Faculty Publications

St. Jerome's University faculty members participate in a broad range of research projects in a variety of disciplines.  The following list represents the books that have been authored or edited by our faculty. These books are available in the St. Jerome’s University Library.  For a full list of publications produced by individual faculty members, please refer to the web directory and search by individual names:  https://www.sju.ca/directory

book cover Link to Catalogue McLaughlin, Kenneth. Race, Religion and Politics: The Election of 1896 in Canada. Waterloo, ON: Centre on Foreign Policy and Federalism, 2019.

In the quarter century after Confederation, discussions in parliament, in the party press, and in private correspondence tackled difficult questions of race and religion in Canada. In this important study, historian Kenneth McLaughlin challenges the idea that ultra-Protestant sentiment plagued the Conservative Party after the death of John A. Macdonald in 1891 and led to their defeat in 1896. His systematic analysis demonstrates that the Protestant spirit of the age was found in both the Liberal and Conservative parties. Rather than a simple reaction to school crises in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, it represented a response to social turmoil brought about by major changes to the Canadian economy. [Source: book cover]

book cover Link to Catalogue Bonner, Kieran, and Stanley Raffel, eds. Redefining the Situation: The Writings of Peter McHugh. Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019.

Peter McHugh (1929–2010) was an internationally known sociologist within the field of anti-positivist social theory. As the only collection of McHugh's sole-authored writings, Redefining the Situation presents a comprehensive yet surprising view of this key theorist's influence in his field. Redefining the Situation is a compendium of McHugh's published and unpublished short-form writings, along with three new essays on McHugh's work, one by his long-time collaborator and friend Alan Blum. The collection contributes to the project of reinventing social theory by providing a new perspective from which to imaginatively rethink the development of sociology over the last fifty years. It locates McHugh's work not only within the modern and postmodern sociological tradition but also within contemporary social theory broadly, including hermeneutics, critical theory, deconstruction, and Hannah Arendt's political theory. The essays in this volume show the development of a method to analyze everyday behaviour in light of fundamental questions, exploring conflicts and connections between socialization and recidivism, fragmentation and ethnic cleansing, justice and affirmative action, teaching and university politics, and intimacy and aesthetics. This book moves beyond contemporary debates about big data/postmodernism, and along the way it identifies convergences in Anglo-American and Continental thought. By tracing the development of Analysis, the tradition of social inquiry, from its beginnings until today, Redefining the Situation re-establishes a prominent sociologist as one of the leading intellectuals in the field of interpretive social theory. [Source: Amazon.ca]

book cover Link to Catalogue Whitney-Brown, Carolyn. Sharing Life: Stories of L'Arche Founders. New York, NY: Paulist Press, 2019.

What does it take to begin a spiritual community? Jean Vanier and other founders of early L’Arche communities tell stories of risk, joy, pain, and growth from life shared with people with intellectual disabilities in France, Canada, India, USA, UK, Ivory Coast, Haiti, and Honduras. Follow the adventures of nine remarkable people inspired by Jean Vanier to begin L’Arche communities in the 1960s and 70s: an entrepreneurial couple with backgrounds in business, theology, farming, and flying; a German woman who left after WWII and began an international student house in Montreal; a pioneer in the British palliative care movement at the peak of her medical career; an American Benedictine nun and a diocesan priest responding to Vatican II and the Vietnam War; a poetry-loving philosophy professor from Quebec; a French Jewish woman seeking a new vision for society after the 1968 student uprisings; a young Canadian who grew up in liberal Protestant and Evangelical traditions seeking to follow the teachings of Jesus wholeheartedly. In this twenty-first century, as we move beyond myths of individual achievement to become more aware of interconnections and social ecosystems, these stories reveal how each founder boldly sought out people of very different cultures and abilities. Through sharing life they became friends, built community, struggled, and grew in faith together. Includes a study guide with questions for individual reflection or group discussion. [Source: publisher's website]

book cover Link to Catalogue Whitney-Brown, Carolyn. Tender to the World: Jean Vanier, L'Arche and the United Church of Canada. Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019.

"What is the secret that allows L'Arche to exist? I'll tell you: pleasure!" explains Jean Vanier, founder of the international federation of L'Arche communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities share their lives. Vanier's spiritual vision and playful sense of humour shaped L'Arche, but the organization was also informed by its surprising history with the United Church of Canada. In Tender to the World Carolyn Whitney-Brown explores the connections between the two organizations through diverse critical insights from Julia Kristeva, Doreen Massey, and Mikhail Bakhtin, as well as Vanier's controversial articulation of the gift of weakness. Tracing the five-decade relationship between L'Arche and the United Church alongside evolving disability theories, Whitney-Brown examines both the fundamental importance of stories and the agency of people with intellectual disabilities. Inversion - a transformative overturning of expectations in social interactions - can be upsetting or exciting, challenging or inspiring, she argues. This book offers a fresh look at how L'Arche and the United Church have worked to break down walls of difference, illuminating how each tenders something unexpected to the other and to the world. At a time when many are seeking new visions for society, the long and complex relationship between Canada's largest Protestant denomination and L'Arche offers both encouragement and a deeper way to approach questions of living in diverse communities. [Source: publisher's website]

book cover Link to Catalogue Perrin, David. The 20-Minute Retreat: 18 Sessions with the Saints to Nourish Your Faith. Toronto, ON: Novalis, 2019.

