Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science
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Item A book review of Azadi: Fascism, Fiction, and Freedom in the Time of the Virus(2026) Jahangir, JunaidArundhati Roy has won many prestigious literary awards, most prominently the 1997 Man Booker Prize for The God of Small Things, but because of her politics, among many Indians she is a target of scorn. This includes seasoned uncles with an axe to grind but also some young, educated, privileged, upper-caste, English-speaking people. There is misogyny involved in this hatred when it comes from young men who nurse their identity issues by lashing out at highly qualified women with sexually crass language and expletives. Others hide their bigotry by weaponizing patriotism, which Samuel Johnson aptly deemed the last refuge of a scoundrel. Harassment of intellectuals is not unique to Roy, of course. Academics like historian Audrey Truschke have faced similar treatment from Hindu nationalists, as has 94-year-old Romila Thapar in India. Academics in Canada have been threatened by local Hindu nationalists as well. CBC shed light on how Chinnaiah Jangam at Carleton University in Ottawa and others have received hate mail and threats. This harassment by Hindu nationalists, who characterize themselves as victims of “Hinduphobia,” has led Canadian academics to seek help from the police for their own safety and wellbeing.Item Teaching critical macroeconomics(2026) Jahangir, JunaidThe objective in this paper is to illustrate how a macroeconomics course can incorporate pluralism. This is achieved by drawing key ideas from six critical textbooks, including recently published ones that complement neoclassical macroeconomics textbooks. The topics considered include GDP and measurement, the loanable funds market model, unemployment and job guarantee, money and banking, the quantity theory of money and inflation, free trade and exchange rates, aggregate demand-supply, and fiscal and monetary policies. The paper highlights one approach, which instructors can reference in their pedagogical approaches towards incorporating real-world and pluralist content.Item Moving toward a government trust ecosystem in Canada(2024) Boyd, Brendan; Wesley, JaredTrust in government encompasses various relationships, including citizens’ confidence in government, elected and unelected officials’ confidence in each other, and governments’ trust in non-government organizations. In many democracies, including Canada, these relationships have been discussed to varying degrees, with the least attention given to government and public sector trust of non-government organizations and public service trust of politicians. This study marks the first attempt to empirically study and compare all these relationships, sketching what we refer to as the “government trust ecosystem.” This research draws on data from surveys conducted among the public, politicians, and public servants in Canada to evaluate their levels of trust in different actors and institutions involved in public governance. The findings reveal high levels of public confidence in government, but lower levels of government confidence in non-government organizations, particularly the media and interest groups. A lack of government trust in these non-government organizations, which play a key role in democracy, points to potential problems for democratic governance in Canada and raises warning for other democracies.Item Teaching critical microeconomics(2025) Jahangir, JunaidThe approach taken in this article is shaped by popular books, heterodox economics textbooks, and journal articles that critique standard textbook economics. The idea is to allow for economic pluralism at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced microeconomics levels. The objective is not to jettison neoclassical economics but to showcase how students can be exposed to critical microeconomics through pluralist perspectives.Item Nec Spe Nec Metu: philosophic catharsis in Karl Löwith’s Meaning in History(2022) McKinnell, Ryan AlexanderThe philosopher Karl Löwith’s confrontation with modernity has not received the same level of attention as those of fellow twentieth-century German-Jewish émigrés, Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss. This is regrettable, for while at times appearing only as chronicler of European nihilism, Löwith’s philosophic-political reflections are just as ambitious as those of his contemporaries. As Jürgen Habermas argues, Löwith intends to generate “the powerful mechanisms with which he hopes to set in motion a portentous change of scene from modernity to antiquity.” For Löwith, though, this change cannot be brought about by a radical jump to classical paganism a la Nietzsche, but via a considered, analytical reduction of modernity to its component parts. Löwith’s measured subversion of the