Connect with UNB
All times are in Atlantic time.
All panels in stream A are taking place in the Harriet Irving Library, 3rd floor, event space or join us live on Microsoft teams.
Join panel 1A live on Microsoft Teams
Examining the Relationship Between Schizotypal Personality Traits and Executive Functioning Across the Adult Lifespan
Schizotypy is a multidimensional personality continuum that reflects an individual’s risk for developing schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology.
Within this framework, schizotypal traits are typically grouped into three domains:
Research indicates that individuals with elevated schizotypal traits often exhibit deficits in executive functioning (i.e., higher-order cognitive processes, such as attention, inhibition, and working memory, that regulate thought and behaviour in a top-down manner).
However, this body of work is largely limited to adolescent and young adult populations, leaving age-related differences unexplored. Interestingly, while schizophrenia-like traits tend to attenuate in older age, age-related declines in executive functioning become more pronounced, raising important questions about how these two patterns interact across the lifespan.
Thus, to address this gap in the literature, the current study will examine the relationship between schizotypal traits (assessed with the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire) and executive functioning (assessed with an antisaccade task, a non-linguistic measure of higher-order oculomotor control and inhibition, and a backwards digit span task, a measure of working memory) in groups of cognitively healthy young adults (aged 18-35) and older adults (aged 60-80).
We predict that participants with higher schizotypal traits will exhibit reduced antisaccade performance (e.g., more errors, longer reaction times) and reduced backwards digit span performance (e.g., more errors, shorter spans) compared to those with lower traits (regardless of age group).
However, this relationship may be more pronounced in the younger adult group, given evidence that schizophrenia-like traits tend to attenuate with age. Ultimately, findings from this study will advance empirical and theoretical understanding of schizotypy and its impact on fundamental aspects of cognition across the adult lifespan.
Talking Circles & Protocols for Anti-Racist Work on Campus
This presentation is about a project called Race on Campus, which examines anti-racist and decolonial advocacy across Fredericton’s higher education institutions. This research is about connection and imagining more inclusive campus spaces.
Our project focuses on understanding how advocacy actually happens on campus through student leaders, clubs, campus offices, and community connections.
This presentation will discuss how using conversations, workshops, and Indigenous talking circles and protocols, can center lived experiences, relationships, and the often-unseen work students and groups do to support equity and inclusion.
Our analysis will bring these voices together, highlight shared experiences, and showcase how community-led dialogue is more effective than suggesting solutions from above.
Enshrining the Right to Housing in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, entrenched and spearheaded by Pierre Elliot Trudeau in 1982, marked a significant advancement in the constitutional protection of civil and political rights in Canada. However, despite international human rights instruments to which Canada has signed onto, the Charter does not explicitly protect social and economic rights, including the right to adequate housing.
This absence has contributed to persistent and worsening housing insecurity, disproportionately affecting marginalized populations such as Indigenous peoples, women fleeing violence, low-income families, veterans, and persons with disabilities.
This paper examines the legal, social, and political case for constitutionally entrenching the right to adequate housing within the Charter. Drawing on landmark Charter jurisprudence: particularly Tanudjaja v. Attorney General (Canada) the analysis highlights Canada’s reluctance to recognize housing claims as human rights violations, despite extensive evidence linking homelessness and poverty to being clear infringements on sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.
The paper further examines Canada’s housing crisis within its international obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and related human rights instruments, emphasizing the persistent gap between international commitments and domestic constitutional enforcement.
In addition, the paper assesses recent policy developments, including the National Housing Strategy Act, as an attempt for ensuring accountability and rights-based remedies. While these initiatives signal political recognition of housing as a human right, they lack the constitutional force necessary to guarantee protection for the most vulnerable.
Ultimately, this paper argues that the Charter must evolve to include an explicit right to an adequate standard of living encompassing adequate food, housing, and basic security consistent with international human rights standards.
Constitutional recognition would strengthen legal accountability, enhance access to justice, and affirm housing as a foundational condition for the meaningful exercise of all other secondary rights.
Bringing it Home: Policy & Discussion Towards Immigrant Retention
As the final phase of the Promise of Home (PoH) project, the Bridging in Diversity Policy Conference’s focus (November 21-22, 2025) was to launch the PoH Policy Document, grounded in the prior three phases and policy research.
The public event created a space for community leaders and researchers to share their knowledge on central aspects of immigration in New Brunswick, and to respond to questions and concerns from the community members in attendance. In this presentation, a short explanation of the PoH project will be provided within the context of the Bridging in Diversity Policy Conference.
Then, we will explore the highlights of the PoH Policy Document, and analyze the key themes explored during the three panel discussions on: Health & Public Services, Community Integration & Education, and Immigration & Racialized Experiences.
The presentation given by the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Manju Varma, and data collected during the Workshop will also be discussed. Finally, the presentation will conclude by correlating the findings from the first three phases to the analysis of the Bridging in Diversity Policy Conference.
Our analysis will show that systemic barriers discussed during the panels concur with newcomers’ lived experiences shared in Phase 1 and Phase 2.
Join panel 2A live on Microsoft Teams
Oculomotor Control During Reading in Multiple Sclerosis: A Focus on Perceptual Span
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune neurodegenerative disorder in which activated immune cells attack the protective coating (myelin sheaths) of axons, resulting in lesions within the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
These lesions can lead to neurofunctional and neurocognitive changes, including reductions in processing speed and executive functioning (i.e., higher-order cognitive functions, such as attention, inhibition, and working memory), which can negatively impact functional independence and quality of life.
Although the cognitive symptoms of MS are increasingly recognized, they remain understudied compared to the pathophysiological and physical manifestations of the condition. One particularly understudied aspect of cognition in this population is language, including reading, which is crucial to everyday life (e.g., understanding academic, workplace, medical, legal documents).
Thus, to address this gap in the literature, the current study will employ eye-tracking technology to examine eye movement reading behaviour and perceptual span (breadth of parafoveal processing during reading) in native English-speaking adults (aged 19-55) with relapse-remitting MS (most common form of the condition, characterized by episodic symptom flare-ups followed by periods of recovery) relative to matched controls.
Participants will silently read 75 sentences for comprehension, presented using a gaze-contingent moving window paradigm, which manipulates the amount of parafoveal information available in the direction of reading. This paradigm will allow for the examination of both reading fluency and perceptual span.
Given that MS affects ~2.8 million people globally, developing a more comprehensive understanding of how essential life skills, such as reading, are impacted in MS is an important step toward improving assessment, intervention, and quality of life outcomes.
Examining the Relationship Between Morning-Type Chronotype and Intentional Forgetting
People often label themselves as a ‘morning person’ or an ‘evening person,’ which refers to their sleep style or chronotype. The present study examines whether morning-type chronotype (i.e., individuals who tend to wake early and function optimally during that part of the day) – is related to performance in the Think/No Think (T/NT) task.
