Val Marie Johnson

Dr. Val Marie Johnson is an Associate Professor at Saint Mary's University in the Social Justice & Community Studies department. With a PhD in Sociology & Historical Studies from The New School for Social Research (2003) and MA degrees in Sociology and History from the University of Toronto (1989, 1990), she specializes in critical analyses of gender, sexuality, race, and class within liberal societies.

• Education
  • PhD, The New School for Social Research (2003)
  • MA (Sociology), University of Toronto (1990)
  • MA (Honors With Distinction, Sociology & History), University of Toronto (1989)

Her research interrogates historical governance mechanisms that produce hierarchies, particularly through 2018 Inuit Cultural Repatriation Award-winning work on Arctic residential schools. She connects 20th-century U.S. "prostitution" politics to racialized hyper-incarceration and examines neoliberalism's impact on urban inequality and labor movements.

Key publication trends include:

• Historical Archival Work: Shingle Point Residential School diary (2023), 1930s Arctic colonialism
• Intersectional Analysis: Black women's educational networks (2018), Macy's workplace discipline (2007)
• Critical Criminology: Immigration regulation (2006), criminalization of poverty (2010)

Scientific awards:

• 2018 Inuit Cultural Repatriation Award

She supervised 14 graduate students across criminology, women's studies, and social justice, including SSHRC-funded research on low-income mothers' critiques. Her community engagement spans Lynn Jones African-Canadian Heritage Collection and Indigenous speakers series.