presumptions of modern philosophy is best displayed in his most influential work, Meaning in History, in which he argues that Enlightenment philosophies of history originate with the Hebrew and Christian faiths in an eschatological fulfilment. While the moderns abandon the faith in providence, they secularize it into a faith in progress, attempting to find redemption for human beings in the historical process. An attempt that becomes ever more desperate and hubristic, which in turn is reflected in a growing franticness in modern politics as modern reason and faith in progress becomes further estranged from its roots. In demonstrating that modern philosophies of history are dependent on the theological concept of history as a history of fulfillment and salvation, Löwith reveals the impossibility of finding meaning in history on rational grounds. Thus, despite the pretensions of thinkers from Voltaire to Marx, they too reside within a horizon delimited by irrational hope and faith. By purging readers of the illusions of modern philosophy, Löwith’s catharsis makes accessible the serene rediscovery of the sober reason of the ancients.Item The parliamentary regime: the political philosophy of Confederation(2023) McKinnell, Ryan AlexanderThis article clarifies the intellectual origins of Canadian parliamentary government by situating Confederation within a specific strand of liberal political thought. My argument is that the Fathers of Confederation adhered to the political theory of parliamentarianism. Though liberal constitutionalists, the Fathers of Confederation expressly defended a parliamentary political framework that they considered superior to the American system of checks and balances—one characterized by a powerful elected assembly restrained by an unelected upper house, responsible ministers serving in Parliament, and a constitutional monarch. In elucidating the theory of parliamentarianism that underlies the political project of Confederation, my goal is not only to examine a problem in nineteenth-century Canadian political thought but to ground our current political situation within a larger historical perspective. Résumé Cet article vise à éclaircir les origines intellectuelles du gouvernement parlementaire canadien en situant la Confédération dans un courant spécifique de la pensée politique libérale. Mon argument est que les Pères de la Confédération ont adhéré à la théorie politique du parlementarisme. Constitutionnalistes libéraux, les Pères de la Confédération ont expressément défendu un cadre politique parlementaire qu'ils considéraient supérieur au système américain de freins et de contrepoids. Ce cadre se caractérise par une assemblée élue puissante limitée par une chambre haute non élue, des ministres responsables siégeant au parlement et un monarque constitutionnel. En élucidant la théorie du parlementarisme qui sous-tend le projet politique de la Confédération, mon objectif n'est pas seulement d'examiner un problème de la pensée politique canadienne du XIXe siècle, mais aussi d'inscrire notre situation politique actuelle dans une perspective historique plus large.Item Between the pincers: George Grant and the crisis of totalitarianism(2024) McKinnell, Ryan AlexanderThis chapter explores why Grant reduces liberal democracy and communism to a shared philosophical orientation and the political consequences of adopting this position. I argue that Grant’s political reflections are notable for the absence of the central focus of classical political science: the assessment of the comparative justice and injustice of different regimes and political opinions. Instead, Grant reduces various regime types to an opposition between organic political communities “rooted” in a particular moral-political tradition and homogenizing technological societies. By interpreting the struggle between liberal democracy and totalitarianism through this perspective, Grant ignores the moral superiority of liberalism to totalitarianism and is led to adopt ill-considered political views. In an era where we are confronted once again by the alternative between despotism and parliamentary government, reflecting on Grant’s apparent indifference to the contest between liberal democracy and totalitarianism reminds us of the perils of failing to take the political seriously.Item Character is destiny: the political implications of Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars(2025) McKinnell, Ryan AlexanderThe absence of moral didacticism in the Lives of the Caesars is one of the most notable features of Suetonius' biographies. If Suetonius believes that an emperor who acts virtuously secures himself and the body politic, why does he not actively encourage the imitation of virtue? Suetonius does not offer moral exhortation because his account of the role an emperor's character or nature plays in their political and private actions suggests that the