The T/NT task allows us to examine participants’ ability to intentionally forget information that they have learned. Participants completed the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and those with a morning-type chronotype were invited to participate in a computerized study either in the morning (on-peak arousal period) or afternoon (off-peak arousal period).
During the training phase, participants studied a series of hint-response word pairs that were positively (e.g., HAPPY-MEMORY) or negatively (e.g., DREARY-DAY) valenced. Next, participants were presented with the list of word pairs and then completed a training phase where they were presented with hint words (e.g., HAPPY) and asked to produce the associated response word (e.g., MEMORY).
Participants were required to recall at least 50% of the response words to proceed to the T/NT phase. In the T/NT phase, participants were presented with a hint word and asked to either Think of the associated response word (i.e., to hold the correctly paired response word in mind for the duration of the stimulus presentation) or No-Think the word (i.e., to prevent or inhibit the response word from entering their mind).
Finally, they were presented with a surprise recall test of all test items. The effect of interest is whether participants demonstrate better memory for Think words and poorer memory (i.e., forgetting) for No-Think words.
We hypothesize that participants with a morning-type chronotype will perform better in the T/NT task during their peak arousal periods versus their non-peak arousal periods. Data collection remains ongoing (N=29).
Exploring the Relationship Between Reading Skills and Psychosocial Adjustment Among Newcomers to Canada
Newcomers (i.e., recent immigrants) to Canada represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the population. For instance, Statistics Canada reported that 104,256 newcomers were admitted into the country during the first quarter of 2025 alone.
For many newcomers, limited proficiency in one or both of Canada’s official languages (English or French) poses significant barriers to successful integration and well-being at all levels (e.g., academic, economic, occupational, social, health). Indeed, in a longitudinal study of 7,700 immigrants, Citizenship and Immigration Canada reported lack of official language proficiency as one of the most serious challenges faced by newcomers (Yue, 2005).
Although prior research has provided important insights on language-related barriers faced by newcomers to Canada, few studies have examined relationships between
At present, extensive, but largely independent bodies of literature exist on immigrant language development (primarily focused on predictors of oral proficiency) and on immigrant acculturation and mental health. However, investigations into how reading processes and psychosocial adjustment interact and inform one another are limited.
Moreover, previous studies have relied on standardized, offline measures of language processing, which do not capture the moment-to-moment cognitive processes involved in reading. The proposed study addresses this gap by using eye-tracking during naturalistic story reading to obtain direct, ecologically valid, and temporally sensitive indices of real-time reading processes.
These measures will be paired with self-reports of acculturation, mental health, and psychosocial well-being among young adult newcomers (18-35 years, with non-English and non-French home languages) to examine how real-time reading performance relates to psychosocial adjustment.
Ultimately, this work will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how literacy development and well-being intersect during the early stages of settlement in Canada.
Join panel 3A live on Microsoft Teams
The Use of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership Across the Atlantic Provinces
As part of my ARTS 3000 Internship with the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick, I am conducting a jurisdictional scan of the use of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership across the Atlantic provinces.
The Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (SCAP) is a 5-year, $3.5 billion cost-share program between the federal and provincial governments that aims to support producers through a variety of different initiatives. Funding is distributed to producers for specific projects that focus on initiatives like diversification, inclusivity, and business risk management.
The aim of this jurisdictional scan is to understand the different programs, applications, availability, and funding breakdowns between New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Through a comparative analysis approach, I aim to highlight the shortcomings in New Brunswick in specific programs, funding distribution, or other aspects. These shortcomings may highlight specific recommendations or action plans that could assist New Brunswick in the application of SCAP to maximize productivity and fund allocation.
The program has the potential to be very beneficial for agriculture and, in turn, beneficial for the province as agriculture plays a critical role in New Brunswick’s economy.
Overall, my presentation will introduce SCAP, delve into a comparative analysis across the Atlantic provinces, and emphasize the importance of the partnership in supporting the sustainability and development of the agricultural industry in New Brunswick.
Small “t” Trauma and Depression: The Moderation Effects of Cultural Orientation
This study examines the relationship between small "t" traumas (StTs) and symptoms of depression, with a specific focus on how an individual's cultural orientation may influence this relationship.
StTs refer to everyday, non–life-threatening stressors, including adverse childhood experiences and ongoing interpersonal stressors such as rejection, conflict, and discrimination.
Participants completed a series of online surveys assessing their exposure to StTs, cultural orientation, and depressive symptoms. This research addresses a gap in the existing literature, which has traditionally focused more heavily on major traumatic events, commonly referred to as Big “T” traumas (BTTs), such as sexual assault, physical violence, accidents, and natural disasters.
Although StTs are not inherently life-threatening, previous research suggests they can significantly disrupt emotional functioning and may lead to long-term negative outcomes, including psychological and mood disorders.
By examining how cultural orientation may shape the emotional impact of everyday stressors, this study aims to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of trauma and mental health and to inform culturally sensitive approaches to prevention and intervention.
Applying a Science Based Model of Peer Assisted Learning to the Faculty of Arts
The University of New Brunswick Faculty of Arts Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program is a program in which experienced upper-year students are paired with first-year classes to provide additional academic support.
Originally, the Arts PAL program followed a similar model to the one implemented by the Faculty of Science. This model featured PAL sessions that acted as tutorials which reiterated what the professor was teaching. While this model worked for the Faculty of Science, as it was beneficial in helping students memorize the large amounts of foundational material that first year science students are required to know, we quickly realized the different learning styles and needs of first year arts students.
Through deliberation with the dean's office, professors, PAL leaders, and of course, the students, the Faculty of Arts PAL program transitioned into a more interactive program, focused on building essential skills for succeeding in a university environment.
These skills include APA citation guidelines, professional email communication, time management, and much more. We quickly learned that Arts students not only value academic help, but they seek community, collaboration, and connection. Using research from other universities and our hands-on experience, the PAL team and I are authoring a handbook which will serve as a guide for future PAL leaders.
The handbook will emphasize the goals of the program, provide useful tips and tricks, and contain a sample syllabus which includes sample lessons based on support students typically require at different points in the term.
Join panel 4A live on Microsoft Teams
Cultural Scripts on Screen: A Comparative Content Analysis of Parent-Child Dynamics in Top-Rated Bollywood and Hollywood Films
Parent-child relationships are fundamental to psychological development, yet their cinematic portrayal varies significantly across cultures. Cultural frameworks such as Collectivism and Individualism shape not only family dynamics (Tuli & Chaudhary, 2010) but also audience interpretation of film content (Yu et al., 2025).
Bollywood and Hollywood operate within these distinct cultural frameworks, which influence depictions of identity, conflict, and emotional expression. Recent cross-cultural film research highlights how family relationships are differentially portrayed across cultural contexts (Noor, 2025), while scholarship on Indian cinema specifically emphasizes the negotiation of tradition, modernity, and family honour (Sarkar & Choudry, 2025).
