SIM is pleased to welcome our two newest faculty members!
Jamila Ghaddar: Dr. Jamila Ghaddar is a long time archivist and librarian. She was recently awarded a PhD from the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, where she completed a Master of Information in 2014. Jamila successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on July 16th, entitled “Provenance in Place: Archives, Settler Colonialism & the Making of a Global Order.”
Her research interrogates the complex dynamics between information and heritage domains, on the one hand, and issues of race, colonialism, gender, history, and memory, on the other. She is eager to contribute to the interdisciplinary environment at SIM at Dalhousie University through her teaching, research and service.
Alison Brown: Alison graduated from the Dalhousie Master of Information (MI) program in 2017 and has been a sessional lecturer since 2020.
Where are you from? What did you do before coming to Dalhousie? I come from the small village of Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. I have lived, worked, and played in many places – with street-involved youth in Tanzania and Thailand, feminist lawyers in Kenya, community journalists in Vancouver, social justice educators in Toronto. Before coming to Dalhousie in 2015, my partner, two kids, and I drove to Costa Rica where we lived for a year eating pineapple (that grew in our yard!) and helping to protect sea turtles.
What drew you to the School of Information Management and Dalhousie? A continued strong focus on librarianship (unlike some other ISchools I considered). The small size of the school with engaged and dedicated faculty. A return closer to home
What are your research and teaching interests? Research interests: picture books and critical empathy; community-led librarianship; social justice, action research, collaboration
Teaching interests: community-led services, children’s and youth services, research methods, collaboration, human information interaction, information society
Tell me about something you’re proud of accomplishing. Raising ridiculously lovely children
What’s something your new colleagues might be surprised to learn about you? In 1998, I hitchhiked from Tanzania to South Africa. There are many stories 😊