potential for moral instruction and improvement is severely circumscribed. Therefore, this article explores the political implications of Suetonius' account of the relationship between an emperor's character and their political fate to illustrate the potential limitations of the mirror-for-princes genre.Item Fluid balance and clinical outcomes in patients with aortic dissection: a retrospective case-control study based on ICU databases(2025) Lei, Jiahao; Zhang, Zhuojing; Li, Yixuan; Wu, Zhaoyu; Pu, Hongji; Xu, Zhijue; Yang, Xinrui; Wang, Ruihua; Qiu, Peng; Chen, Tao; Lu, XinwuObjectives: Aortic dissection (AD) is a life-threatening condition that requires intensive care and management. This paper explores the role of fluid management in the clinical care of AD patients, which has been unclear despite the substantial existing research that has been conducted on the treatment of AD. Design: A retrospective case-control study using data for AD patients from public databases. Setting: Two public intensive care unit (ICU) databases with hospital courses from the USA, Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV critical care dataset and the eICU Collaborative Research Database, with data from 2008 to 2019. Participants: A total of 751 adult AD patients with detailed fluid management records from two databases were included. Interventions: The mean 24-hour intake and output were calculated by dividing the total amount of intake and output by the number of days in the ICU, respectively. The mean 24-hour fluid balance was generated by subtracting the output from the intake. Outcome measures: The relationship between the mean 24-hour fluid management and all-cause in-hospital death was assessed through univariate and multivariable regression analyses. Results: A positive correlation was found between mean 24-hour fluid intake and in-hospital mortality among AD patients (OR 1.029, 95% CI (1.018, 1.041), p<0.001), whereas a negative correlation was revealed between mean 24-hour fluid output and in-hospital mortality (OR 0.941, 95% CI (0.914, 0.968), p<0.001). A similar result was found for mean 24-hour fluid balance (OR 1.030, 95% CI (1.019, 1.042), p<0.001), and the cut-off was selected to be 5.12 dL (AUC=0.778, OR 3.066, 95% CI (1.634, 5.753), p<0.001). Conclusions: This study stresses the importance of fluid balance in the clinical care of AD patients and provides new insights for optimising fluid management and monitoring strategies beyond the conventional focus on blood pressure and heart rate management.Item Witness now, write later? Considerations for online language-focused research during wartime(2025) Ferguson, Jenanne; Kasten, Erich; Krupnik, Igor; Fondahl, GailSometime in late March 2022, I was chatting to a non-anthropology colleague at home in Canada about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Despondent for numerous reasons to do with the war, I mentioned that I felt a bit hopeless about ever doing research in the Sakha Republic again – the site of most of my ethnographic work since 2010. “But you do language work, right? Can’t you do something online?” they suggested. I had, incidentally, been pondering that possibility, and told them that maybe it would be possible. However, I was reticent: there remained the question of whether it would be safe and ethical for my research participants. I mentioned this, and my colleague asked: “But online, it could be completely anonymous, right? And you’re talking about language, which can’t be that controversial?” I replied simply that no, anonymity in online research is actually hard to guarantee completely, and that no, the theme is not uncontroversial: the question of Indigenous and minority language promotion is indeed politically charged.Item The impact of government debt on labour productivity in Canada(2025) Ferede, ErgeteLabour productivity—the level of output produced per unit of labour—plays a crucial role in powering economic growth and improving living standards in a country. This study looks closely at the evolution of Canada’s labour productivity over time, comparing it with those of similar countries such as the United States and other OECD countries. Many commentators and researchers have expressed deep concerns over how improvement of the country’s productivity has slowed and the implications of this for the growth of wages and overall living standards for Canadians. Indeed, the Bank of Canada’s Senior deputy governor, Carolyn Rogers, describes the slowdown in labour productivity as an economic “emergency” for the country (Rogers, 2024).Item Revenue effects of tax rate changes in Alberta(2025) Ferede, ErgeteAlberta has in the past prided itself as having an overall tax advantage relative to the rest of Canada. As recently as 2014, the province offered a highly competitive tax environment. Not only was it the only province in Canada without a provincial retail