Despite the global influence of both industries, limited research systematically compares how these cultural scripts manifest in parent-child interactions within popular cinema. The current research employs content analysis to compare the portrayal of parent-child dynamics in top-rated Bollywood and Hollywood films.
The research aim is to examine how cultural values shape psychological processes, including identity formation (independent vs. interdependent), maternal sacrifice, conflict-resolution styles, communication patterns (direct vs. indirect), and gender-role prescriptions.
A sample of 20 popular films (10 Bollywood, 10 Hollywood) from the past 10 years featuring significant parent-child interaction will be analyzed. Using directed content analysis, trained coders will examine scenes for content related to identity autonomy, sacrifice, power dynamics, and communication directness. Findings will be organized into a comparative matrix to identify cross-cultural patterns.
It is anticipated that Bollywood films will depict interdependent identities, self-sacrificing maternal figures, emotionally dramatic conflict tied to family honour, and indirect emotional expression.
Hollywood films are expected to emphasize autonomous identity formation, parental personal goals, direct verbal confrontation regarding boundaries, and greater gender role fluidity. Power dynamics in Bollywood are predicted to favour parental authority, while Hollywood may depict greater adolescent agency in conflict resolution.
This research will contribute to understanding how mainstream cinema reinforces and perpetuates cultural psychological norms regarding family relationships.
By analyzing highly visible, top-rated films, the study also offers groundwork for future research on media influence and the culturally contextualized perceptions of "normal" parent-child dynamics.
Parental Social Comparison: A Cross-Cultural Test of Reactions to Children’s Academic Performance
Social comparison research has expanded beyond Festinger’s (1954) original focus on self-evaluation to include comparisons people make about close others, such as the comparisons parents make about their children.
Building directly on Perunovic and Vogels’ (2020) research with Western parents, which has shown that such comparisons directly shape parents’ evaluations of domain importance and their child’s abilities, the current research introduces a cross-cultural lens.
We hypothesize that cultural background will predict divergent parental reactions to social comparison about their children. Using a 3 (Comparison Direction: Upward vs. Downward vs. Lateral) by 2 (Culture: East Asian vs. North American) between-subjects design, we have so far recruited 154 parents of elementary school children from East Asian (n = 72) and North American (n = 82) cultural backgrounds.
Participants are randomly assigned to recall and describe a specific academic social comparison involving their child. Our measures of interest include post-comparison domain importance, child ability evaluations, affect, and behavioural intentions for parental involvement.
Data collection is ongoing, and analysis will be conducted once we have reached a total sample size of 120. We predict that North American parents, whose cultural context often emphasizes self-enhancement motivation, will respond to upward comparisons with stronger protective strategies, such as downplaying the importance of the comparison domain.
In contrast, East Asian parents, whose cultural context often emphasizes self-improvement, are expected to report stronger intentions to be involved in their child’s academic development in the comparison domain.
These findings will demonstrate how differential cultural motivations moderate parental responses to comparison, with implications for intercultural educational communication and parent involvement strategies.
The Final Frontier? The Integration of American Draft-Dodgers into Canadian Society in the 1960s and '70s
My presentation explores the socio-political circumstances around the mass immigration movement of draft-age Americans to Canada during the Vietnam War.
I argue that the majority of American War Resisters who moved to Canada were able to integrate themselves into Canadian society with little difficulty, but this was largely dependent on their social and economic class, support from Canadian assistance groups, and their willingness to leave America behind. This assimilation was at times aided by concurrent events in Canadian politics.
My research focuses primarily on the reception of draft-dodgers by the Canadian government and population, as well as their entry into various aspects of Canadian life and society. This includes community involvement, continued activism, education, journalism, and personal relationships. This is examined in the context of the larger political landscape of the 1960s-'70s, in both Canada and the US.
In person location: Research Commons Active Learning Lab, room 303
Join panel 1B live on Microsoft Teams
Hiring Women in Civil Engineering: The Role of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation, and Sexism on Hiring Evaluations
Women in engineering encounter pronounced prejudice and discrimination, facing many barriers and various forms of discrimination and prejudice (Ogbuayna & Ogbuefi, 2025), which are often predicted by social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA; Duckitt, 2006).
SDO measures an individual’s preference for social hierarchies (Pratto et al., 1994); RWA measures submission to authority and conformity to traditional norms (Christopher & Wojda, 2008). These constructs are linked to different forms of sexism: RWA is associated with benevolent sexism (subjectively positive yet restrictive views of women in traditional roles), whereas SDO is associated with hostile sexism (derogatory and discriminatory views toward women; Christopher & Mull, 2006; Glick & Fiske, 1996; Sibley et al., 2007; Swim & Hyers, 2009).
Our study aims to examine precisely how RWA and SDO predict hiring evaluations of women in civil engineering. Specifically, we seek to determine which of these two constructs is more strongly associated with opposition to hiring women in civil engineering at the entry level, after statistically controlling for sexism.
A pre-screening measured North American participants’ levels of RWA, SDO, and sexism. Participants with hiring experience then took part in a main experimental study, where they were randomly assigned to evaluate a LinkedIn profile of a qualified candidate for a civil engineer-in-training position; the candidate’s gender (man vs. woman) was the only manipulated variable. Participants then rated the candidate’s competence, likeability, hireability, suitability, predicted job satisfaction, and retention likelihood. Data collection is ongoing, and data is in the process of analysis.
The findings of this study will illuminate the specific ideological pathways that sustain gender discrimination in STEM hiring, thereby informing the development of evidence-based interventions to promote equitable hiring practices.
Wollstonecraft and the Digital Resurgence of Biological Determinism
From Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, to the pseudoscientific claims of the manosphere community, the notion that biological se determines social value and gender roles remains a powerful force. Mary Wollstonecraft’s argument that notions of biological determinism led to men placing themselves in a social position above women, proves to still be rampant through the manosphere further enforcing the hierarchy she critiqued.
Wollstonecraft's highlighted how notions of biological determinism influenced socialization through conversation with theorists like Jean-Jacques Rousseau who perpetuated social order based on physical differences. Connecting Wollstonecraft’s critique of gender hierarchy to the manosphere, which advocates for further perpetuation of physical differences, can be understood in three distinct ways;
Gramsci provides an alternative lens through which to examine how social hierarchies are similarly reproduced through class relations and hegemonic power (Gramsci, 1989). However, Wollstonecraft offers a more complete explanation of the harm such notions of biological determinism can cause when they are cemented into socialization, as seen in the manosphere.
Renewable Energy Development on Indigenous Territories in Canada: Factors that Contribute to Procedural Justice in Hydroelectric Projects
Canada’s renewable energy transition exposes a tension between urgent climate action and Indigenous sovereignty. On December 12, 2015, 195. Parties adopted the Paris Agreement, which is widely regarded as the most ambitious multilateral framework guiding global climate action. The agreement brings nearly all sovereign states together under the shared commitment “to limit the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.” According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), achieving this target will require ending new fossil fuel approvals, phasing out existing projects, and rapidly expanding renewable energy generation.
