2024 Recipients
Click on the award to meet the recipients!
2024
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Angus Reid Practitioner - Applied Sociology AwardDr. Lindsey Richardson |
Angus Reid Student - Applied Sociology AwardChene Redwood |
Best Student Paper AwardSonali Patel |
Best Student Paper AwardGaliba Zahid |
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Canadian Review of Sociology Journal Best Article AwardLisa Y. Seiler and Dr. Glenn J. Stalker |
Canadian Review of Sociology Journal Best Article Award - Honourable MentionDr. Michelle Maroto, Delphine Brown, and Dr. Guillaume Durou |
Canadian Sociology Book AwardDr. Andrew Crosby |
Early Investigator AwardDr. Alan Santinele Martino
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Global Sociology AwardDr. Pallavi Banerjee |
Lorne Tepperman Outstanding Contribution to Teaching AwardDr. Fiona Kay |
Outstanding Contriubtion to Sociology AwardDr. Howard Ramos |
Outstanding Service AwardDr. Vivian Shalla |
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Prix d'excellence en sociologie de langue françaiseJules Pector-Lallemand |
Prix d'excellence en sociologie de langue françaiseDr. Nicolas Sallée |
Student Awards |
Angus Reid Applied Sociology Award
Practitioner
Dr. Lindsey Richardson, University of British Columbia
Dr. Richardson’s commitment to public Sociology emerged from her work in political decision-making. She was a parliamentary intern, a research assistant for the Prime Minister’s Office and a policy analyst for the City of Vancouver. This experience plus her Sociological insights, prepared her to carry out a research program on how government policies impact the lives of those who use drugs. Her seminal research examined the impact of income support for those who use drugs and her commitment to the community has led to policy and program changes that impact people who use drugs. As one of her nominators pointed out: “…we can attest to the strength of her commitment to engage constructively and impactfully with those affected by the issues she is studying”.
Over the past decade, Dr. Richardson has worked on a range of community-based research, evaluation and knowledge mobilization activities. Her work is a model for others in how to carry out public impact research in an ethical and valid way. Her approach to research in the community is based on obtaining community-based knowledge and to carry out appropriate research activities which culminates in the integration of the two. She then proceeds to disseminate knowledge and inform policy. Her work is shared with both the community as well as with local, provincial and federal governments to help communities deal with circumstances that involve individuals using banned substances.
Dr. Richardson has obtained several major grants from WorksafeBC, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institutes on Drug Abuse, and Health Canada. Her work has involved many presentations to community organizations as well as other public audiences, e.g., government committees/task force, podcasts, broadcast media. She also has presented Reports and Briefs to several provincial and federal departments over the past decade. Finally, Dr. Richardson has not neglected her professional academic duties to publish in major national and international journals and her work is nationally and internationally recognized. She is currently a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Social Inclusion and Health Equity.
Student
Chene Redwood, University of Calgary
The 2024 recipient was endorsed by Dr. Ariel Ducey as Head & Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary.
The Department of Sociology selected PhD student Chene Redwood to receive this award as someone who has demonstrated extensive commitment to applying his sociological training and sociological research to the betterment of communities, especially through his work with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).
The department was impressed with Chene’s significant knowledge mobilization efforts in the community. In particular, he has advised the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) on their international student workforce development program. He has also provided expert advice and support to the Alberta Network of Immigrant Women, the Jamaican Canadian Association of Alberta, and the University of Calgary. Furthermore, throughout his research process, he has worked with Chartered Professionals in Human Resources Alberta (CPHR), who have provided him with valuable insights into their profession. Furthermore, once Chene completes his dissertation, CPHR will help him distribute his findings so that they can inform changes in professional practice and training.
Chene is also the recipient of one of the University's highest academic distinctions, as an Izaak Walton Killam Doctoral Scholarship recipient (2021-23).
Best Student Paper Awards
Sonali Patel, University of British Columbia
Re-theorizing the Sexual Minority Closet: Evidence from Queer South Asian Women
Scholarship generally assumes the closet is a place of safety from the perceived risks associated with coming out. However, this overlooks its function as a source of violence, particularly for those belonging to multiple marginalized communities. This article investigates queer South Asian women’s (QSAW) experiences of the closet. Drawing on forty qualitative interviews with second and 1.5-generation QSAW in Canada, I offer a re-theorization of the closet as a dual site of safety and violence. My findings show that the convergence of sexual expectations of coming out with ethnic expectations of concealment exacerbates QSAW’s vulnerability to violence from family, the LGBTQ+ community, and intimate partners. Despite living a double life to reconcile these conflicting demands, QSAW experience micro-aggressive violence for being closeted and familial violence for not repressing their sexuality. Dating while closeted further jeopardizes QSAW’s safety. Ultimately, the results stress the dangers of pressuring QSAW to come out to their parents. The results are significant for understanding the intersectional complexities of sexual identity concealment, as well as culturally unique forms of it, such as privately engaging in queerness “behind closed doors.”
