• Avis Mysyk            Assistant Professor of Anthropology
• Office: B-272
• Phone and voice-mail: 563-1383
• Fax: (902) 563-1247
• E-mail: Avis_Mysyk@capebretonu.ca

  Avis joined the department as a tenure-stream professor in 2003, after living and working mostly in Western Canada. She was born in Manitoba, and earned both her Master’s and her Doctorate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Manitoba. She has a diverse teaching experience, including time at Memorial in St. John’s, University of Windsor, U. of Manitoba, and the University of Northern British Columbia.

Specialty Area: Political economy of social relations.

Related Academic Fields: Class and ethnic/indigenous identity; labour migration; health and illness; tourism; ethnohistory.

Geographical Areas: Mexico and Canada.

Community Service: Avis particularly likes to offer her skills as a resource for community groups with whom she has a research relationship and/or with whom she shares issues and goals. Before joining us in Cape Breton, she has worked with the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society in Prince George, BC) and with the Migrant Workers’ Support Centre at Leamington, ON.

Research: At the Master's level, Avis had the opportunity to study Day of the Dead in Mexico and, since then, has revisited the issue as the celebration has become a popular tourism attraction. At the Doctoral level, she conducted research with the Mexican migrants who work seasonally on Manitoba vegetable farms. She also has studied the Latin American illness of “susto” (death through fright) and presently is starting research on “nervios” (nerves) among Mexican farm workers in Ontario.