Concordia University Session Chair: Lucy El-Sherif, McMaster University

Animals in Society Research Cluster

This session features presentations that critically examine the structures of power, violence, and representation that shape the suffering and death of nonhuman animals. Certain species are positioned as threats, nuisances, or commodities within human-centered economies and governance. Historical and contemporary forms of state and nonstate power dictate which animals are subjected to spectacular, excessive, or normalised forms of violence. Media, photography, and visual culture play a central role in shaping public perception of animal suffering, reinforcing dominant ideologies while also offering potential sites of resistance. Presenters will explore how cultural narratives, economic imperatives, and political ideologies—including colonialism, neoliberalism, and masculinity—structure the conditions under which nonhuman animals live and die. This session examines the affective and political functions of surplus violence in animal extermination programs, particularly in the historical and contemporary persecution of wolves. It considers the ethics and impact of visualising animal suffering in sites like roadside zoos, where photography operates as a tool for empathy. Additionally, it addresses the commodification of nonhuman animal killing under neoliberal regimes of wildlife management and adventure tourism, where culls are framed as environmental stewardship. Session Organizer and Chair: Stephen Muzzatti, Toronto Metropolitan University

Applied and Community Engaged Sociology Cluster

This invited session examines technology’s evolving role in community-based initiatives for social justice and equity. While technology can foster inclusion, it may also reinforce inequities, particularly for racialized and marginalized communities. Panelists will explore two key themes: (1) how digital tools—mobile devices, social media, and online platforms—empower excluded communities, and (2) how community engagement addresses technology-related inequities like algorithmic bias, the digital divide, and online hate. The session will also consider how current technologies shape social inequalities and how marginalized voices can drive systemic change. Invited presenters from interdisciplinary backgrounds will share their diverse experiences in connecting technology with community-engaged research and intervention projects. Session Organizers and Chairs: Rui Hou, Toronto Metropolitan University and Josephine Wong, Toronto Metropolitan University

Criminology and Criminal Justice Research Cluster

Criminology is a multi-faceted field that uses 'crime' as its subject matter but has no single methodological commitment or paradigmatic theoretical framework. Many areas and conversations in criminology, however, are often dominated by work from the US, Britain, and the Scandinavian countries that differ from the Canadian context in significant socio-political, cultural, and economic respects. The main objective of this trio of sessions (CRIM1a, b, and c) is to connect researchers and discuss work that advances our understanding of crime and the criminal justice system in Canada as well as criminological knowledge more broadly. Session Organizers and Chairs: Timothy Kang, University of Saskatchewan and Daniel Kudla, Memorial University

Critical Sociology of Families, Work and Care Research Cluster

A central challenge for family policy supporting care for young children while parents work is inequity between families. This arises for several reasons and may be increasing as families diversify. This session, hosted by the Reimagining Care/Work Policies project, invites theoretical, applied, policy and/or activism research papers on any axes of inequity (for example but not limited to class, race, family structure, work/employment, citizenship, gender, Indigeneity, ability, or SOGI). Policy areas, in any jurisdiction, may include childcare, parental leave, and employment policies, with similar topics welcome. Papers that address the social impact of research and/or academic-public partnerships will be prioritized. Session Organizer and Chair: Lindsey McKay, Thompson Rivers University

Sociology of Disability Research Cluster

This session addresses the questions: What research methods are conducive to disabled expression and empowerment? How might research methods communicate disabled agency and organization? Session Organizers: Chris Churchill, University of Lethbridge and Athena Elafros, University of Lethbridge Session Chair: Michelle Owen, University of Winnipeg

Environmental Sociology Research Cluster
Internet, Technology, and Digital Sociology Research Cluster

How communities, scientists, and extractive industries protect and use the environment is shaped by how they understand it. This session investigates the socio-political dimensions of environmental governance, focusing on how scientific knowledge renders the natural world legible to states, organizations, and local communities. The papers in this session investigate the quantification of ecological phenomena, the role of scientific expertise in shaping environmental policy, and advance theorizing of alternative, non-Western approaches for socio-environmental research. By integrating perspectives from environmental sociology and science and technology studies, this session aims to foster a dialogue on the politics of ‘knowing’ nature through enduring and emergent technoscientific arrangements. Session Organizers: Kailey Walker, Queen's University and Tyler Bateman, University of New Mexico Session Chair: Kailey Walker, Queen's University