The award adjudication committee noted the quality of research and writing in a nuanced but accessible style. They recognized the paper’s exploration of a crucial and timely topic through an intersectional lens as insightful and well contextualized for an unfamiliar reader.
Galiba Zahid, University of Alberta
Beyond the Punchline: Exploring Social Commentary and Theorizing in Stand-Up Narratives
Traditionally, stand-up comedy has included jokes and routines that mock others, often containing sexist, racist, and discriminatory content. While this is characteristic of comedy, there are openings for subversion in the directions of gender justice, anti-racist, and anti-colonialist movements. The form of stand-up that weaves together storytelling, social commentary, and expressive language to craft comedic narratives has been labelled "post-comedy" or "anti-comedy." The problem with labelling certain stand-ups as post-comedy or anti-comedy lies in creating two distinct categories: one for frivolous jokes aimed solely at eliciting laughter and another for narrative, theoretical, and discursive jokes. However, to varying degrees, all stand-up is political, narrative, and theoretical. Tensions over what the audience finds humorous not only showcase the comedians’ skill but also reflect societal acceptance. Thoroughly examining stand-up narratives, punch lines, and emotional cues reveals hidden social theories and explores how humour shapes audience beliefs. This redefinition positions stand-up comedy as a distinctive form of narrative and theorizing discourse, challenging norms, amplifying marginalized voices, and providing alternative narratives for endurance. Taking stand-up seriously opens doors in the theorizing landscape, fostering the development of theories within jokes, performances, and storytelling, offering new, engaging, and entertaining avenues for non-violent resistance and endurance.
The award adjudication committee noted the wide potential appeal of this research topic and skillful use of under-analyzed sources. They felt that this paper was very original and engaging.
Canadian Review of Sociology Best Article Awards
Lisa Y. Seiler, York University and Dr. Glenn J. Stalker, York University
Canadian Climate Change Attitudes and Energy Policy. (60:1, February 2023)
This paper draws upon an original Canadian survey dataset of 861 respondents across 10 provinces to analyze public opinion regarding climate change attitudes and energy policy. The committee was impressed by the authors' ambitious data collection, which provides an important dataset for understanding Canadians' views on climate change and preferred strategies for decarbonization. The analysis is novel, and the findings provide insight showing that Canadians are deeply concerned about climate change and favour government action to decrease carbon emissions. This runs counter to claims by some organizations and elected officials that Canadians are not concerned about climate change. Seiler and Stalker's findings therefore carry important implications for policymaking and provide a great example of how sociological research can be used to tackle pressing problems such as the climate crisis. The analysis is also an important contribution to our understanding of attitudes towards climate change in Canada and how they differ from those in the United States.
Honourable Mention
Dr. Michelle Maroto, University of Alberta, Delphine Brown, University of Alberta, and Dr. Guillaume Durou, University of Alberta
Is Everyone Really Middle Class? Social Class Positions and Identification in Alberta. (60:3, August 2023)
The adjudication committee recognizes the extensive research conducted as part of this project and the contributions to understanding measures of objective class position and subjective class identity. The authors conclude the article by advocating for more comprehensive measures of social class.
Canadian Sociology Book Award
Dr. Andrew Crosby, University of Waterloo and Carleton University
Resisting Eviction: Domicide and the Financialization of Rental Housing. (Fernwood Publishing, 2023)
Andrew Crosby’s Resisting Eviction: Domicide and the Financialization of Rental Housing is an engaging and compelling read that advances Canadian sociological understandings of housing financialization, community gentrification, household eviction, tenant organizing and housing resistance. Crosby argues that racial discrimination, property relations and settler colonialism underpin contemporary urban (re)development efforts, and these have resounding impacts on community connections and rights to affordable housing.
Resisting Eviction presents an in-depth case study of the deliberate destruction of homes—domicide—and tenant resistance against a multi-billion-dollar real estate investment firm in the Heron Gate neighborhood in Ottawa, on unceded Algonquin land. Crosby highlights the palpable contradictions between, on the one hand, public depictions of Canada’s capital city of Ottawa as “North America’s most liveable mid-sized city” while, on the other hand, large-scale, demolition-driven evictions that are displacing hundreds of people and destroying long-standing community bonds. Crosby's work elucidates the way in which new immigrants and immigrant communities are subject to political and corporate revisioning in the nation's capital.
