Becoming “Holistically Indigenous”: Young Muslims and Political Participation in Canada

While media and the government often focus on the supposed “radicalization” of Muslim youth in Canada, our research explores the more complicated and nuanced political identities among 20 young Canadian Muslims. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews with these youth in the Greater Toronto Area and in London, Ontario, we explore these young citizens' concepts of political participation; conceptions of the self as a political actor; formal, informal, and civic political involvement; and the relationship between their religious and Canadian identities. Our research is grounded in a positive and pluralistic politics of care, respect, and engagement. We treated Muslim youth as similar to other Canadian youth and designed our study guided by other contemporary research into Canadian youth and political participation. While our interviewees noted the impact of negative public discourse about Muslims and some experiences of racism, the research results revealed an overwhelming commitment to Canada and political engagement among Muslim youth, evidenced most fully by a high level of civic engagement

Book Review: Muslim Women in Britain: De-Mystifying the Muslimah

Review of Muslim Women in Britain: De-Mystifying the Muslimah by Sariya Contractor (London: Routledge, 2012

Book Review: Modest Fashion: Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith

Review of Modest Fashion: Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith, edited by Reina Lewis. IB Tauris, 2013

Orientalism on Television: A Case Study of I Dream of Jeannie

This article examines Orientalism in the 1960s American sitcom I Dream of Jeannie . I argue that Orientalism, as defined by Edward Said, is at the core of this show. I Dream of Jeannie is unique in that it transferred existing Orientalist representations from cinema to television. I argue that Orientalism performs two functions in I Dream of Jeannie : (1) imagining Jeannie as an “Other” and (2) being a vehicle for comedy. I note that the show is seldom analyzed for its overt Orientalism, reflecting a problematic “tone-deafness” to anti-Muslim racism that continues in today's television

The Effect of Substructure on Mass Estimates of Galaxies

Large galaxies are thought to form hierarchically, from the accretion and disruption of many smaller galaxies. Such a scenario should naturally lead to galactic phase-space distributions containing some degree of substructure. We examine the errors in mass estimates of galaxies and their dark halos made using the projected phase-space distribution of a tracer population (such as a globular cluster system or planetary nebulae) due to falsely assuming that the tracers are distributed randomly. The level of this uncertainty is assessed by applying a standard mass estimator to samples drawn from 11 random realizations of galaxy halos containing levels of substructure consistent with current models of structure formation. We find that substructure will distort our mass estimates by up to ~20% - a negligible error compared to statistical and measurement errors in current derivations of masses for our own and other galaxies. However, this represents a fundamental limit to the accuracy of any future mass estimates made under the assumption that the tracer population is distributed randomly, regardless of the size of the sample or the accuracy of the measurements.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Astrophysical Journal, in pres

The prevalence and effect of burnout on graduate healthcare students

Burnout is a growing epidemic among professional healthcare students. Unaddressed burnout has been shown to have psychological and performance related detriments. The purpose of this scoping literature review was to investigate the prevalence of burnout and its effects on the psychological, professional, empathetic ability, and academic acuity of graduate healthcare students. Inclusion criteria included English language papers published within the last 10 years and subjects in graduate healthcare professional programs. This search encompassed 8,214 articles. After title and abstract screening, 127 articles remained and were sorted into five domains of interest: etiology, professionalism, mental health, empathy, and academic performance. After duplicates were removed, 27 articles remained for the scoping review. Graduate level healthcare students had higher levels of burnout than age matched peers and the general population. The high prevalence of burnout within graduate healthcare students can have an effect on their mental health, empathy, and professional conduct. Understanding the occurrence and effects of burnout within graduate healthcare programs allows faculty and administration to plan curriculum, and provide information to students to understand, recognize, and create opportunities to decrease burnout in order to create long lasting quality clinicians