Fat Studies Research Cluster

In the commitment to sociological questions surrounding oppression, social worlds and the body, there has been a shift towards reframing methods as a way to bring forward a sense of ‘togetherness.’ The question of knowledge-creators, that being the knowers and object of study, marginalized communities and their self-knowledge have remained at the margins of sociology. In contemporary sociology, feminist sociology of knowledge speaks to this bifurcation of knowledge-practice and the dominant-subordinate power relations that come to exist in the field and outside of it. In particular, feminist standpoint theory emerged as a centering of one's lived experience within the two-worlds of gender (Harding 1987; Smith 1990; Braidotti 2022). Much of the theorizing has advanced the construction of social knowledge around the themes of the body, subjectivity, power relations and complex structures across space and time. This project of revisioning the social world at both the micro and macro level is continued in the field of critical fat studies. Critical fat studies advances a fat standpoint theory as a way to not only continue the project of feminist sociologists, but to also bridge the activist and academic communities through various methodological approaches. With its roots in fat liberation, creating a ‘fat community archive’, and a desire for a collective pedagogical practice the aim is to map fatness and its everyday life-worlds (Pausé, 2014; Pratt, 2018). One way to do that is through methodological questions, such as: how can sociological methods be deployed to advance studies on sizeism and bodies?; what methodological approaches enable fat knowledge-practices, methods and stories to emerge?; How do we build a collective-centered fat praxis and methods? How do we grapple with ‘traditional’ ways of ‘doing research’ (ie., ethnography, participant observation) and move towards methods that merge the communities, such as research-creation practices (SSHRC, 2021)? Session Organizers: Kelsey Ioannoni, Wilfrid Laurier University and Ramanpreet A. Bahra, Wilfrid Laurier University Session Chair: Kelsey Ioannoni, Wilfrid Laurier University

Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization Research Cluster

This session features insightful and important scholarly works, projects and reflections on Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization so that we can centre these important issues for learning and discussion. Session Organizer and Chair: Kerry Bailey, McMaster University

Sociology of Culture Research Cluster
Urban Sociology Research Cluster

This session features research that contributes to the sociology of space, place, and time. Social processes occur in space and over time. They are intertwined with spatiality and temporality. Everything we study is emplaced, and place plays an agentic role in social processes. In this session, we consider research on the sociology of home, immigration and belonging, cinema and place, music and place, collective memory, sociology of space, sociology of time, temporal resistance, spatial and temporal inequality, space and social movements, etc., from theoretical as well as empirical perspectives. Session Organizers and Chairs: Pouya Morshedi, Memorial University and Foroogh Mohammadi, Acadia University

Social Policy and Social Equality Research Cluster

Urban social policies gain some of their academic and practical importance from the sheer size of concentrated populations that they affect, as well as from the complexity and seriousness of social problems they attempt to address address. Whether we consider diverse forms of inequality, marginalisation, and their consequences as caused by specificities of urban life or as merely concentrated in cities more than in rural areas, urban social policies must address them, modifying or controlling them with different degrees of success. These forms of inequality include poverty, social exclusion, economy and labour market changes, housing, gentrification and socio-spatial segregation, immigration and settlement. Increasing proportion of urban dwellers experience difficulties in accessing and remaining in appropriate housing. For a significant and growing number of urbanites, this means homelessness - no access to housing at all. Devastating consequences of homelessness are well known, yet the extent of this problem has increased since Canadian government declared housing (in the 2017 National Housing Strategy Act - NHSA) to be a legislated right. Canadian cities, whose ability to address this problem depends crucially on federal and provincial funding, have formed policies to address various aspect of both the homelessness and a broader housing inequality. Deepening housing inequality is liked, on one side, to dominance of market and financialization in housing in general, and, on the other, to limitations on public policy brought by long-entrenched neo-liberal influences in politics and policy formation. The session will present both empirical and policy-oriented research. Session Organizer and Chair: Ivanka Knezevic, University of Toronto

Teaching and Learning Cluster

Teaching sociology is both a critical practice (praxis) and an innovative process that engages students with the world and adapts to social and technological shifts. This session highlights how the classroom may foster critical thinking, address real-world issues, and inspire meaningful social change. Session Organizers and Chairs: Darryn DiFrancesco, University of Northern British Columbia and Jiyoung Lee-An, Thompson Rivers University

Social Event

Join us in the Greeting Table Room for light refreshments and to network with other delegates. Canadian Sociological Association Conference delegates only

Anti-Islamophobia Subcommittee

In this interactive panel discussion, we introduce, explore, and develop the concept of gendered anti-Palestinian racism (APR). Gendered APR builds on existing definitions of APR and demonstrates how this particular articulation of racism reflects a combination of sexist and racist ideologies similar to theoretical articulations of imperial feminism, gendered Orientalism, and gendered Islamophobia; however, gendered APR is distinct. Anchoring our analyses with the work of Palestinian scholars across the diaspora, particularly our sisters in Palestine, we explore various forms of gendered APR alongside Palestinian womens’ epistemic and political resistance against it. Session Organizers and Discussants: Wafaa Hasan, University of Toronto Muna Saleh, Concordia University

