Sociology and Social Anthropology Honours Theses
Recent Submissions
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The Harana Singers of Nova Scotia: Transnationalism, cultural identity, and collective music-making in a Filipino choir
(2023-05)The Harana Singers of Nova Scotia is a choir of mostly Filipinos, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Many studies have been conducted on Filipino migration and occupation (Gardiner Barber, 2008; Reyes, 2005), but little research ... -
Sober Sociability: How non-drinking students navigate outside the norm
(2023-05)Drinking culture on campuses has been written about for decades, and drinking students see drinking culture as a means of forming and maintaining friendships, socializing in large groups and vital in their university ... -
Connecting Through Faith: An Analysis of Dalhousie and Kings Religious Societies
(2023-05)In Canadian society today, there is a growing problem of university dropouts and deteriorating mental health conditions in university students with a leading cause being loneliness. This qualitative sociological study ... -
“They Want Me to Play F*cking Bingo!”: The Social Lives of Young at Heart Seniors
(2022-04)There are many sociological studies concerned with the social lives of senior citizens who fit the traditional aging norms of society. In comparison, the social experiences of “young at heart” seniors are relatively absent ... -
Missing the Bus, Missing School: Does Mode of Transportation Affect Educational Engagement Among High School Students in the HRM?
(2022-04)Whether it is time spent sitting in traffic on the way home from work, flying to visit distant family, or simply driving aimlessly with friends, our lives are greatly impacted by mobility. This study, guided by literature ... -
Framing the Social Reality of COVID-19
(2022-04)Beyond the health crisis itself, the COVID-19 pandemic has also given rise to a crisis of information, as public health authorities around the world scramble to control the flow of information about the evolving science ... -
Bunching Violets: An exploration into Queer Femmes' construction of identity and belonging
(2022-04)This research seeks to broaden the dialogue surrounding queer presentation, identity construction and femininity. Specifically, I look at what it takes to externalize identity within a queer context, and how femmes subvert ... -
Forming Characters: How Reading Shapes Us
(2022-04)This research project seeks to address a gap in reading research – the experience of the solitary reader. Through a literature review and 10 qualitative interviews with students at Dalhousie University and University of ... -
Putting the 'Cult' in 'Subculture': Investigating Group Identity Development Among Incels
(2022-04)In this study, I analyze the group identity development of incels. Incels are a group of men who gather in online spaces to vent frustrations about feminism and an inability to attract a romantic partner. The theoretical ... -
Carving in and “Carving Out” Space: Gender in the Halifax Skateboarding Subculture
(2022-04)Skateboarding was made without rules, confinement, or regulation; it is a subculture (Beal, 1996) with an ideology that counters normative authority and, more specifically, standards of masculinity. Yet skateboarding ... -
Straight Until Proven Queer: Exploring Young Queer Attitudes Towards Coming Out
(2022-04)Much has been said about the coming out process in sociological literature — including varying characterizations of the process and varying claims about the significance of the process. This study aims to uncover how young ... -
Eco-Anxiety: Exploring Existential Threats and Ontological Security among University Students
(2022-04)The physical and mental health consequences of climate change are, and will be, an extremely important issue in the anthropology of climate change. Already, we are seeing countless examples of the effects of climate ... -
Getting Acquainted: The Hidden Value of (In)Significant Others
(2019-04)In the context of modern personal life, acquaintances are becoming a growing feature of people’s personal communities. However, their significance is often framed in terms of their instrumentality. What we understand less ... -
Staying Connected: Life Online During the Covid-19 Pandemic
(2021-04)The Covid-19 pandemic brought about lockdowns and public health guidelines and left Canadians to grapple with the changes it inflicted on their daily lives. With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 a great deal of ... -
“I Don’t Suffer from ADHD, I Suffer from Other People”: ADHD, Stigma, and Academic Life
(2021-04)Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that has been proven to be stigmatized. There are substantial gaps in the literature pertaining to adulthood ADHD and stigma from the point ... -
At the Tipping Point: Intersections of Wage, Gift, and Solidarity in Halifax Restaurant Work
(2021-04)Tipping is a social norm that is reinforced by many people’s regular participation in it. Through semi-structured interviews, this exploratory, qualitative study how customers, servers, and managers understand, experience, ... -
How and Why Heritage Performers Represent the Past in the Present
(2021-04)This study explores the motivations of heritage performers to take on their roles and how they understand their representation of history. While there is a wide array of literature on visitor experience at heritage sites, ... -
Young Adults and Their Parents: The (Mis)understandings That Define Mental Illness
(2021-04)Using a symbolic interactionist perspective, I explore and identify meanings of young adult mental illness that are constructed through the relationship between young adults and their parents. Thus far, research on mental ... -
First Year, Online University, and the Trouble of Digital Community
(2021-04)The COVID-19 pandemic has created a novel learning environment for all universities; however, this novelty is twofold for first year students. The aim of this project is to explore the experience first years have had as ... -
Madness in the Media: News Coverage of Police Lethal Force on Persons with Mental Illness
(2020)Police encounters with persons with mental illness have been increasing since the deinstitutionalization of the 1960s. As a result, persons with mental illness are the most vulnerable demographic to police use of lethal ...