.gif)
Janice comes from St. John's, Newfoundland, where she studied for her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Memorial University. Like so many Atlantic Canadians, she worked in Ontario for a number of years and has had the opportunity to utilize her anthropological knowledge and training in a variety of occupational settings, both private and public. In joining the UCCB faculty in 1991, she expanded its capacity to offer Anthropology, and was able to re-immerse herself in the discipline she loves. Specialty Areas: Anthropology of religion, paranormalism and pseudoscience, popular culture, applied anthropology, biological anthropology and prehistory. Community Service:Janice has been a board member of the Cape Breton Centre for Sexual Health (formerly Cape Breton Planned Parenthood) for the past eight years and served as Chair of that board from 2003 to 2007. Research Interests: Janice's current research focuses on the exploration of "deviant" (or "counter-hegemonic") belief systems, and in particular, how such belief systems are articulated and managed within a broader (and often hostile) sociocultural context. This work led to the development of a course in paranormalism and pseudoscience which seeks - among other things - to critically examine the premises and practices of paranormal and pseudoscientific, as well as scientific, ways of knowing. Janice has also retained an interest in her early work on the production and promotion of ethnic identity. Her Master's thesis dealt with the "cultural renaissance" of 1970's Newfoundland and how ideas about identity and ethnicity are communicated and contested within popular forms of entertainment such as live theatre. The many and varied ways in which humans make meaning of themselves and the world(s) that they create and inhabit remains a strong and central focus in her work. |
| Return to the | |
page. | ||
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |