Reimagining Policy Spaces: Toward Accessible and Inclusive Public Engagement

Authors

  • Alexandra Dobrowolsky Saint Mary's University
  • Tammy Findlay Mount Saint Vincent University
  • Julianne M. Acker-Verney Mount Saint Vincent University
  • Alana Cattapan University of Waterloo
  • Jennifer O’Keefe Mount Saint Vincent University
  • April Mandrona NSCAD University
  • Jewelle Carroll Saint Mary's University

Keywords:

feminist intersectionality, policy spaces, public engagement, Deaf women, women with disabilities, rural women

Abstract

This study interrogates the potentialities of policy spaces with the aim of bringing marginalized groups more concertedly into the centre of public policy engagement. By taking a feminist intersectional approach to examining the limits of classical public policy and conventional modes of public engagement, we propose  a more fluid and generative understanding of policy space that encompasses both physical and social aspects and their interrelations. We then apply this understanding to our experimentation with two public engagement exercises held  in Nova Scotia,  a workshop and panel for disabled and Deaf women, and a podcast for rural women, that were part of a larger project aimed at acquiring in-depth, nuanced policy feedback from several, historically marginalized groups. Through our experience with these exercises—their successes and failures—we propose an approach to theorizing policy spaces informed by the contributions and interests of the groups in question, and with an awareness of intersectional power dynamics, positionality and place.

Author Biographies

Alexandra Dobrowolsky, Saint Mary's University

Professor, Department of Political Science

Tammy Findlay, Mount Saint Vincent University

Professor and Chair, Department of Political and Canadian Studies

Julianne M. Acker-Verney, Mount Saint Vincent University

Doctoral student, Educational Studies

Alana Cattapan, University of Waterloo

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science

 

Jennifer O’Keefe, Mount Saint Vincent University

Former student and research assistant, Department of Canadian and Political Studies

April Mandrona, NSCAD University

Associate Professor, Division of Art History and Contemporary Culture

Jewelle Carroll, Saint Mary's University

Former student and research assistant, Department of Political and Canadian Studies

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Published

2023-01-11

How to Cite

Dobrowolsky, A., Findlay, T., Acker-Verney, J. M., Cattapan, A., O’Keefe, J., Mandrona, A., & Carroll, J. (2023). Reimagining Policy Spaces: Toward Accessible and Inclusive Public Engagement. Canadian Review of Social Policy Revue Canadienne De Politique Sociale, 82. Retrieved from https://crsp.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/crsp/article/view/40370

Issue

Vol. 82 (2022)

Section

Articles

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