Perrin asks ‘Is it possible to live intimately with God in the everyday experiences of our lives – the joys and celebrations as well as the disappointments and setbacks?’ His book answers this question with a resounding ‘yes’! Drawing primarily from biblical stories, the experiences of Christian men and women throughout the ages, as well as the experiences of the author, this book engages what it means for us to live life deeply with God in today’s world. Each chapter is designed as a 20-minute self-guided spiritual retreat that can be carried out over a 21-day period or picked up on the occasional bases for personal guidance and inspiration. Questions for reflection at the end of each chapter provide the opportunity for a personal and continued reflection on the chapter in the context of one’s own life. [Source: Amazon.ca]

book cover Link to Catalogue Touhey, Ryan. The Watsas: Faith Fortitude and Family. Toronto, Ontario: Navo Chinoy, 2019.

The history of the Watsa family documents the values they have shared over several generations and which are so clearly evident in their earlier lives in India and now in Canada. In his research, historian Ryan Touhey uncovered fascinating new information and new images from India that explain the characteristics that this family brings to their lives in Canada. It is a remarkable story of courage, and humility, diligence, honesty, and integrity, in the face of challenging times,held together by a commitment to steadfast values and to helping others. The Watsas story speaks to what all of us hope for in a modern Canada. [Source: Book jacket]

book cover Link to Catalogue Stumpf, Andrew. Ancient Philosophy: A Companion to the Core Readings. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2018.

Ancient Philosophy: A Companion to the Core Readings is designed as an approachable guide to the most important and influential works of ancient philosophy. The book begins with a brief overview of ancient Greek mythology and the pre-Socratic philosophers. It then examines a number of the most important works from Plato and Aristotle, including Euthyphro, Meno, Republic, the Categories, the Physics, and the Nicomachean Ethics, before concluding with a brief look at Hellenistic philosophy and the origins of Neoplatonism. Readers who might otherwise struggle with the original texts will find an exceedingly helpful guide in Stumpf’s clear explanations and analyses. Numerous diagrams and images are provided to aid in comprehension. [Source: publisher's website]

book cover Link to Catalogue Bruder, Helen, and Tristanne Connolly, eds. Beastly Blake. Basingstoke, UK: Pagrave Macmillan, 2018.

Blake’s ‘Human Form Divine’ has long commanded the spotlight. Beastly Blake shifts focus to the non-human creatures who populate Blake’s poetry and designs. The author of ‘The Tyger’ and ‘The Lamb’ was equally struck by the ‘beastliness’ and the beauty of the animal kingdom, the utter otherness of animal subjectivity and the meaningful relationships between humans and other creatures. ‘Conversing with the Animal forms of wisdom night & day’, Blake fathomed how much they have to teach us about creation and eternity. This collection ranges from real animals in Blake’s surroundings, to symbolic creatures in his mythology, to animal presences in his illustrations of Virgil, Dante, Hayley, and Stedman. It makes a third to follow Queer Blake and Sexy Blake in irreverently illuminating blind spots in Blake criticism. Beastly Blake will reward lovers of Blake’s writing and visual art, as well as those interested in Romanticism and animal studies. [Source: publisher's website]

book cover Link to Catalogue Nicholas, Jane. Canadian Carnival of Freaks and the Extraordinary Body, 1900-1970s. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2018.

In 1973, a five year old girl known as Pookie was exhibited as "The Monkey Girl" at the Canadian National Exhibition. Pookie was the last of a number of children exhibited as 'freaks' in twentieth-century Canada. Jane Nicholas takes us on a search for answers about how and why the freak show persisted into the 1970s. In Canadian Carnival Freaks and the Extraordinary Body, 1900–1970s, Nicholas offers a sophisticated analysis of the place of the freak show in twentieth-century culture. Freak shows survived and thrived because of their flexible business model, government support, and by mobilizing cultural and medical ideas of the body and normalcy. This book is the first full length study of the freak show in Canada and is a significant contribution to our understanding of the history of Canadian popular culture, attitudes toward children, and the social construction of able-bodiness. Based on an impressive research foundation, the book will be of particular interest to anyone interested in the history of disability, the history of childhood, and the history of consumer culture. [Source: publisher's website]

book cover Link to Catalogue Tacon, Claire. In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo: A Novel. Hamilton, ON: Wolsak and Wynn Publishers Ltd., 2018.

When Henry Robinson's first daughter, Starr, is born with Williams Syndrome, he swears to devote his life to making her happy. More than twenty years later, we find Henry working at Frankie's Funhouse, where he repairs the animatronic band that Starr loves, wrestling with her attempts at living outside the family home. His wife, Kathy, wishes he would allow Starr more independence, hoping that Henry will turn his attention a little more to their own relationship and to their other daughter, who is pregnant. As tensions mount Henry's young co-worker, Darren, reveals he needs to get to Chicago Comic Con to win back his ex-girlfriend, so Henry packs Starr (and her pet turtles) and Darren (still dressed as Frankie the mascot) into the van for a road trip no one was prepared for. Told in multiple points of view, we hear from Henry, Darren and Starr as they all try to find their place in the world. In Search of the Perfect Singing Flamingo is a charming, tender and often funny story of a father struggling to let his daughters grow up and of a family struggling against hard odds, taking care of each other when the world lets them down. [Source: Amazon.ca]