sales tax, it also levied a single personal income tax (PIT) rate of 10%, the lowest in the country. Additionally, Alberta boasted the lowest corporate income tax rate. The province’s tax policy changed in 2015, when the newly elected NDP provincial government raised the corporate income tax rate (CIT) from 10% to 12%, and replaced the single PIT rate with a five-bracket system. As a result of this policy change, Alberta’s provincial top marginal PIT rate jumped from 10% to 15% in 2015, eroding the province’s tax advantage. Alberta now has the tenth highest top marginal personal income tax rate in North America, and its tax competitiveness ranking, particularly when compared with similar energy-based North American jurisdictions, is lower.Item The dynamics of fiscal adjustment in Alberta(2025) Ferede, ErgeteThis paper investigates the effects of budgetary imbalances on various fiscal variables using time series data from Alberta spanning over half a century. Our empirical analysis reveals Alberta responds to budget deficits by cutting program spending and raising tax revenue. The results indicate that in response to a one percentage point increase in the current budget deficit to GDP ratio, Alberta’s governments have cut program spending by 0.24 percentage points and raised tax revenue by 0.06 percentage points the following year. These results imply that about 80 percent of the short-term fiscal responses to budgetary imbalances appear on the spending side of the provincial government budget. The empirical results of this study provide evidence of the asymmetric effects of fiscal imbalances on tax revenue and government program spending in the province. We also find that the provincial governments’ spending response to the budget deficit depends on whether oil prices are predicted to increase or decrease.Item Love, joy, peace, and light [video](2024) Edge, LoisThe following video depicts the author’s movements from silence into utterance. It narrates a French,nehiyawᓀᐦᐃᔭâpihtawikosisânand Denesuliné Dinjii Zhuh, Scottish, British educator’s journeys through ancestral pathways into contemporary well-being. As importantly, the video illustrates: •The disjuncture of rhythmic cadence vacillating within liminal spaces. It is compelled and guided along ancestral pathways from darkness into light. •A synchronicity of rites of passage. •Inhalation and exhalation of breath. •Blood memory awakens drum song singing ancestors into being. •Moreover, the video is a celebration of First Peoples of Turtle Island honouring the gift of life embodied encircled together.ᐊᐧᓂᐢᑲwaniskaKeywords:Indigenous education, Indigenous pedagogy, celebrating Indigeneity, Dene Metis, health and wellness.Item Reclaiming being: applying a decolonial lens to gendered violence, Indigenous motherhood, and community wellbeing(2024) Dawson, LeslieIndigenous women and children in Canada are significantly more likely to experience some form of family violence than their non-Indigenous counterparts. However, biomedical and academic discussions around the violence that Indigenous women and their families and communities face reflect a colonial narrative emphasizing Euro-Canadian perspectives and values; a colonial narrative that disconnects the role of past and ongoing forms of colonial violence and naturalizes family violence within Indigenous communities, informing a view of Indigeneity as risk. Through a decolonial lens, the underlying causes of family violence in Indigenous communities can be connected to the gendered violence of patriarchal colonialism targeting Indigenous women. It is revealed how Indigenous women’s bodies became a site of the coloniality of violence as colonization disenfranchised and displaced Indigenous women from their lands, communities, and central roles. Gendered colonial violence attacked Indigenous women’s scared status in their societies and disrupted Indigenous relational modes of being. This informed a coloniality of being for Indigenous peoples; a coloniality of being integral to intergenerational trauma and family violence. Through the lens of Indigenous laws as a decolonial approach to family violence, the centrality of Indigenous women’s roles and responsibilities as mothers is linked to community wellbeing and intertwined with leadership and governance. By grounding the rights of Indigenous women within relationships, Indigenous women can reclaim their sacred places within respectful, reciprocal, and interconnected ways of being.Item Quantitative methods in economics, business, and finance(2025) Colonescu, Constantin; Islam, ShahidulQuantitative methods provides students and practitioners in economics, business, and finance with the tools necessary to model economics relationships, analyze data, and make informed decisions. In modern analysis, mathematical and statistical techniques are essential for interpreting data, understanding economic