There are currently 194 renewable energy projects associated with Indigenous communities in Canada, yet only a small fraction are Indigenous-controlled. This imbalance is concerning because Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by the ecological impacts of climate change. Climate change exacerbates environmental racism, a term used by Bullard (2002) to describe how environmental policies and practices disproportionately harm racialized and minority communities. Renewable energy development can perpetuate environmental injustice when decision-making processes expose Indigenous communities to greater ecological harm than settler populations. In particular, hydroelectric projects are often built on Indigenous territories without free, prior, and informed consent, reinforcing distrust between Indigenous communities and colonial institutions.
This tension highlights the importance of procedural justice, defined as fairness in who participates in decision-making. Procedural justice is a core pillar of climate and energy justice, alongside distributive justice (how harms and benefits are allocated) and corrective justice (repairing harm caused by unjust policies). Procedural justice requires the meaningful inclusion of all stakeholders, especially those most affected by decision-making and those from historically marginalized communities. When Indigenous communities are included as equal participants and constitutional rights holders, the risk of procedural injustices is reduced.
This research employs a longitudinal within-case comparative study of hydroelectric developments on the Churchill River in Labrador, comparing the Churchill Falls Generating Station and the Muskrat Falls Hydroelectric Station. Drawing on Do’s (2020) framework, it assesses the conditions that support inclusive, accountable, transparent, and effective participation in decision-making. This design will examine how procedural justice has evolved from the 1960s to the 2010s, a period marked by significant legal and political changes in Indigenous-Crown relations.
Shaping Seoul: A history of the cultural, geopolitical, and institutional dynamics that influenced the organization and execution of the Seoul 1988 Paralympics Game
Content note:This presentation references the effects of institutionalised discrimination, mainly of those with cognitive or physical disabilities.
This presentation provides a history of the cultural, geopolitical, and institutional dynamics that influenced the organization and execution of the Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games. Described as a watershed event in parasport, these Games are seen as the first modern Paralympic Games, having demonstrated professionalized governance and near parallel organization with the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
The successful execution of these Paralympics led to an increase in legitimacy for the independent Paralympic movement, shaping elite parasport competition into what it is today. However, it must be understood that institutional advancements in sport rarely take place on a politically neutral stage.
Although Seoul 1988 was celebrated as the Olympiad of Compassion, these Paralympic Games took place concurrently with the longstanding and often violent social exclusion of the Korean disability community. Notably, extreme measures of exclusion, including forced institutionalization, markedly increased prior to Seoul 1988 Olympic Summer Games under the guise of the Social Purification Project. Led by President Chun Doo-hwan, these actions were justified as a necessary means to host a saenghwal [clean] Olympics.
This juxtaposition complicates the spirited depiction of the Games and suggests that they also acted as a performative demonstration of South Korea's newfound modernity and alignment with Western liberal ideology. Through assessment of athlete and public official interviews, primary administrative documentation, and secondary analyses, this presentation aims to assess the complete context that led to the organization and execution of the Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games.
It is ultimately argued that both the establishment of the International Paralympic Committee as well as the convoluted relationship between South Korea's political transition and social order in the late twentieth century must be understood when considering this chapter in elite parasport.
Keywords: Seoul 1988 Paralympic Games; Paralympic movement; elite parasport; disability exclusion; Social Purification Project; nation branding
In person location: Harriet Irving Library, Milham Room, room 100
Join panel 2B live on Microsoft Teams
Softening the Stigma: Exploring How Self-Compassion Shapes the Relationship Between Autism-Specific Self-Stigma and Attitudes Towards Professional Help-Seeking
This quantitative study examines whether autism-related self-stigma and self-compassion predict attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help among autistic adults, and whether self-compassion moderates the relationship between self-stigma and help-seeking attitudes.; Data are collected using an online survey administered to autistic adults aged 19 years and older who are either formally diagnosed or self-identify as autistic and who do not have a co-occurring intellectual disability.
Oculomotor Dynamics of Reading in Young Adults with Neurodivergent and Neurotypical Cognitive Profiles
Reading is a critical cognitive skill that underpins academic, professional, and social success. For young neurodivergent adults, including those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), difficulties with reading related processes (e.g., oculomotor control, language processing, executive functioning) may translate into challenges with processing and understanding naturalistic texts – skills that are needed for everyday life (e.g., understanding medical and legal documents, following the news, communicating with others).
However, despite extensive eye-tracking work in ADHD and ASD, oculomotor reading behaviour remains relatively underexplored in these groups. Given that ADHD and ASD are two of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders worldwide, understanding reading difficulties in this population has broad educational implications.
The current study employs eye-tracking methods to investigate eye movement reading behaviour for naturalistic texts in people with ADHD, people with ASD, as well as typically developing controls. The sample includes native English-speaking young adults (aged 19-35). We predict that neurodivergent participants will exhibit more effortful reading behaviour (e.g., more/longer fixations) compared to controls, with ADHD participants showing greater moment-to-moment variability in attention and ASD participants showing slower, but more systematic reading patterns.
Ultimately, this study aims to enhance our understanding of reading deficits associated with ADHD and ASD. Specifically, it seeks to clarify oculomotor signatures of reading difficulties across neurodivergent groups and to expand eye-tracking research into naturalistic reading in adults. Additionally, this study may contribute to the development of resources to support reading performance (and overall well-being) in neurodivergent adults, including structured literacy programs, assistive technologies, and study or workplace accommodations.
"Piecing Together the Language": The Importance of Teaching Phonics over Three-Cueing to Learners
Working as a literacy instructor, I witnessed firsthand how students are taught to read, and what causes their decline in literacy: the three-cueing method of reading. Three-cueing relies on memory rather than comprehension, as it forces learners to depend on images and context to make an “educated” guess. This literary methodology is unsustainable, as it does not encourage understanding; instead, it creates resentment towards the language, not only for native English speakers but for immigrants looking to learn English as well. Alternatively, phonics foster understanding, leading to long-term success in linguistic development as well as overall emotional development.
The creative aspect of my combined Honours project, a short story titled “Piecing
Together the Language,” focuses on the story of a Russian teenage girl named Galina, and her move from Russia to Canada in 2018. The story reflects the research aspect of my project by revealing the linguistic barriers when transitioning from speaking Russian to English, as well as the emotional barriers Galina faces due to being a new immigrant.
The research is portrayed through elements within my short story, such as an abrupt switch from English to Russian without warning to throw readers off, leaving them conflicted and illustrating the confusion that Galina feels after moving to Canada.
My goal with my combined Honours project is to portray the disconnection often seen among immigrants from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and to demonstrate the best way to support their transition, starting with teaching them to read and write.
