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.


 

Communities in DSpace

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Recent Submissions

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Black Girls in Orange Jumpsuits: A Scoping Review of How School Pushout Leads to The Criminalization of Black Girls in Canadian Schools
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-05) Fletcher-Dyer, Kadeon Antonette
Black youth in Canada face significant obstacles when navigating the education system due to institutional and social barriers that impede their access to a comprehensive education. This situation is particularly problematic for Black girls, who experience compounded challenges due to their intersecting identities. To explore the relationship between the lived experiences of Black girls in Canadian schools and school pushout and the school-to-prison pipeline, I conducted a scoping review of literature published between 2010 and 2022. A search of 10 databases yielded 1404 articles, which were then screened and reduced to 12 using inclusion and exclusion criteria. Three common themes emerged from the analysis: 1) exclusionary discipline policies, including zero-tolerance policies, often criminalize Black girls’ actions and lead to premature school dropout, 2) Black girls are subjected to static, stereotypical identities that result in alienation and otherization within Canadian classrooms, and 3) systemic racism perpetuates racial inequalities and discrimination, contributing significantly to school pushout. The review underscores the need for further ethnographical research that centers the voices and perspectives of Black girls to gain a better understanding of how zero-tolerance policies, static stereotypes, and systemic racism contribute to their marginalization and pushout from schools and into the school-to-prison pipeline in Canada. Such research is essential to inform equity and diversity policies and design strategies that address the institutional and interpersonal barriers and discrimination that Black girls face.
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An exploration of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of infant and young child feeding and labour laws among Cambodian factory workers
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-04) Meier, Emily
Human milk is the ideal food for infants up to six months of age and continues to provide essential nutrients for two years and beyond. Rates of exclusive breastfeeding in Cambodia are currently declining, and at the same time, women are increasingly engaged in the paid labour force, particularly factory work. Cambodian Labour law allows 90 days of maternity leave, and evidence suggests that this early return to work and living away from children may impede breastfeeding. While limited research has been conducted on mother employees’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices of nutrition and infant and young child feeding in Cambodian workplaces, little is known about the perspectives of other workers.
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The Effectiveness of Situational Crisis Communication Theory in Assessing Personal Political Apologies: A Case Study Approach
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-04) Basha, Lena Mallory
Crafting an effective apology when responding to a crisis is not a one size fits all process. Thus, understanding the type of apology and the context that comes with it is critical to building and implementing crisis response strategies. The various considerations required in this process are demonstrated in Timothy Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communications Theory (SCCT) (Coombs, 2007). This study examines the usefulness of SCCT as a framework for examining personal political apologies; a type of apology with little representation in the sphere of crisis communications research. Through a case study approach, 42 news articles covering an apology from a politician addressing impaired driving charges, were coded and analyzed through the guidelines proposed by the SCCT framework. Findings demonstrated that there is some usefulness in SCCT on personal political apologies. However, there were gaps apparent in the theory, and the broader literature available, that warrant further exploration to better accommodate personal political apologies in the realm of crisis communications.
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Who’s speaking? Intelligibility, Comprehensibility, and Accentedness in a multilingual classroom
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-03) Crewson, Kelsey
Kachru’s World English (WE) framework from 1985 situates English as an ever-evolving language with different accents and reveals natural phonetic speech differences that stem from a learner’s first language (Zhang, 2019). In an English for academic purposes (EAP) classroom, international students come to study English as an additional language (EAL) with different first languages and use English as the primary means of communication. The problem is that many EAL students have had little to no previous exposure to WE varieties. Differences in EAL accents may result in a breakdown in communication for students during class. This study explored the impact of accented English on Non-Native English speakers (NNS) studying EAP at a private language school in Halifax, Canada. A qualitative approach was used, with three students completing a questionnaire, a comprehension assessment, and a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis from the interview data identified twelve themes as common difficulties for NNS, which included the negative impact of unfamiliar accent pronunciation and vocabulary that leads to a breakdown in comprehension. Thematic analysis also revealed that the familiarity of the accent strongly impacted the ease of understanding the accent. This study highlights the necessity for exposure to WE varieties during class time and an understanding of accent difficulty for teachers. This study accentuates the importance of WE exposure for NNS students to foster success and confidence in interactions to reach their goals.
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Being a SpaceMaker: Critical Reflections on Indigenous Digital Storytelling
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-04) Andrade, Priya Jasmine
Stories illustrate humanity and its relationship to creation, time and place situating us all in an invisible web of interconnectedness. Storytelling is an integral and valued site of knowledge among Indigenous peoples in Canada and is an invitation to (new) settlers to listen and participate in reconciliation. One of the dilemmas is how do we listen and why should we? I address these tensions in my research by centering Indigenous digital storytelling through short films and animation available online and produced by youth in remote and rural First Nations communities in Canada. Using media art as a form of storytelling highlights Indigenous worldviews and connects the artist to their community centering it as a site of power. Media art liberates Indigenous youth voices encouraging democratization for their communities and practicing relational accountability with settler viewer audiences aiding them to become SpaceMakers. A SpaceMaker is a non-Indigenous ally who finds everyday ways to engage in reconciliation. As a Goan immigrant who came to Canada via Dubai in the late 90s, becoming Canadian challenged my relational responsibility to the Indigenous stewards whom I benefit from. Historically, the tyranny of colonialism has ravaged the Canadian social landscape, and, in this paper, I propose the antidote, disrupting hegemony with digital storytelling because it negotiates a collective definition of living together. This paper centers Indigenous epistemology and social semiotics as methodologies to engage media art and encourage reconciliation in a dialogic way in Canadian classrooms and to anyone who wants to learn to listen.