Animals in Society Research Cluster

This session features presentations that critically examine how the suffering and death of nonhuman animals are framed, justified, and institutionalised across media, religion, and governance. Certain species are positioned as threats, nuisances, or economic resources, reinforcing cultural narratives that sustain their exploitation. Political, religious, and economic interests shape the normalisation of violence against nonhuman animals, embedding these practices within legal, social, and ideological frameworks while also generating sites of resistance and contestation. The media plays a central role in constructing speciesist narratives, particularly in the portrayal of certain nonhuman animals as “pests” whose killing is depicted as patriotic or economically necessary. Abrahamic religious traditions have historically reinforced the subjugation of nonhuman animals through practices such as animal sacrifice and factory farming, yet these same traditions also contain ethical frameworks that challenge such exploitation. In wildlife management, the rhetoric surrounding certain species has been instrumental in justifying ecologically and socially harmful practices, including culling programs that rely on language and techniques designed to neutralise moral and ethical concerns. Session Organizer and Chair: Stephen Muzzatti, Toronto Metropolitan University

Applied and Community Engaged Sociology Cluster

This paper presentation session, chaired by an experienced social work researcher and educator, will highlight community-based research as a transformative approach to addressing social challenges. The research methodology focuses on cooperative inquiry, fostering collaboration between researchers and community members to ensure participants’ voices are central to both the research process and its implications. This session will feature three to five presentations on various PAR projects focused on youth populations, showcasing best practices, key findings, and ethical considerations in applying community-based research across different contexts. Presentations will cover topics such as working with marginalized youth in Canadian and international communities, along with other community-based initiatives. Each speaker will discuss their methodological choices and brief findings, emphasizing the importance of community partnerships while addressing practical and ethical challenges and strategies for achieving impactful outcomes. A concluding discussion will offer reflections to deepen understanding of community-based research’s potential to bridge the gap between academic research and community needs. Session Organizer: Quan Nguyen, University of Calgary Session Chair: Catherine Vanner, University of Windsor

Criminology and Criminal Justice Research Cluster

Criminology is a multi-faceted field that uses 'crime' as its subject matter but has no single methodological commitment or paradigmatic theoretical framework. Many areas and conversations in criminology, however, are often dominated by work from the US, Britain, and the Scandinavian countries that differ from the Canadian context in significant socio-political, cultural, and economic respects. The main objective of this trio of sessions (CRIM1a, b, and c) is to connect researchers and discuss work that advances our understanding of crime and the criminal justice system in Canada as well as criminological knowledge more broadly. Session Organizers and Chairs: Timothy Kang, University of Saskatchewan and Daniel Kudla, Memorial University

Critical Sociology of Families, Work and Care Research Cluster

The Federal government has committed to building a Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system that is high-quality, accessible, affordable, flexible, and inclusive. Much of the academic and public discussions have been centering on the implementation and practical issues of this initiative, such as the unintended consequences arising from the policy of $10 per day fees. However, the social impact of a policy does not just lie in its effectiveness and practicality, but also its vision of what Canadian society should look like. Currently, there is a lack of sociological perspectives on the contested nature of the very principles of CWELCC. For example, what are the social, historical, political, cultural, and moral assumptions behind different stakeholders’ understanding of high-quality early learning and child care (ELCC)? What are the structural inequalities that render parents working non-standard hours and hence demanding flexible ELCC? Are these principles enough to transform the deep-seated patriarchal norms that impose the responsibilities of care work on women? Are there any voices being marginalized in the process of planning and implementing the CWELCC system? The aim of this session is to gather sociological reflections on the past, present, and prospective ELCC systems in Canada. It includes discussions surrounding the current focus of federal and provincial policies, the structure of the ELCC workforce, parents’ unique perspectives on high-quality ELCC, and the inclusion of families with disabilities and newcomer ethnocultural families. This session will provide policymakers, providers, and practitioners in the ELCC sector with counter-intuitive insights about what ELCC in Canada is and should be. Session Organizers: Ping Lam Ip, University of Alberta and Andrea DeKeseredy, University of Alberta Session Chair: Ping Lam Ip, University of Alberta

Sociology of Disability Research Cluster

The presentations in this session address broad topics in the sociology of disabilities and related research. Session Organizers: Chris Churchill, University of Lethbridge and Athena Elafros, University of Lethbridge Session Chair: Megan Ingram, Queen's University