Perspectives of Alternative School Educators in Nova Scotia
Public alternative schools are non-traditional pedagogical programs that “fall outside the categories of regular special education or vocational education” (Franklin, 2007, 134). Curriculum outcomes in Nova Scotia’s public alternative schools are identical to their mainstream counterparts, but they provide smaller class sizes, opportunities to develop supportive relationships with teachers, and off-site environments that ensure flexibility in the structure of lessons and instruction of material.
This flexibility means that alternative education offers adaptable solutions and individualized care for pupils dealing with mental health issues, truancy, or learning disabilities that affect their success in mainstream classrooms. The roles and duties of alternative educators, particularly of those in leadership positions, are crucial to the success of pupils who do not fit an idealized mainstream mould.
The care that alternative educators provide stretches far beyond issuing an accessible and equitable education. Using semi-structured interviews with open ended questions, my research will explore the experiences of a former Alternative School Vice-Principal, whose involvement in Alternative Education spans across four decades, from her own high school graduation to retirement.
By exploring the occupational duties of an alternative educator, my research will articulate how care, connection, and community are intentionally utilized to re-construct a positive relationship between student and education in Alternative Schools.
In person location: Harriet Irving Library, Milham Room, room 100
Join panel 3B live on Microsoft Teams
Sexual Competence and Personality Traits in Adolescents
Sexual maturity marks a significant point in human development; however, much of the research regarding sexual maturity looks exclusively at when someone has their first sexual partner or explores whether an adolescent avoids adverse results following their first sexual partner. This study, however, used a new approach called "sexual competency" to measure whether someone's initial sexual experience could be classified as positive.
Sexual competency is defined by four criteria:
Although sexual competence is a significant predictor of sexual well-being and life satisfaction, many adolescents will not have met the criteria for sexual competency with regard to their first sexual partner.
This study investigated the individual-level characteristics of those who do or do not meet the criteria for sexual competency by analysing the HEXACO personality model and using data from first year students at St. Thomas University to see how the HEXACO personality factors relate to sexual competency.
This research proposes that high levels of Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness would lead to greater sexual competence because they are associated with higher levels of self-regulation and fairness compared to people who are high in Openness and Agreeableness, who may be less competent sexually because of their tendency to be influenced by peers. The results can help identify psychological predictors of health-related behaviours that can be used to assist in improving health interventions and identifyingyouth who are more likely to have negative sexual experiences in their early years.
Associations between perceived partner responsiveness and sexual communication among community couples
Background: Intimacy in romantic relationships involves feeling a deep sense of emotional and physical closeness to another, and it often builds over time through communication between partners, including sexual communication such as discussing desires, preferences, and boundaries (Laumann et al., 2006; Bergeron et al., 2024). A crucial factor in the development of intimacy is Perceived Partner Responsiveness (PPR), an interpersonal process in which individuals feel validated, understood, and cared for by their partner. PPR has been found to be associated with several sexual and relationship wellbeing outcomes, demonstrating its importance in the development of intimacy. However, a few studies have examined associations between sexual communication, PPR, and sexual wellbeing outcomes using cross-sectional designs in individuals, which fails tocapture day-to-day fluctuations and the interdependence that exists between couple members. We address these gaps by examining associations between sexual communication, PPR, and sexual wellbeing in couples via a daily-diary design.
Method: Couples (N = 102) were recruited to complete daily diary surveys for 28-days, which included measures of sexual self-disclosure, PPR, sexual satisfaction, and partner-focused sexual desire. Multilevel modeling via Mplus was used to determine whether PPR moderated associations between sexual communication and sexual wellbeing in couples at the daily-diary level.
Results: No significant moderations were found between sexual satisfaction and sexual self-disclosures, PPR, and partner-focused sexual desire variables.
Conclusions: Although prior research has demonstrated associations between sexual communication, PPR, sexual desire, and sexual satisfaction, the present findings did not replicate these effects. Despite the day-to-day variability that was found, the fluctuations were not significantly associated. This suggests that the associations found in previous literature may reflect between-person differences rather than within-person daily differences.
Supporting the Supporters: A Qualitative Analysis of Online Support for Parents of Youth with Alleged Sexual Offence Histories
Families of youth who have engaged in problematic sexual behaviour often face significant psychological, social, and relational challenges as a result of the sexual offence. Parents play a critical role in supporting rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.
However, research focusing specifically on parents’ own support needs remains limited. The distress parents experience is often minimized and discouraged. In response to this barrier, anonymous online support communities serve as accessible spaces for connection, validation, and guidance.
The present study examines the nature of support provided to parents within online forums dedicated to friends and families of individuals with sexual offence histories (e.g., Family and Friends Forum - Stop It Now! & Families of Sex Offenders).
Using a conventional content analysis, publicly available responses to parents’ posts are being systematically coded and organized into categories based on themes. Preliminary findings have identified two initial themes: supportive and informational. Supportive includes expressions of empathy, normalization of experiences, and reassurance of feelings.
The informational theme involves sharing resources, legal guidance, and practical advice. These preliminary findings highlight the importance of online forums as informal peer-support networks, especially in highly stigmatized contexts. Further analysis will refine categories and deepen the understanding of how online forums function to support parents.
Queer Identities in Sex and Relationship Psychology
Queer identities have been around for ages, yet it is one of the most significantly underfunded and the least researched areas in the broader scope of psychology. Queer identities are often treated as outliers, and most of the research on queer individuals and relationships focuses on HIV/AIDS; an important area, though not the only interesting thing about 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals. Specifically, within the world of psychology, there are many things that queer relationships can add to studies, broadening not only diversity, but also insight into a community that is so prevalent in our society.
Researchers seem to be inclined to exclude the 2SLGBTQIA+ community because there is such little research in that area, and we have noticed that this mindset furthers the idea that there are such vast differences between queer and heterosexual relationships. However, we will never truly know what those differences and their implications are if we do not take the initiative to move past the prejudices that foster the exclusion of an entire community.
The first step towards more inclusive research methods is to bring to light the fact that a lot of studies in sex, dating, and relationship psychology are so focused on heterosexual relationships. That is what we aim to do with this presentation. We need more than just queer people to advocate for the queer community; therefore, we would like to introduce ways that researchers can include queer identities in their research.
In person location: Harriet Irving Library, Milham Room, room 100
Join panel 4B live on Microsoft Teams
RACE on Campus: Mapping Anti-Racist and Decolonial Frameworks in Fredericton Higher Education
Part of the larger RACE on Campus project, this presentation examines the existing written materials, policies, institutional structures, and governance frameworks that shape anti-racist and decolonial work in the Fredericton higher education context. Drawing on a critical literature review, the analysis maps how institutions articulate commitments to equity through policy documents, EDI offices, charters, committees, research ethics frameworks, and public-facing statements.
Grounded in Critical Race Theory, Indigenous research paradigms, and community-led methodologies, this work interrogates whether institutional policies and frameworks meaningfully address systemic racism, settler colonialism, and epistemic exclusion, or instead reproduce performative compliance and bureaucratic containment.