The book utilizes political activist ethnography, rooted in Dorothy Smith’s institutional ethnography, which embeds activist researchers in the social struggles and socio-political questions they are investigating. Resisting Eviction demonstrates the distinctive goals and principles of political activist ethnography as a method, which, as Crosby writes, is a “form of qualitative inquiry that focuses on work with and for social movements”. Based on multiple years of research, evidence and data, and community engagement from 2018 to 2022, this book brilliantly demonstrates a rigorous and ethical research and methodological process.
The Canadian Sociology Book Award adjudication committee noted that the book is especially timely in the current context of Canada’s housing crisis and that it advances sociological perspectives on housing financialization and strategies of resistance in Canada through a decolonizing lens and with attention to intersections of classism and racism. His analysis of "livability" as an urban planning exercise indicates how it is grounded aesthetically in a vision that cannot abide low-income and racialized people cohabiting in the same urban spaces.
Early Investigator Awards
Dr. Alan Santinele Martino, University of Calgary
Alan Santinele Martino is an Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream) in the Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies program at the University of Calgary. His research and teaching examine the sociology of sexualities at the intersection of critical disabilities studies, and he is the founder of the Disability and Sexuality Lab at the University of Calgary. Despite holding a teaching-stream appointment which prioritizes teaching over research obligations, Martino has been a prolific early-career researcher, publishing more than 30 peer reviewed articles and book chapters and has established himself as a leading emerging scholar in the field of sexualities and disabilities. His research is frequently community-based and engages with community organizations working in the disabilities field in Southern Alberta.
Global Sociology Book Award
Dr. Pallavi Banerjee, University of Calgary
The Global Sociology Book Award committee has selected Dr. Pallavi Banerjee’s book The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families, and the Failures of the Dependent Visa Program (NYU Press, 2022) as the winner of the 2024 CSA Global Sociology Book Award. The committee found the book to be a powerful exploration of the transnational flows of migratory labour and appreciated Banerjee’s use of lengthy and detailed ethnographic research, which allowed for a nuanced understanding of the workers' experiences. The committee also commends the book for critically exposing the global commodification of workers of colour from the global South and for examining the gendered expectations that shape both women and men in these circumstances. Banerjee’s contribution to knowledge in the sociology of labour and migration is significant, particularly in terms of her book’s providing context and centering the narratives of her research participants. Furthermore, the committee admires the book for its concrete and detailed recommendations for change. Overall, the book is a compelling example of global sociology of the highest calibre and provides an incisive exploration of how corporations in the global North collaborate with agencies in the global South to treat workers as commodities.
Lorne Tepperman Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award
Dr. Fiona Kay, Queen's University
The award adjudication committee were impressed with Dr. Kay and her career as an outstanding educator who has demonstrated sustained commitment to excellence in teaching.
Dr. Kay’s contributions include creating resources to support other educators in transitioning to emergency remote education during the COVID-19 pandemic. These resources included the development of a sociology teaching handbook, webinars, and a module shared through the Queen’s University Centre for Teaching and Learning. Dr. Kay also innovates in her own sociology teaching, in ways recognized through awards, media coverage, and student feedback. Examples of this innovation in her courses include community- engaged learning, instructor-created videos filmed in relevant locations across the city, and the incorporation of holistic frameworks for globally engaged curriculum. Dr. Kay has supported capacity-building for these teaching strategies through extensive mentorship of other educators and the delivery of teaching workshops.
Outstanding Contribution to Sociology Award
Dr. Howard Ramos, Western University
The award adjudication committee selected Dr. Ramos to receive this prestigious award based on his CV and letters of recommendation from the CSA membership. Those endorsing Dr. Ramos’ nomination noted his many contributions to research, publication, and service to advance the discipline of sociology.
“He is a well-respected figure in Canadian academic sociological circles, an active policy advisor to several government department (e.g., IRCC, Statistics Canada, etc.), an omnipresent in the social and mainstream media domains, and an advocate for critical sociology. While many of us focus on one or two areas of expertise, Dr. Ramos has been involved in pushing the boundaries of the Canadian sociological knowledge in several important areas: immigration, environment, social movements, and political sociology. His contributions to the sociological knowledge production aside, he has an impressive record of training the next generation of Canadian sociologists, as reflected in the number of students he has supervised and promoted through joint publications. Also, while many prolific academics often shy away from taking on leadership and administrative roles, Dr. Ramos has managed to combine his impressive research record with serving at several highly demanding administrative positions, such as the presidency of Canadian Sociological Association, the headship of the sociology department at Western University, the associate-deanship at Dalhousie, and the chairmanship of the Statistics Canada’s advisory council.”
