Alexandra Dobrowolsky
Faculty of Arts
Political Science
Dr.
Professor
Office: MN 405
Phone: 902 420 5895
Email: adobrowolsky@smu.ca
Alexandra Dobrowolsky is a Full Professor in Political Science and former Chair of the department. She has served as Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at Dalhousie University, working with the Schulich School of Law, was an Assistant Professor at York University in Toronto, and previously taught courses at both Dalhousie and Mount Saint Vincent Universities.
Dr. Dobrowolsky is a dedicated teacher and committed researcher and writer. She teaches in the areas of Canadian, Comparative, and Women, Gender and Politics, and was awarded both the Overall Excellence in Teaching in the Field of Education Award (2014), and the Faculty of Arts Excellence in Teaching Award (2017) by the Saint Mary's University Students' Association.
In 2015, Dr. Dobrowolsky became the first woman in the Faculty of Arts to be the recipient of the President's Award for Excellence in Research. Her research appears in an array of national and international journals and presses. She has written, edited, and co-edited, six books, including two published with Oxford University Press: her monograph, The Politics of Pragmatism: Women, Representation, and Constitutionalism in Canada; and her edited collection, Women and Public Policy in Canada: Neo-liberalism and After? Her last volume, co-edited with Fiona MacDonald, entitled Turbulent Times, Transformational Possibilities? Gender and Politics Today and Tomorrow, was published by University of Toronto Press (2020). Dr. Dobrowolsky has also been the co-editor of special issues of journals, including spearheading, co-editing, and contributing to, the Canadian Journal of Political Science's first ever issue solely dedicated to feminisms (2017). She has been a member of several editorial boards, currently serving on two, and sits on the Research Advisory Committee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia.
My recent research projects involve: groundwork re: a food, care, and housing partnership (Nova Scotia); comparative research on governance feminism (Canada and Mexico); and a partnership development grant: "Engendering Public Engagement, Democratizing Public Space" (Canada and Nova Scotia). Other relatively recent projects include work on: constitutionalism, gender and sexuality (Canada); devolving immigration policies and multicultural implications (Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and British Columbia); and pedagogies of collaborative teaching.
My research interests revolve around issues of citizenship and representation, broadly conceived. This research and writing encompasses a wide array of topics that include: constitutionalism and constitutional activism; immigration, multiculturalism and securitization; intersectionality; political parties and performativity; social policy; and women's and social movements. Most recently, my research focuses on public engagement from the "ground up" as well as on governance feminism. My country specialization is primarily Canada, although I have done extensive comparative work- around both constitutionalism as well as social policy- in the United Kingdom, and my current research delves into goverance feminism and women's mobilization in Mexico.
1997 Dalhousie University, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in Political Science.
1996 Carleton University, Ph.D in Political Science.
1990 Dalhousie University, MA in Political Science.
1987 University of Toronto, BA Honours, Double Major, Political Science and English (with distinction).