MSVU e-Commons
The MSVU e-Commons is the institutional repository for Mount Saint Vincent University. It allows MSVU faculty, students, and staff to store their scholarly output, including theses and dissertations. Works in the e-Commons have permanent URLs and trustworthy identifiers, and are discoverable via Google Scholar, giving your work a potential local and global audience.
In addition to free storage, the e-Commons provides Mount scholars with an open access platform for disseminating their research. Depositing your work in the e-Commons complies with the requirements for open access publication of work supported by Tri-Agency funding (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC).
If you would like to deposit your work in the e-Commons, or you have any questions about institutional repositories, copyright, or open scholarship, please contact the MSVU Library & Archives.
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Alexa McDonough Institute for Women, Gender, and Social Justice Celebrating Writing Week Department of Applied Human Nutrition Department of Biology Department of Business Administration and Tourism Department of Chemistry Department of Child and Youth Study Department of Communication Studies Department of English Department of Family Studies and Gerontology Department of History Department of Mathematics Department of Modern Languages Department of Political & Canadian Studies Department of Psychology Department of Sociology & Anthropology Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management Department of Women and Gender Studies Faculty of Education Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection This is a collection of essays MSVU students have written using source texts from MSVU Library's Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection.Library MSVU Art Gallery MSVU Senate MSVU Theses Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies Open Educational Resources SE space/L’Espace ES
Recent Submissions
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The Inside of Coming Out: A Critical Autoethnography of Sexual Identity Transformation in Adulthood
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) Wright, Alicia
This thesis explored the phenomenon of a reidentification of sexual identity, from heterosexual to lesbian, in middle life. As a source of data, the author used first person narratives to recount personal experience, highlighting three pivotal periods over a ten-year experience that conveyed the deconstruction, recognition, and synthesis of a sexual identity shift. Popular theories of identity formation were referenced in relation to this experience. Erikson’s (1959) theory of psychosocial development, where identity is understood to become stable in adolescence, was referenced as a comparison to the author’s identity challenge in her thirties. Additionally, Cass’ (1984) theory of Homosexual Identity Formation, which proposes six sequential stages that culminate in a disclosure of same-sex orientation, was used to contrast the author’s non-linear arrival at a non-heterosexual identity. Finally, queer theory was drawn upon to remove the heteronormative lens from the stories in this study and to critically view these experiences through an acknowledgment of religious, patriarchal, and heterosexist influence that acted to obscure non-heterosexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Throughout this critical analysis, the controversy of whether sexuality is essential or socially constructed was addressed, suggesting an understanding of an interplay between nature and nurture that is mediated by an element of authenticity. The concluding discussion consolidates the findings by addressing three research questions relating to 1) how sexual identity transformation happens in adulthood, 2) whether this change is spontaneous or gradual, and 3) what psychosocial influences affect such a change. The results of this thesis serve to enhance existing psychological understanding of sexuality and identity by offering subjective and intersectional meaning to the current discourse.
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Prying into the Cavities: An Abolition Feminist Archival Inquiry of the 2015 Dalhousie Dentistry Restorative Justice Process
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) Yao, Xinyu
In 2014, the “Dalhousie Dentistry scandal” erupted with the public’s discovery of a series of misogynistic and homophobic postings within a private Facebook group featuring only male Dentistry students. In response, Dalhousie University deployed a months-long restorative justice (RJ) process involving the group members and other Dentistry students. The process elicited mixed responses within the University and the broader community. This thesis delves back into the competing discourses from an abolition feminist perspective, ten years after the incident. The goal of this critical archival inquiry is to complicate a “plausible history” (Enke, 2018) regarding the institutionalization of RJ, especially its use as a gender violence response. Using Ahmed’s (2021) method of “hearing with a feminist ear”, the thesis evaluates from documents produced by the Dalhousie University administration, Dalhousie University students, the news media, and local feminist activists. Through its examination of public, media and institutional discourses, the project seeks to understand the contradictions and tensions that emerge as practices from grassroots movements are adopted by neoliberal institutions.
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Youths’ Everyday Morality: Understanding the Role of Values and Emotions in a Mixed Methods Study
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) Wong Garcia, Nicole Jennifer
This study explores how emotional intensity, and values relate to different types of everyday moral judgments in youths. A total of 81 participants, aged 16 to 24, completed an online survey which consisted of 3 measures: 4 videos for two types of moral dilemmas (2 for Care/Fairness, and 2 for Authority) from Moral and Affective Film Set (MAAFS) (McCurrie et al., 2018), items from the self-transcendence and conservation subscales of the Portrait Values Questionnaire [PVQ] (S. H. Schwartz et al., 2001), and emotional reactivity measures through 5 video stimuli. The youths provided quantitative and qualitative information for this study. Emotional intensity was found to predict Care/Fairness moral situations, whereas conservation values were found to predict Authority-related transgression. Qualitative responses highlighted different themes that relate to moral foundations, like harm, unfair advantage, and disrespect to others. On the other hand, the themes of normalizing behavior or how fair it is to judge the actions of the characters gave us a further understanding of youth’s everyday morality. Finally, ambiguity was identified in the reasoning of the young people, since some condemned an action, while others justified it, thus evidencing the complexity of their moral evaluation.
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Formulating a salt premix solution co-fortified with thiamine and iodine
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) O’Flaherty, Jessica
Salt fortification is a large-scale, cost-effective method for preventing population-wide nutrient deficiencies. Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency is a national public health concern in Cambodia. Salt iodization is already mandated in Cambodia, so co-fortifying salt with both iodine and thiamine could be an efficient solution, especially if existing spray fortification equipment is employed. Iodine and thiamine react unfavourably in aqueous solution: Thiamine chloride hydrochloride (TClHCl) lowers pH, catalyzing reduction-oxidation reactions leading to discolouration, precipitation, and rapid losses of iodine. However, both thiamine and iodine may be stabilized at 5.00
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The Transitional Importance of Mycenaean Children: A Comprehensive Analysis on the Perceptions of Children in Mycenaean Greece
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023) Bates, Katie
The prominence of infant mortality often results in societies developing social constructs (be it that of religion, family, etc) to aid the mass populous in reconciling with the tragic fact that many children would not survive past infancy. In the case of the Greek Mycenaean period (c.1600 BC- 1200 BC), the mortality rate was what is considered “U-Shaped” meaning that fatalities peaked both during infancy and old age– as is typical amongst pre-industrial societies.1 Those who died within infancy, referring to those aged 0-12 months, were provided with burials atypical to those of their older counterparts. Being widely excluded from typical Extramural burials, deceased infants were typically laid to rest either within or near their families home. Whilst this ‘home burial’ phenomenon depicts a centrality of importance of infant death in the domestic context, it also seemingly demonstrates an exclusion of infants from the larger Mycenaean society. When burial practices are analyzed in conjunction with textual and artistic evidence, a social paradigm begins to become clear. The attitudes toward children in Mycenaean Greece transitioned from a domestic importance to a larger social importance as they aged and became less likely to succumb to infant mortality.