Dr. Katie MacDonald

I grew up in Mi’kma’ki, which is the traditional ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq people, in the province of Nova Scotia, and I now live in Treaty 6 territory in Amiskwaciy-Wâskahikan with my family where we make community, art and laughter.

I am a feminist engaged researcher which means that it is important to me that my work is connected to what people are living and can contribute something to their lives. I am especially interested in learning as transformation for social justice and motivation for action.

I have two streams of research, both of which are connected by questions of how people understand inequity. The first stream takes global learning as a site of inquiry. Building on my work in my dissertation, this work will explore experiences of sexual violence in global education opportunities through post-secondary. The first stage of this research is a policy scan seeking to understand current and best practices at Canadian institutions for who students experience sexual violence abroad. The second stage will be a qualitative inquiry with students. This research will contribute to practices, policies and understanding of sexual violence while abroad.

The second stream takes affordable housing as a site of inquiry. I am currently a co-investigator on a multi-year research project entitled Community Housing Canada funded by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. My research on this grant will look at the experiences of frontline workers in affordable housing. I am currently examining the case of Alberta and in 2022 plan to expand to include other jurisdictions.

Discover my research

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Research interests

• Global service learning
• Feminist sociology
• Transnational feminism
• Affordable housing
• Qualitative research methods
• Pedagogy

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Educational credentials

• Bachelor of Arts, Honors in Interdisciplinary Studies, St. Thomas University
• Master of Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies, York University
• Master of Education, York University
• PhD, Sociology, University of Alberta
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Concordia University

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