phenomena, and developing policy recommendations. This textbook serves as an introduction to quantitative techniques, providing a rigorous yet accessible foundation in mathematical economics and statistical methods. The aim is to equip students with analytical skills that will help them in their academic studies, research, and real-world problem solving.Item AI vs. AI: comparing artificial intelligence with actual intelligence for a gameplay task(2025) Aycock, John; Biittner, Katie; Khaleel, Syeda Zainab; Therrien, Carl; Querengesser, Allie; Sikstrom, HaileyIs AI always the best choice for every task? We conducted two user studies, one large-scale and one small-scale, to attempt a testing-related gameplay task, where the goal was to maximize the code and data coverage of a set of Atari 2600 games. This particular problem was previously addressed using an AI-based system published by Ganesh et al. in the 2023 IEEE Conference on Games. Our new, human-derived results not only replicate the coverage shown in the previous AI-based study, but more importantly, by using humans for gameplay we were able to get those results with much less time, effort, and resources.Item Computer theatre: raising the curtain on a visual novel prototype(2024) Biittner, Katie; Therrien, Carl; Aycock, John; Bailey, Dona; Newell, Paul AllenThe year 1984 was the setting of Orwell’s dystopian novel as well as the year the Apple Macintosh debuted with its legendary Super Bowl advertisement. It was also the year following the video game crash of 1983. Much has been written about the macro view of the event, of companies caught up in—and consumed by—this crash, yet very little captures the toll that the crash took on people working in the video game industry at the time. For these individuals, it would have been little consolation that this crash was not a global phenomenon or that it was not even the first market crash in the video game industry. This is the backdrop for the story of how two game-industry veterans found themselves in 1984 creating a prototype of what would now be called a visual novel.Item Quantification of Black bodies: Anti-black racism in research(2025) Oyelana, Olabisi; Asirifi, Mary; Gateri, Hellen; Edwards, Fiona; Intungane, Doriane; Kimei, Janet; Khalema, EmilyIt is time to start interrogating the legacy of colonialism that privileges a Eurocentric system of knowing within the Canadian education system and examine the research experiences of Black researchers. Many Black researchers continue to struggle with limited funding to conduct their research projects and many are faced with the issue of access to research mentorship. While Black scholars are restricted by these challenges, the Black populations are often researched by researchers who have little or no knowledge about their experiences. Moreover, the colonial constructs that pervade academia have relegated Black scholars and racialized groups as illegitimate knowledge producers. Our stories of lived experiences cannot be adequately represented by numbers nor by an outsider. This article argues that it is time to center the research experiences of Black researchers through the lenses of Critical race theory (CRT) and an anti-Black racism (ABR) framework. Our way of knowing creates a space for us to share and document voices alongside participants. hooks (1994) offered a way to think about personal experience as, “a way of knowing that is often expressed through the body, what it knows, what has been deeply inscribed on it through experience” (p. 36). This complexity of experience can rarely be named from a distance, neither can it be quantified into statistical data. Therefore, this article is inspired by the research agenda of Black female academics from a Canadian university. We view ourselves as legitimate knowledge producers with a keen interest in decolonizing research.Item The surface of things: the impossibility of George Grant’s conservatism and the possibility of Canada(2025) McKinnell, Ryan AlexanderThis essay’s contribution to the symposium dedicated to the anniversary of Lament for a Nation explores how George Grant’s neglect of the question of the regime engenders a reductionist and, at times, misguided interpretation of political philosophy and politics by examining the fundamentally flawed understanding of Canada’s origins advanced in Lament for a Nation. At a time when Canadian sovereignty is under greater threat than at any point in the last century, it behooves us to return to the roots of our political tradition to decide if the Founders’ intention is valuable and worth preserving. Grant’s analysis is an obstacle to this enterprise because his failure to grasp the significance of the political not only precludes him from recognizing the full complexity of modernity, but also from understanding the intention of the Canadian Founding and the vitality of the Canadian regime.