“Dr. Ramos’s most important article is “Transnational information Politics: NGO Human Rights Reporting, 1986- 2000 was published in International Studies Quarterly (with Ron and Rodgers) back in 2005, the first contribution of many on media and humans that defined his early career in such journals as Journal of Peace Research, Concepts and Foreign Policy. After establishing his reputation in this field, Dr. Ramos then became a leader in the study of Indigenous resistance with articles in Social Forces, Canadian Journal of Sociology, Social Movements, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics and Journal of Canadian Studies. Following up these two major research agendas with a couple of well-regarded co-authored textbooks in Seeing Politics Differently (2012) and Protest and Politics: The Promise of Social Movements Societies (2015) consolidated Ramos’s reputation as an intellectual leader in political sociology in Canada. Howard Ramos’s stellar contributions to a specifically Canadian sociology were taken to another level with The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (2017) co-authored with some of the major sociologists and scholars addressing race and racism in Canadian higher education. “
“Dr. Ramos has published in our discipline’s top journals both nationally and internationally. In short, his contributions to the study of sociology are wide, exceptional, important and international. Dr Ramos does not limit his academic contributions to refereed journal articles. He is a prolific supporter of the community, writing reports and articles for various community organizations, government publications and trade journals. He has written numerous Op-eds which have been published in the most important news periodicals in Canada and internationally, including the Globe and Mail, The Telegram, the Guardian and others. In sum, he gives back to his community as a real public sociologist. “
Outstanding Service Award
Dr. Vivian Shalla, University of Guelph
Dr. Shalla has been engaged in CSA leadership roles for many years. As a member and chair of the Research Advisory Subcommittee (2016-2019), she helped to adjudicate the CSA’s Early Investigator Award, led the preparation of feedback on the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, and organized plenaries for the annual conferences.
Dr. Shalla was elected for the Executive Committee position of Secretary in 2020 to 2023. Her attention to detail and accuracy in preparing meeting minutes and attention to governance policy and protocol was an invaluable contribution to managing the business of the association.
In addition to these roles, Dr. Shalla has been a member and chair of the Work, Professions, and Occupations Research Cluster; organizing sessions, reviewing presentation submissions, and adjudicating Best Student Paper award nominations.
The Executive Committee unanimously endorsed Dr. Shalla for the 2024 Outstanding Service Award noting that the CSA has benefited greatly from her commitment to the association’s governance, programming, and membership engagement initiatives.
Prix d'excellence en sociologie de langue française
Award for Excellence in French-language Sociology
Jules Pector-Lallemand, Université de Montréal
Pourboire: Une sociologie de la restauration. (Editions XYZ, 2022)
Pector-Lallemand's book is fascinating in more ways than one, thanks to its unique writing style and the unfolding of a plot that is very rare in sociology. Inspired by the ethnographic spirit of the Chicago School, the author reveals the contours of a milieu traversed by unusual rituals, codes and practices. Note that this is not an essay, but is based on theoretically and methodologically rigorous sociological research, from which the author offers us a gourmet table d'hôte. In other words, what makes this book unique is its artistic form, the coherence between presentation and content, the elegance with which sociological research is presented to a general audience without loss of scientific rigor.
This highly original story immerses readers in a sociological study of the Montreal restaurant industry at the turn of the 2020s, focusing on the meaning that players give to the practice of tipping, a transactional universe in its own right. Pector-Lallemand's talent for popularization shines through in the fluent writing, with a touch of humor woven into the sociological analysis, without taking shortcuts when it comes to scientific rigor. This book is one of a kind, and deserves to be read by the sociological community and anyone open to discovering the sociological imagination. The subject is fascinating, the language accessible and the analysis rigorous.
In short, Jules Pector-Lallemand's book, Pourboire, offers a discovery not only of the Montreal and international restaurant scene, but also of the everyday sociological lens. The book proves that reading scholarly books can be enjoyable, amusing and educational all at the same time.
Dr. Nicolas Sallée, Université de Montréal
This rigorously researched, in-depth work takes an original, detailed and profoundly sociological look at the Quebec juvenile prison environment, based on a case study from Montreal. At the heart of this work is the questioning of the crime control model, more specifically the execution of sentences for minors, since the arrival of a new rehabilitation paradigm at the turn of the 2000s. In this two-part study (outside the walls and inside the walls of a youth center), Sallée urges readers to understand the accentuation of the legal framework in the sentencing process, coupled with the growth of managerial logics, dissemination of risk assessment tools, injunctions to responsibility, etc., as much as the mutations effected in rehabilitation, reintegration and protection. He concludes that a new institutional form of control is being established (in this "new age of rehabilitation"), one that advocates self-control and accountability - in short, one that does not completely break out of the disciplinary circle of isolating and punishing young offenders.
The book is aimed at a specialized audience wishing to develop or perfect their expertise in the criminal justice of minors entrusted to youth protection services. It will be of interest to practitioners, social workers, psycho-educators, jurists or legislators specializing in youth law, criminologists and sociologists. This book inspires us with its social relevance, depth of empirical ground and rigorous analysis.