While these materials often signal institutional awareness of racism, the literature consistently demonstrates that they function primarily as regulatory floors rather than mechanisms for structural transformation, identifying a persistent gap between formal commitments and lived experiences of racialized, International and Indigenous students.
“It Makes Me Question All Women:” Themes Capturing Men’s Beliefs of Women’s False Accusations of Sexual Assault
Content note: This presentation will discuss sexual and gender-based violence, including direct quotes that may include offensive, violent, or harmful depictions of women.
For support and resources related to sexual violence, visit Sexual Violence New Brunswick and Government of New Brunswick resources on Intimate Partner Violence.
Girls and women often face hostile responses for reporting sexual assault (Spencer et al., 2017). Sexual assault is the violent crime least often reported to authorities, often coded by law enforcement as “baseless” yet rarely are reports found to be falsified (Murphy-Oikonen et al., 2020). Young men persist in believing that women “cry rape.”
Using anonymous surveys of 2689 U.S. and Canadian men (18-34 years), we aimed to assess men’s views of false accusations of rape, including women’s motivations, from a larger project on male perpetrators of sexual violence. Using an anonymous online survey, men were asked: “Do you know any woman who has falsely accused a man of rape? What did the woman say happened? How did that turn out?” We captured an initial template of codes, which was used to categorize thousands of responses.
The presentation will describe the many patterns that arose, including some that juxtaposed one another. Men tended to view women as weak, unintelligent, less than, and often dehumanizing them whilst simultaneously viewing them as deliberate, calculated, vindictive, competitive, and conniving.
Men expressed considerable animosity toward women, particularly adversarial roles suggesting
Our focus on peer norms evolved from references men made to bullying women into sex, and use of terms indicating that many included other men in their justifications of force. This is important research because if men hold these extraordinarily strong views against women, they are much less likely to believe survivors of sexual assault or to simply be apathetic towards those who are assaulted.
Breaking Cycles, Building Safety, Campus Solidarity
This creative project brings together the voices of nine women who speak candidly about their experiences navigating relationships, safety, and solidarity on campus. Rooted in the umbrella theme Breaking Cycles, Building Safety, Campus Solidarity, the film reflects on how students create community care in the face of fear, isolation, and the everyday pressures of campus life. Through personal reflections, the women highlight both the visible and invisible forms of support that help students feel seen, protected, and connected.
The project aims to challenge harmful patterns that often go unaddressed in campus settings, such as silence around unhealthy relationships, the normalization of fear, and the lack of accessible spaces for healing and support. By centering women lived experiences, the film invites viewers to imagine campuses where safety is shared responsibility and solidarity is an active practice.
Alongside the film screening, I will briefly introduce the panel discussion that emerged from this project, bringing together campus advocates, student leaders, and community voices. Together, we explore what breaking cycles look like in practice: creating safer relational cultures, strengthening peer support systems, and building inclusive environments where all students can thrive.
This project contributes to the conference’s commitment to breaking barriers and fostering inclusivity by blending storytelling, research-informed reflection, and community dialogue. It offers both a creative exploration and a call to action, reminding us that safer campuses are built through collective care, honest conversation, and the courage to reimagine the relationships that shape student life.
All panels in stream A are taking place in the Harriet Irving Library, 3rd floor, event space or join us live on Microsoft teams.
Join panel 5A live on Microsoft Teams
Neutralizing Victimization: A Qualitative Analysis of Online Male Peer Support Networks Creating AI Pornography
Content note: This presentation will discuss sexual and gender-based violence, specifically image-based sexual abuse and non-consensual image distribution. For support and resources related to sexual violence, visit Sexual Violence New Brunswick and Government of New Brunswick resources on Intimate Partner Violence.
Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is a form of gender-based and intimate partner violence which has become widespread in the past 5-15 years.
Currently, generative AI tools are being used to create pornographic content, depicting people engaged in events and activities that did not occur. Communities dedicated to the creation and sharing of AI pornography – or IBSA material – are appearing across discussion forums.
This study applies the theory of ‘techniques of neutralization’ (developed by criminologists Sykes & Matza, 1957) to identify how individuals within these online groups minimize guilt, through a discourse analysis of discussions occurring in threads on 4chan.
Male peer support theory (DeKeseredy, 1988) provides insight into how neutralization techniques provide resources and support within this male-dominated space, where harms committed against non-consenting individuals are seen as inconsequential against perceived benefits to AI pornography.
Using Generative AI in Simulation Tasks to Learn Interview and Counseling Skills
As immersive technologies become increasingly integrated into higher education, it is unclear whether virtual reality (VR) offers meaningful advantages over more accessible, yet less immersive, computer-based platforms.
This project investigates how the format of a virtual training environment influences undergraduate students’ experiences during AI-driven, simulated client interactions. Using a within-subjects design, undergraduate psychology students completed two versions of a simulated initial session with a conversational AI avatar while practicing simple interviewing skills: one delivered through VR and the other delivered through a computer-based (i.e., flat screen) interface.
After each condition, participants completed self-report measures of presence, empathy toward the avatar, perceived confidence, engagement, motivation, and overall experience.
This research examines whether immersive VR environments significantly enhance feelings of “being there,” emotional connection, and confidence relative to a screen-based format. At the same time, it considers broader questions of accessibility and scalability, particularly in education where resources and equitable access are critical concerns.
By directly comparing immersive and semi-immersive training formats, this study contributes to interdisciplinary conversations at the intersection of psychology, artificial intelligence, and digital learning.
Findings will inform future decisions about the role of immersive technologies in experiential education and the extent to which VR provides unique pedagogical benefits beyond its novelty.
Digital Detox: The Distractor Devaluation Effect on Social Media Consumption Among University Students Following a Go/No-Go Task
As social media consumption is growing in popularity, psychological interventions must be developed to support individuals in their daily life routines. This research investigates if inhibitory training (via a Go/No-Go task) can produce a devaluation effect and decrease long term social media consumption.
The Distractor Devaluation Effect refers to the finding that stimuli associated with a “no-go” inhibitory response are subsequently devalued, compared to a “go” approach response.
This type of inhibitory training has been used to impact behaviour relating to other salient stimuli (i.e., alcohol, sexual stimuli) but has not been examined using social media-oriented stimuli.
The current work aims to examine whether inhibiting responses toward social media-related stimuli influences evaluation of the stimuli and subsequently reduces social media-related behaviour the week following participation.
Undergraduate participants recruited through SONA will engage in a Go/No-Go task in which they will press a key for “go” stimuli and withhold responses when presented “no-go” stimuli. For the experimental group “go” cues will be paired with images of daily tasks (i.e. cooking, cleaning, exercise) and “no-go” cues will be paired with images of social media; for the control group, “go” cues will be paired with social media images and “no-go” cues will be paired with images of daily tasks.
After each block of go/no-go trials, participants will engage in an affective evaluation of all stimuli, to examine whether devaluation occurs for the no-go stimuli. Participants will be asked to rate “how cheery is this item?” or “how dreary is this item?” on a scale of 1-4.
