Kendal David
PhD Student
| Degrees: | MSW (Carleton University), BSW (University of Calgary) |
| Email: | kendaldavid@cmail.carleton.ca |
About Me:
I started my PhD at Carleton University in 2021. I study and write about poverty and disability justice, and have practice experience in the disability services sector and in community organizing. I currently co-chair the Basic Income Canada Youth Network. I love jigsaw puzzles, poetry, and podcasts. I value and invite opportunities to build collaborative and kind relationships within my academic practice (especially with fellow graduate students) – feel free to email me to connect and chat!
My Research:
My ongoing PhD research uses feminist disability studies and critical discourse analysis to examine anti-poverty policy in Canada. In June 2023, a peer-reviewed article I wrote based on my MSW thesis data was published in Critical Social Work, and is available here. I also contributed to policy briefs for Invisible Institutions; among other topics, the briefs examine institutional exclusions from federal disability data, and institutional allowances via social assistance. More publication information is available via ResearchGate.
Broadly, my academic areas of interest include critical and radical approaches to social work practice and pedagogy, critical discourse studies, critical disability studies, and social policy. I am interested in transdisciplinarity and working beyond the boundaries of social work. My research program seeks to complicate normative notions of disability, professional identity, and social justice.
My MSW thesis explored and challenged what it means to be a social worker in Alberta. Grounded in critical and anti-oppressive theories and methodologies – namely critical disability studies and critical discourse analysis – I critiqued how dominance and power are woven into narratives of identity, belonging, and pride within interview data with practicing social workers, and reflected on what social work could become when the rigid exclusionary boundaries of the profession are unraveled and reimagined.
Research Interests: Critical Disability Studies; Disability Justice; Critical Discourse Studies; Poverty and Income Security; Research and Evaluation in Social Work; Community Practice; Knowledge Mobilization