Environmental Sociology Research Cluster

Both internationally and in numerous national arenas, corporate and elite responses to the climate crisis can be seen to be bifurcated between networks opposed to virtually all forms of climate action and blocs advocating market-centred projects of decarbonization and low-carbon transition. On the other hand, social movements and counter-hegemonic forces advance broader conceptions of transition and transformation that often include muscular state intervention, social justice and post-capitalist alternatives. The goal of this session is to provide a forum for work providing new insights on competing projects, strategies, networks and discourses in the climate field, and to explore their implications in terms of socio-ecological change. Session Organizers: Nicolas Graham, University of British Columbia, William Carroll, University of Victoria, and David Chen, University of Toronto Session Chair: Nicolas Graham, University of British Columbia

Fat Studies Research Cluster

Fat Studies: The Basics introduces the reading of fat bodies and the ways that Fat Studies, as a field, has responded to waves of ideas about fat people, their lives, and choices. Part civil rights discourse and part academic discipline, Fat Studies is a dynamic project that involves contradiction and discussion. In order to understand this field, the book also explores its intersections with race, class, gender, sexuality, age, disability, ethnicity, migration and beyond. In addition to thinking through terminology and history, this book will aim to unpack three key myths which often guide Fat Studies, showing that: 1) fat is a meaningful site of oppression intersected with other forms of discrimination and hatred; 2) to be fat is not a choice (but also that a discussion of choice is itself problematic); and 3) fat cannot be unambiguously correlated with a lack of health. Fat Studies: The Basics is a lively and accessible foundation for students of Gender Studies, Sociology, Psychology, and Media Studies, as well as anyone interested in learning more about this emergent field. Author May Friedman will engage in a lively question and answer with her long-time friend and co-conspirator Dr. Emma Lind. Session Organizers and Chairs: Kelsey Ioannoni, Wilfrid Laurier University and Ramanpreet A. Bahra, Wilfrid Laurier University

Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization Research Cluster

This session features insightful and important scholarly works, projects and reflections on Indigenous-Settler Relations and Decolonization so that we can centre these important issues for learning and discussion. Session Organizer and Chair: Kerry Bailey, McMaster University

Sociology of Culture Research Cluster

This session presents papers that develop culturally informed perspectives on social inequality. Sociology has had a longstanding interest in understanding the interplay of culture and individual, interactional, and institutional processes of inequality. Yet, there remains much to understand and debate regarding the influences social inequality has on culture and the influences culture has on social inequality. Presentations in this session engage with classic and cutting-edge sociological perspectives on the relationship between culture and inequality. Session Organizers: Taylor Price, New York University and Sonia Bookman, University of Manitoba Session Chair: Josée Johnston, University of Toronto

Sociology of Mental Health Research Cluster

This roundtable session gathers a panel of emerging scholars and early career researchers who will advance the tradition of the Sociology of Mental Health through substantive, theoretical, and methodological innovations. Session Organizers: Ruth Repchuck, McMaster University and Atsushi Narisada, Saint Mary's University Session Chair: Atsushi Narisada, Saint Mary's University

Social Policy and Social Equality Research Cluster

Various intersecting axes of social inequality exist in Canada and around the world. Much research - both theoretical and empirical - has been exploring the ways in which inequality may be reduced and lives, particularly of members of vulnerable social groups, may be improved. Inequality-reducing social policies, infrastructure, and social services are present in many areas, such as income, healthcare, education, and housing. Research into ways in which social policies are formed, implemented, institutionalized, and evaluated must often deal with highly abstract political and legal concepts - such as welfare and human rights, which underpin policy goals and necessarily influence its other aspects. Tensions between the theoretical underpinnings of a policy and its actual effects are common and may seriously undermining a central goal of modifying or limiting inequality, creating their own unequal effects. This session is concerned with such tensions, their origins in political and policy-formation processes, and possibilities of their resolution. This includes both theoretical and empirical research on social policy changes and evolution, as well as studies on innovative explorations of future directions in social policy, and studies focusing on social policy process as discourse. Session Organizer and Chair: Ivanka Knezevic, University of Toronto

Teaching and Learning Cluster

Teaching sociology is both a critical practice (praxis) and an innovative process that engages students with the world and adapts to social and technological shifts. This session highlights how the classroom may foster critical thinking, address real-world issues, and inspire meaningful social change. Session Organizers and Chairs: Darryn DiFrancesco, University of Northern British Columbia and Jiyoung Lee-An, Thompson Rivers University