A baseline measurement of social media consumption will be compared to the participant’s social media consumption one-week post-experiment.
It is hypothesized that individuals who engage in an inhibitory response toward social media stimuli will devalue social media stimuli and have reduced social media consumption.
Join panel 6A live on Microsoft Teams
Measuring Empathy: A Discussion of Emotional Intelligence in David Hume's Treatise on Human Nature
Abstract: Explanation and critical discussion of Hume's view that reason is the slave of the passions and cannot rationally criticize them.
The work intends to discuss the role emotional intelligence could play in David Hume’s view of human nature. In his Treatise on Human Nature, David Hume argued that “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them” (Hume 415).
Following this line of reasoning, Hume offered a rigorous explanation of human nature as that which is ultimately motivated by desires and is unable to deduce objective moral facts with reason.
What I argue is that David Hume’s claim that reason cannot criticize the passions is revealed as incomplete and reductive when one considers the role empathy plays within our moral psychologies. I begin with an exposition of Hume’s view as given in the Treatise of Human Nature, and show how the various concepts of his framework relate to one another, to arrive at his central claim that reason cannot criticize the passions.
Consequently, I will offer a critical expansion on Hume’s framework to show how empathy brings out a conceptual tension in Hume’s central claim. The reasoning I will adopt is that empathy, which is experienced as a feeling like other passions, is in fact subject to rational criticism insofar as it can be judged for its accuracy.
To make this case effectively, I will draw upon evidence from psychological research that deals with the measurement of empathy, and conclude by discussing certain implications that can be drawn from this complication of Hume’s framework.
Going Viral: Werewolves, AIDS, and Popular Media
Increased visibility of queer characters and narratives in popular media is often regarded as a positive sign – proof of a growing acceptance and understanding of an otherwise marginalized and misunderstood community.
As a society, we regard these moments of acknowledgement as badges of allyship and a promise to “do better”. But what happens when representation isn’t enough? Furthermore, what harm is perpetuated when representation relies on surface-level stereotypes, monstrous imagery, and tropes of suffering?
This presentation first highlights the different forms of harmful queer representation in popular media, providing a quick overview of the ways in which they are used and often overlooked. After establishing the prevalence of these forms of “representation”, we turn to a case study that analyzes the use of werewolves as a poorly veiled metaphor for HIV+ queer men, in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Universe.
We explore the similarities between the hallmarks of the 1980-90s HIV/AIDS crisis and Rowling’s wizarding society in which werewolves face institutional discrimination. By taking an intersectional approach to this analysis (incorporating elements of gender studies, queer studies, and media/film studies), the result is a clear example of how not all representation is “good” representation.
Unearthing the Strange: Horace Walpole, William Stukeley, and the Archaeological Gothic
This presentation examines the cross-disciplinary influence of eighteenth-century archaeological methods on the nascent genre of Gothic literature. The Gothic is replete with signifiers of the past—ruins, tombs, skeletons, and so on—but this presentation shifts focus away from the objects to the process of unearthing them.
Dr. William Stukeley, an antiquary known for his scholarly rigour, documented his excavations in contemporary scientific literature; original research demonstrates the influence of Stukeley’s work on Horace Walpole, author of the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764).
In that novel, characters uncover the past through scientific approaches strikingly similar to Stukeley’s real-world archaeology. This mechanism of unearthing persists in a later Gothic text, Matthew Lewis’s The Castle of Lindenberg (1798).
In these supernatural universes, however, scientific methods carry no guarantee of producing rationally explicable results. Thus, the horror of the archaeological Gothic stems from the dissonance between process and product, as the unknowable thwarts human efforts at understanding.
This presentation also demonstrates the value of engaging with diverse disciplines in studying literary history
In person location: Harriet Irving Library Active Learning Lab, room 303
Join panel 5B live on Microsoft Teams
Patient Perspectives on the Implications of Monochorionic Diamniotic Twin Pregnancy on Mental Health
Content note: Mention of pregnancy and birth can elicit difficult emotions for some, so audience discretion is advised.
Twin pregnancy is a major risk factor for postpartum depression and anxiety (Lapinsky et al., 2023), even more so if the pregnancy carries a high risk of complications, such as in the case of monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) twin pregnancy. In MCDA twin pregnancy, there is high risk of fetal mortality due to a shared blood supply, and effective support strategies offered through the healthcare system are thus of utmost importance in managing maternal health (Riyami et al., 2013).
The objective of the current study is to understand pregnant people’s experience of MCDA twin pregnancy, the effects of the MCDA pregnancy on their mental health, and specifically how the New Brunswick healthcare system is supporting patients through the mental toll of a MCDA twin pregnancy. I will also evaluate if there are ways to improve existing strategies to support patients.
Research questions:
Because of the qualitative nature of this work, the research questions will be treated as exploratory, and no hypotheses will be advanced.
Methods: Participants over 18 years of age and who have had a MCDA pregnancy since 2020 will be contacted through the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital (DECRH) Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic (e.g., by phone and posters hung in the clinic). Interested individuals who consent to participate will complete hour-long, virtual, qualitative interviews on MS Teams. At least 10 participants will be recruited. Participants will be asked to describe their experience of MCDA twin pregnancy, any mental health challenges in relation to this, and the supports they accessed through the provincial healthcare system. Thematic analysis will then be conducted to analyze the data.
Cryptic Pregnancies and Canadian Law: Recognizing Cryptic Pregnancy as a Biological Phenomenon, Not Just a Mental Condition
This paper offers an interdisciplinary look at the political and legal classification of cryptic pregnancy and argues that Canadian legal system does not account for it as anything more than a mental condition. It examines women's bodily autonomy in relation to this condition and its intersection with political discussions in Canadian law. The condition is also examined historically, considering the changing laws that have evolved over time and their impact on this condition, whether intentional or indirect.
This historical approach involves a cultural analysis, where examining the laws that have been passed reveals social norms and values. Due to the limited understanding of the topic, this paper will approach it from an accessible perspective, beginning with basic explanations of cryptic pregnancies and their origins.
Next, it will explore what Canadian laws have to say about abortion and fetal rights to ground our research with modern definitions. Then, building on this grounded understanding, it will examine how both Canada's and other countries' laws affect this phenomenon and people with this condition, to understand cultural values versus legal classification regarding this condition.
Ultimately, by examining these legal definitions or their absence, a narrative around the cultural understanding of women's health and rights to bodily autonomy can become clearer. This paper draws on legal code, studies on women's health, medical journals, and Canadian statistics to gain an accurate understanding of this biological phenomenon, which is more common than many would think.
The Suppression and Evolution of Self in A Room with a View
E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View illustrates the fluidity of personal expression through Lucy Honeychurch’s restriction within and expansion beyond Edwardian society. I analyze the personal choices and external circumstances responsible for this protagonist’s suppression and evolution.
