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 Power of Music” Popular Music, Feminist Discourse, and Social Change: An Analysis of Gender Representation in Lyrics, Videos and Audience Comments
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024) Adriázola, Valeria
This thesis explores the intersection of popular music, feminist discourse, and social change. It addresses key questions about how pop singers integrate gender and feminist discourse into their songs and videos, the nature of audience responses, and the potential of popular music for social change.
The analysis focuses on Beyoncé's "If I Were A Boy" (2008), Taylor Swift's "The Man" (2019), and Pink's "Stupid Girls" (2006). Each song, in its own style and from different perspectives, addresses social norms that perpetuate gender inequalities. They encourage a re-evaluation of how women are perceived and treated in various contexts.
I employed a qualitative methodology to examine the selected songs and their music videos and used Lazar’s (2005) Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis and Fairclough's (2010) Three-Dimensional Model. Through an inductive and deductive approach, a coding system was created to analyze the comments made by users on the YouTube platform.
The results demonstrate how the artists incorporate gender and feminist discourse in their songs but also show that the songs may unintentionally perpetuate elements of the patriarchal structures they seek to criticize. Also, the results show how audience comments tend to focus more on the artists than on the gender and feminist messages themselves. This approach suggests that the impact of the content may be overshadowed by the figure of the celebrities themselves.
Beyond these shortcomings, I want to show that music has a unique power to drive meaningful change, challenging norms and sparking conversations that enable us to envision a different future.
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Social and Emotional Learning: Where is the Evidence for English As An Additional Language Learners?
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-08) Becker, Emma L.
This scoping review explores research on Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and English as an Additional Language (EAL) learning in Canadian K-12 public schools, with focus on whether SEL aids newcomer and refugee students as they navigate unfamiliar cultural and linguistic contexts. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework for scoping reviews, this study compiles literature from academic databases to identify instructional strategies and critical gaps in existing research from 2000 to 2025. Results emphasize the importance of SEL competencies, such as identity affirmation, self-awareness and self-esteem, and socialization, in fostering academic performance and social integration for EAL learners. Effective SEL practices follow identity-affirming and culturally responsive instructional methods, offering opportunities for collaborative learning and multilingual classroom activities. Following these approaches can foster EAL learners’ confidence, promote socialization with peers, and facilitate successful acculturation, thereby positively fostering language proficiency and overall mental health. Results reveal minimal research conducted within Canada, with limited explicit instruction of SEL, emphasizing the necessity for research on implementation of structured culturally and linguistically sensitive SEL curricula in Canadian public schools. Implications include targeted SEL interventions within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) frameworks to address the diverse needs of EAL learners in Canada, particularly students with a refugee background.
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Love as Inquiry: My Autoethnographic Story of Coming Out Later in Life
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2024) Flemming, Christina J.
Love as Inquiry: My Autoethnographic Story of Coming Out Later in Life is a PhD dissertation in two parts. Part One is comprised of a collection of autoethnographic stories based on my own lived experiences as a queer woman, mother, writer, and educator. Part Two of this autoethnographic research details process-related elements, ethical considerations, and the non-linear nature of doctoral research with the aim of offering new educational researchers guidance and insight on autoethnographic writing. This work:
• serves as a disruptive force, while striving to unhinge normative narratives,
• reinforces the importance of storytelling within the field of education,
• seeks to honour members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community who may struggle to
embrace authenticity and their own vulnerability, and
• enables future researchers to consider the complexity of the ethical considerations
necessitated by autoethnographic methodology.
At the heart of things, this research is about love: losing love, finding love, maternal love, and romantic love. In using love as both process and product, this research aims to help explore the question posed by Sameshima and Leggo (2013): What does love have to do with education?
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Emotion Regulation as a Moderator for Academic Anxiety in Children of Emergency Services Personnel
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-08) Dumaresque, Caitlin
Academic anxiety significantly influences children's functioning at school. This study investigated how parental factors—post-traumatic stress, emotional expressivity, and parenting style—influence academic anxiety in children of Canadian emergency services personnel, and the moderating role of children's emotion regulation. Data were collected from 70 parents through online surveys consisting of the CAIS-P, PTCI, EES, PSDQ, and CBCL. High levels of parental post-traumatic stress, authoritarian parenting, and permissive parenting were correlated with high levels of academic anxiety in children. Emotion regulation was shown to significantly moderate the relations between all predictor variables and academic anxiety. Low versus high levels of emotion regulation were also considered in post-hoc analyses. Findings highlight the intergenerational effects of parental trauma and parenting styles, along with the protective role of emotion regulation. Implications for school psychologists include advocating for struggling students and providing family support. Future research should focus on more diverse samples and children’s perspectives.
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‘Playtime with Imena’: Exploring the Importance of Social Play for Children with Down Syndrome – Trisomy 21
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Umuhoza, Lea Danae
This thesis, Playtime with Imena: Exploring the Importance of Social Play for Children with Down Syndrome – Trisomy 21, delves into the transformative role of structured social play in
promoting the holistic development and social inclusion of children with Down syndrome. Inspired by personal experiences growing up alongside Imena, a beloved sibling with Down
syndrome, and later volunteering at Tubiteho—a center for children with cognitive disabilities—this study intertwines lived insights with a robust Constructivist research paradigm. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, it investigates how the microsystems of family and school, supported by community and societal structures, collectively nurture developmental outcomes through social play.
Employing a scoping review, this research synthesizes findings from diverse studies, revealing how structured social play enhances communication, social competence, and emotional
resilience among children with Down syndrome. The thesis identifies a pressing need for culturally diverse, longitudinal studies and demonstrates the critical role of educator-family
collaboration in maximizing the benefits of play. By examining digital tools as bridges between home and school environments, this study shows how real-time parent-teacher engagement amplifies the continuity of developmental support.
The findings offer actionable recommendations for educators, families, and policymakers, advocating for inclusive, culturally sensitive play-based interventions that champion the developmental rights of children with Down syndrome. This work underscores the profound potential of structured play as a vehicle for growth, resilience, and social belonging, aiming to shape practices and policies that empower every child to thrive.