Mount faculty receive new funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

July 10, 2018

Recently, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, announced an investment in more than 800 social science and humanities research projects nationwide through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
“Thanks to the work of the hundreds of researchers being recognized [through these grants], Canadians can gain a better understanding of the world we live in. It is my honour to support these talented researchers and help them push the boundaries of knowledge that will mean a better environment, better health, better society, and a better economy for all Canadians,” said Minister Duncan in a release.

Among the new funding recipients are two Mount researchers:

Dr. Patty Williams
Department of Applied Human Nutrition – Insight Grant Recipient ($76,784)
Study: Dismantling stigma: Exploring experiences of and views on food insecurity, social exclusion, and shame among women through participatory action research

Under Dr. Patty Williams’ leadership, this project will explore the everyday experiences of women dealing with household food insecurity (HFI), bringing understanding of how social ideas and stigma contribute to social exclusion among women experiencing household food insecurity. Informed by the knowledge that informal and formal education shape opinions about the attributes of poverty and food insecurity, the project will seek to bring to light the existing values and beliefs motivating current views on HFI. Dr. Williams is also the Director of the Food Action Research Centre at the Mount. Joining Dr. Williams and FoodARC’s partners in this project are three Mount faculty: Dr. Jennifer Brady of Applied Human Nutrition, Dr. Manfred Egbe of Sociology/Anthropology and Applied Human Nutrition, and Dr. Deborah Norris of Family Studies and Gerontology.

Through group cooking sessions in a shared community space, researchers and participants will discuss their experiences and emotions of coping with HFI in Nova Scotia. Through interviews the researchers will explore perceptions of people who experience HFI; ways in which existing income and social policy and programs support (or not) those experiencing HFI to access basic needs; and ways society, programs, policies, and institutions could transform and become less stigmatizing. The final aim is to co-design an online and interactive exhibit and a discussion guide to complement a scenario-based board game about HFI to amplify, and centre the voices of people experiencing HFI.

Dr. Martha Walls
Department of History – Insight Grant Recipient ($96,980)
Study: The “Micmac Community Development Program,” 1957-1970

Dr. Martha Walls has dedicated her career to studying First Nations history. In this new project, she will examine the efforts of the Extension Department at St. Francis Xavier University to foster economic development in Mi’kmaw communities in northeastern Nova Scotia during the late-1950s and 1960s, and the responses of Mi’kmaw men and women. With the growth of the welfare state in the post-World War II era, the Extension Department at St FX (the organization behind the Antigonish Movement that had worked to alleviate rural poverty in Nova Scotia during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s) shifted its focus from poor Euro-Canadian fisher villages to Indigenous communities through the implementation of what was known as the Micmac Community Development Program (MCDP).

Through this initiative, Dr. Walls and co-applicant Dr. Corey Slumkoski, Associate Professor in the Department of History at the Mount, aim to improve teaching on a little-studied era of Atlantic Canadian and Mi’kmaw history by publishing a scholarly monograph and developing a searchable online database featuring recordings and transcripts (in English and Mi’kmaq) of oral history interviews.

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