New Faculty
Dr. Ailsa Craig
Department of Sociology
Dr. Ailsa Craig has just arrived in St. John's after years of commuting between her home in Toronto and Manhattan, where the Fulbright scholar did her graduate work in cultural sociology at New York University. There, she recently completed a dissertation on poets, identity and community.
"I'm interested in how people create and maintain their commitment to activities that form their central identity, even when those activities will not result in the tangible rewards of success," she explained. She chose to focus her study on poets because it's not possible to make a living from writing poetry, and a poet's stature is often not determined until long after death. "Poets are not in it for money or fame."
Her field research took her to readings, book launches and poetry slams, and she interviewed 40 individuals; some were poet laureates, others had published only once. All, however, were committed to seeing themselves as poets. And that commitment, she says, is about building community and relationships.
"There's a lot more going on when people choose defining activities than the end result. The commitment is predominantly about connecting with people in a web of support, about feeling chosen." It's not dissimilar, she noted, to the way others find a career-based community in which to belong.
Dr. Craig hopes to publish a book from that dissertation, and then turn her attention to other interests, including issues of gender and sexuality in culture. This year at Memorial, she will teach a seminar in the sociology of sexuality, modeled on a curriculum she developed and taught at NYU, although adapted to fit the Canadian sexual-political context.
The newest face in the Sociology Department doesn't see living in St. John's as a significant departure from her big-city experiences in Toronto and New York.
"I've got this fetish for being at the centre of things," the native of rural Ontario said. "I'm not keen on being in a smaller place that always has its eye on being somewhere else. St. John's sees itself as its own centre, and it's a thriving place — yet I don't have to deal with air I can't breathe. For me, that's perfect."