Lucy’s diminished, unchanged self is fostered through subjective characteristics, notably passivity and emotional avoidance; social pressures, such as traditional gender roles and ascetic individuals; and her return to the rigid Windy Corner. Contrarily, her liberation is established through a budding romance with George Emerson, a resurgence of Italian culture and individuals in her present reality, and musical self–expression. By considering these personal choices and external influences, one can fully appreciate Lucy’s complex coming of age.
My essay begins by examining Lucy’s personal progression within Italy. While this new location reveals Lucy’s desire for liberty, she remains confined by traditional gender roles and the Edwardian tourist standards. Charlotte Bartlett, Lucy’s older cousin and chaperone, forces her rigid opinions and performative femininity upon Lucy, thus confining the latter’s subjective expression. By returning Lucy to England early, Charlotte ushers Lucy back into a society which limits her individuality.
Alongside Charlotte’s oppressive influence, I examine how Lucy’s character further limits her self–actualization. Lucy’s passivity, fear of originality, and adherence to traditional gender roles prevent her growth. It is only when Lucy breaks free from these habits that she will become autonomous.
As Italian individuals return to Lucy’s English setting, she remembers the liberty she exercised while in Fiesole. Lucy’s subjectivity is fostered through these individuals, her musical expression, and defying her family’s will. Lucy’s wholehearted rejection of Edwardian society is marked by her return to Italy, with a new beau, in the novel’s final chapter. It would be an honour to explore Lucy’s personal progression at this year’s Arts Matters conference.
Shifting Away from the Family Institution: Young Adults Reconsidering their Religiosity and Identity at StFX
This paper investigates the transition of young adults living at home with parents to living independently at university and how their religiosity shifts through this process. Religiosity in this paper is defined as “the importance that individuals place upon their religious affiliation and practice” (Chan, Tsai, & Fuligni 2015:1555).
Using a qualitative research design, one-on-one, face-to-face interviews were conducted with three undergraduate students at St. Francis Xavier University to gain an in-depth understanding of this transition through their lived experiences. Guided by a phenomenological approach, this study prioritizes the personal meaning-making participants assign to their religiosity as they move away from the family institution.
There are three key themes used for data gathering and analysis: religious identity, participation, and importance. Findings suggest that during childhood and adolescence, individuals often develop a strong sense of religiosity shaped by parental influence and reinforced through a structured family environment.
As participants transitioned into independent university life, they began to renegotiate their religiosity, often experiencing a decline in religious participation without a decline in religious identity. Participants also described maintaining a clear separation between their social and religious lives and identified family as the primary determinant of religious practice due to its role in providing structure and routine. Data was analyzed phenomenologically by examining participants’ words, phrases, and recurring ideas to identify common themes and patterns across interviews.
Overall, this study highlights how emerging adulthood and separation from the family institution prompt young adults to reconsider and reconstruct their religiosity in ways that reflect increased autonomy rather than complete disengagement from religious identity.
In person location: Harriet Irving Library Active Learning Lab, room 303
Join panel 6B live on Microsoft Teams
Dishes for Dignity: A Community-Centered Cookbook
Dishes for Dignity is a cookbook that explores the intersections of food justice, community care, and sustainability. It is an independent project that combines the elements of storytelling, food literacy, and community engagement to promote awareness surrounding food insecurity and the importance of food equity.
As we continue to experience countless economic disruptions around the world, Canada is struggling to address diminished food banks, high grocery prices, and inadequate community supports and resources. Through the application of both academic research and lived experience, Dishes for Dignity is a functional resource rooted in the critical application of theory, knowledge, and justice.
The book addresses the cost of living, what food resources are out there, how to put a meal together, how to flavor your food, meal prep strategies, and how to make cooking accessible. Laying a foundation of food literacy and acknowledging the dire situation Canadian citizens and residents are facing, then we can begin to inspire and offer hope. This book expands far beyond the realm of recipes and delves into the approaches, perspectives, strategies, and competencies capable of enhancing the lives of people seeking to improve their everyday food and culinary experiences.
No matter a person’s socioeconomic situation, we should all be able to eat dishes with dignity.
Eastern-Rooted Métis: Negotiating a Challenged Identity
The Red River Settlement, in what is now Manitoba, is largely regarded as the birthplace of the Métis people. Métis comes from the word "métissage," which refers to the mixing and intermarrying of European settlers and local First Nation populations. For this reason, Métis identity is most often associated with Western regions of Canada. However, a number of individuals have challenged this notion and claim a Métis identity rooted in eastern Canada is equally legitimate.
This has become very controversial because there is a perception that eastern-rooted Métis people pose a threat to the integrity of the Métis identity and their resources. For these Métis, this means facing many complications in their everyday lives, from discrimination and stigmatization, to having to negotiate a very complicated identity (who they are and where they belong).
For this presentation, I will be discussing how this was studied in the context of an Honours thesis, with a particular focus on French-speaking eastern-rooted Métis participants. This is a qualitative study that was conducted using the Psycho-Social Ethnography of the Commonplace (P-SEC) methodology. Using 11 interviews that were previously gathered by the P-SEC research laboratory, data was extracted through coding with a qualitative research analysis software, NVivo 14.
From the codes, the most salient themes were selected to address questions on how the research participants managed their marginalized status and the role that major institutions (such as the federal government, provincial governments, and Indigenous organizations) play in maintaining everyday challenges for this population.
Negotiating Narratives: Hybridity as a Framework for Decolonizing the Canadian Museum
In the context of Canadian museology, memory and exhibits on Canada’s past become a sort of “battlefield” of perspectives and experiences. Historically, Canadian institutions utilized exhibits to historicize Indigenous Peoples, reinforcing colonial hierarchies by framing them within a static, evolutionary past. This presentation explores the evolution of this relationship, moving from the exclusionary practices of the 20th century to the complex "inclusion" of the present day.
Central to this analysis is Susan Ashley’s concept of "hybridity" in museology. Rather than viewing the museum as a neutral container, Ashley’s framework allows us to understand contemporary exhibits like the First Peoples Hall at the Canadian Museum of History as sites of negotiation. Here, Western museological practices and Indigenous epistemologies are in conversation and debate/tension. They actively intersect, competing and collaborating to form "multi-vocal depictions of identity".
This presentation contrasts this hybrid model with the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). While the NMAI presents a "unified voice that is unmistakably Aboriginal" and focuses on cumulative emotional effect, the First Peoples Hall remains a space of "competing voices", those of Indigenous communities and those of the settler state.
Ultimately, I argue that while hybridity in Canadian museums does not always achieve the unified sovereignty seen in the NMAI, it successfully disrupts the "static" colonial display of indigenous people and culture as “artifacts” of the past. By acknowledging the museum as a space of ongoing tension, we can better understand how "inclusion" functions as both a "pressure valve" for negotiating difference, but also as an ongoing, transformative process necessary for genuine reconciliation.