Women’s Studies students’ accounts of their experiences academically, emotionally and politically in feminist university classrooms will be investigated in this thesis. Central to my work, through an anti-racist feminist and intersectional analysis, is to demonstrate the ways in which Women’s Studies university classroom spaces are neither ‘innocent’ nor are they devoid of racism/white supremacy as it is present in the bodies who are allowed to enter the space, voices allowed to speak and knowledge being taught. As this research is informed by a personal experience in an undergraduate Women and Gender Studies course at a local university, I will use both auto-ethnography and interviews as method in and through anti-racist feminist research methodology. Highlighting the importance of anti-racism education as a call to action in attending to this disjuncture and also to erode superficial notions of sisterhood will demonstrate white feminist supremacy as an implication for the sociology of race.

Women’s Studies students’ accounts of their experiences academically, emotionally and politically in feminist university classrooms will be investigated in this thesis. Central to my work, through an anti-racist feminist and intersectional analysis, is to demonstrate the ways in which Women’s Studies university classroom spaces are neither ‘innocent’ nor are they devoid of racism/white supremacy as it is present in the bodies who are allowed to enter the space, voices allowed to speak and knowledge being taught. As this research is informed by a personal experience in an undergraduate Women and Gender Studies course at a local university, I will use both auto-ethnography and interviews as method in and through anti-racist feminist research methodology. Highlighting the importance of anti-racism education as a call to action in attending to this disjuncture and also to erode superficial notions of sisterhood will demonstrate white feminist supremacy as an implication for the sociology of race.

This legal comparative study explores the nature and development of rabbinic thought on intermarriage. One could hardly phrase the query that lies at the heart of this work better than the Talmud itself: "Is she forbidden or permitted?" (bSanhedrin 82a). This challenge, posed to Moses as part of an exegetical exploration of the problem of intermarriage, asks so much more than whether an Israelite might marry a Gentile. It points to conflicts between biblical law and narrative, biblical and rabbinic law, as well as incompatibilities within rabbinic halakhah. The issues of status, national identity and gender loom large as the various legal and narrative sources on intermarriage are set on an hermeneutic collision course. In this way many rabbinic sources display a deep understanding of the complexity inherent to any discussion of intermarriage in rabbinic tradition. Considering intermarriage as a construct that lies at the intersection between identity and marital rules, we begin this study of rabbinic legal systems with an analysis of the notion of intramarriage and Jewish identity in halakhah as expressed through the system of the asarah yuchasin (ten lineages). Discussion of various systems dealing with intermarriage follows, including qiddushin (Jewish betrothal/marriage) and the status of the offspring of intermarriage, the concept of the qahal (congregation of God), the arayot (levitical incest laws) as well as the individual legal rules related to marriage and sexual relations between Jews and Gentiles. The role of narrative in the representation of case law and rabbinic engagement with these legal systems forms an integral part of our analysis of the law. The overall conclusion of the dissertation is that rabbinic approaches to intermarriage were characterized by multiplicity and diversity. Rabbinic tradition engaged with the issue of intermarriage through a wide variety of often unrelated and incompatible legal systems. Furthermore, it is apparent that conflicting attitudes towards the interpretation and implementation of these rules are represented in both tannaitic (c. 70-200 C.E.) and amoraic sources (c. 200-500 C.E.), such that several key problems related to intermarriage in early rabbinic tradition remain unresolved.

This study presents an account of the lived-experience of internationally-trained midwives who have immigrated to Canada, attended a bridging program to reaccredit as a midwife, and currently meet the requirements for registration with the College of Midwives of Ontario. Ten internationally-trained midwives were interviewed about their experience of this transition in their life. The interviews were then subjected to a qualitative analysis based on the principles of grounded theory. The findings outline the experience of immigration and reaccreditation focusing on the barriers and challenges faced by these female immigrants. The impact on the individual’s sense of identity was explored. Coping strategies used by the participants were investigated.

This thesis brings interpretive disability studies together with a governmentality approach and feminist methodology to think through the meaning of autism, Asperger’s and maternal care. I examine how Asperger’s is articulated as a problem of individual governance through what I call the care complex, an array of practices, knowledges, technologies and institutional locales that attempt to scientifically know and manage alterity under neo-liberal rule. I focus on discourses of inclusion that seek to normalise the movements of alterity through a mother’s care, and reveal how direct and authoritarian forms of power are integral to the accomplishment of this paradoxical version of inclusion and care. The aim of this thesis is to “take care” of autism differently. Thus I also consider how maternal care is lived out and felt, opening analytical space to ask critical questions about power, embodiment and human vulnerability.

The purpose of this study was threefold; to examine the unique challenges faced among young breast cancer survivors’ self-concepts; to explore the identity reformulation process as they adjust to a new lifestyle after completing medical treatment; and to identify women’s creative problem solving solution used to mitigate any long-term distress and discontinuity between past, current and ideal selves. In-person semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 young breast cancer survivors (aged 32-45). The results indicated that exploring women’s narratives through the identity reformulation process created an alternative approach to the four prescribed quality of life domains used to understand survivors’ overall wellbeing. The results also identified three shared domains of social location (gender, youth and health status) that intersected in women’s identity reformulation process. These findings have implications for psychosocial oncology literature, as well as clinical practice for mental health practitioners. Limitations and recommendations for areas of future research were discussed.

This thesis brings interpretive disability studies together with a governmentality approach and feminist methodology to think through the meaning of autism, Asperger’s and maternal care. I examine how Asperger’s is articulated as a problem of individual governance through what I call the care complex, an array of practices, knowledges, technologies and institutional locales that attempt to scientifically know and manage alterity under neo-liberal rule. I focus on discourses of inclusion that seek to normalise the movements of alterity through a mother’s care, and reveal how direct and authoritarian forms of power are integral to the accomplishment of this paradoxical version of inclusion and care. The aim of this thesis is to “take care” of autism differently. Thus I also consider how maternal care is lived out and felt, opening analytical space to ask critical questions about power, embodiment and human vulnerability.

This study uses institutional ethnography (IE) to address the question of how young women, considered to be “at risk” youth, make decisions about their working lives. Based on interviews with young women and program workers in housing, employment, young mothers’ and girls’ programs, field observations, and document analysis at Gen-Y (pseudonym for a women’s community-based social services agency), young women’s provisioning experiences are used to critique current program and policy models that feature notions of choice and risk. Provisioning is a concept that captures a wide range of work and work-related activities that young women perform for themselves and people they feel responsible for. IE is applied to understand how institutional processes and practices give rise to the conditions under which young women participants at Gen-Y make career and life decisions.

The impetus for this study came from my own history of being a single mother while completing my undergraduate degree and the struggles that entailed. The research uncovers both the barriers and facilitators experienced by single mothers in undergraduate programs in a Canadian context and utilizes a framework of access and equity in education. The co-participants belonged to diverse social and political identities in terms of age, race and ethnicity, sexuality, (dis)ability, and countries of birth. All the women attended universities in Southern Ontario. Twenty-five women agreed to be interviewed in either a group or individual interview. Co-participants were encouraged to contribute to the design and analysis of the study wherever possible. Previous research based in the United States conceptualized single mother students as social assistance recipients and explored their difficulties within this context. This study suggests using a wider lens to include other experiences identified by co-participants and the literature review. The study locates barriers both within the university as well as in the larger society such as interpersonal violence, stress, financial insecurity, racism and other forms of discrimination. However, it also identifies supports and strengths single mothers encountered such as family, friends, children as motivation, professors, on-campus supports, and critical pedagogy, all of which were largely missing from previous research. Many women challenged the often pathologizing dominant discourse and instead described single motherhood as empowering, independent, and liberating as compared to being a part of a traditional nuclear family. Co-participants also identified feeling isolated, discussions around which engendered a social group outside of the research project. By creating awareness of the needs of diverse single mother students, this project aims to disrupt the still-prevalent notion of the “traditional student” and accompanying policies and practices in institutions of education and the wider community. While much has been documented in Canada about the need for access, equity, and inclusive schooling, single mothers in particular have not been a main focus and included among other intersections of identity. The findings from this study address this gap and contribute to the literature.

This study presents an account of the lived-experience of internationally-trained midwives who have immigrated to Canada, attended a bridging program to reaccredit as a midwife, and currently meet the requirements for registration with the College of Midwives of Ontario. Ten internationally-trained midwives were interviewed about their experience of this transition in their life. The interviews were then subjected to a qualitative analysis based on the principles of grounded theory. The findings outline the experience of immigration and reaccreditation focusing on the barriers and challenges faced by these female immigrants. The impact on the individual’s sense of identity was explored. Coping strategies used by the participants were investigated.