ABOUT ME
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology. I currently serve as Special Advisor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Office of the Vice-Principal, University of Toronto Mississauga. I hold Graduate Appointments at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and at the Faculty of Information.
I study power, privilege, and oppression in relation to media and technology. My qualitative research draws on postcolonial and feminist theory and methods. I focus on dynamics of power as they play out across difference like gender, race, and class. I work predominantly in the context of migration, with a focus on refugees in camps and in resettlement. I also study the role of digital media production in the lives of young people.
I teach undergraduate classes in my home department, The Institute of Communication, Culture, Information & Technology. I also teach and supervise students at the graduate level in the Faculty of Information and Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. I am available for doctoral supervision.
Additionally, I am interested to connect with and am available for consultancies focused on refugee education and technology, critical media education, and more broadly to support researchers building participatory and anti-oppressive research programs and seeking guidance in these domains.
Negin Dahya
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Department
Connect with me on Twitter
PUBLIC ARTICLES AND VIDEOS
Reports
News Articles and Public Press
Dahya, N., Dedeoglu, E., Decarpentrie, L., & Arvisais, O. (January 25, 2021). In refugee camps, access to internet supports research during the coronavirus pandemic. The Conversation (Canada).
Dahya, N. (November 15, 2017). A Socio-Technical Approach to Refugee Education. Promising Practices in Refugee Education.
Dahya, N. (2017). Digital Media & Forced Migration: Critical Media Education For & About Refugees. TELEVIZION.
Dryden-Peterson, S., Dahya, N. & Douhaibi, D. (March 14, 2017). How Teachers Use Mobile Phones as Education Tools in Refugee Camps. Brookings Institute.
Dryden-Peterson, S., Dahya, N., and Giles, W. (October 3, 2013). Can education be a challenge to terror? The Globe and Mail.
Dryden-Peterson, S., Dahya, N., and Giles, W. (November 30, 2013). Education: A Challenge to Terror. The Huffington Post.
Podcasts and Interviews
N. Dahya. (February 2021). Episode 14. We Educate People!
N. Dahya. (December 7, 2020). Educational Technologies in Refugee Camps. Critical Technology.
N. Dahya. (March 8, 2020). View to the U: Negin Dahya. UTM Research Podcast:
N. Dahya. (November 2015). Emergencies Podcast. UNICEF.
Patino, D.M., Summerlin, E., Benn, S., Roldan, W., Joya, A., Dahya, N., Luke, J., Lee, J.H., & Yip, J. (2021). Virtual Reality Art & Design Curriculum. University of Washington Information School Digital Youth Lab.
Dahya, N., Garrido, M., Wedlake, S. & Yefimova, K. (2020). Technology access & education for refugee women in Seattle & King County.Technology & Social Change Group, University of Washington Information School.
Dahya, N., Lee, J.H., Lee, K,J., King, W.E., Goel, M., Yassin, H. (2019). Virtual Reality in public Libraries. University of Washington Information School.
Dahya, N. (2016). Education in Conflict and Crisis: How Can Technology Make a Difference? A Landscape Review. Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies.
Fisher, K., Davis, K., Yip, J., Dahya, N., Mills, J. E., & Eisenberg, M. (2016). Digital Youth Seattle Think Tank White Paper. University of Washington Information School.
CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS
The Re(Formation) of Race in Refugee Resettlement: Understanding Race in Forced Migration, Media & Technology (2022)
This project will explore the role of technology use to inform and (re)form identity among forced migrant communities throughout their migration and now living in Toronto, Ontario. The project will explore how representations of communities online, accessible in different places at different times, informs participants sense of self and their communities. The project will address how understandings of surveillance, privacy, and security online impact participation and what this means for racial identity formation during migration and among forced migrant communities. The study will be based on qualitative interviews with resettled refugees and other forced migrants groups in Toronto, Canada.
School’s Out: Ludic Pathways to STEM Equity? (2022)
This project will continue to explore pathways into STEM fields and the use of media production, particularly in the form of videogames, for underrepresented young people and girls in schools in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada.
Resilience at the crossroads: a techno-feminist approach to intergenerational culture preservation through social storytelling and sense-making within displaced populations (2022)
This project will engage immigrant families across generations to understand the role of technology as a mediator for cultural preservation across children and grandparents, across language, and across place. Participants will be based in Toronto, Canada and in some cases, with participating family members living elsewhere in the world.
Portraits of Educational Change: Redefining Pedagogy and Technology in Refugee Camps (2020-ongoing)
This study is focused on understanding the role of technology in the lives of refugees living in Dzaleka Refugee Camps, Malawi, Specifically, the study has engaged in ethnographically informed research methods including observations, visual data collection, and interviews. The study is focused on three settings: computer classes, sewing classes, and music production and DJing in the camps. Our team involves Community Researchers in the Dzaleka Refugee Camps in Malawi as research partners and all data and partnership has been managed remotely and using sometimes novel digital data collection techniques.
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Published Journal Articles (Peer Reviewed)
Dahya, N., Garrido, M., Wedlake, S., Yefimova, K. & Iqbal, M. (in press). Learning Technology Systems in Everyday Life: Women’s Experiences Navigating Refugee Resettlement in the United States. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies
Arvisais, O., Dahya, N., Decarpentrie, L., & Dedeoglu, C. (2023). Apprendre en autonomie dans les camps de réfugiés: Perspectives communautaires sur l’enseignement, l’apprentissage et la technologie. (2023). Submitted to Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d’études du développement.
Dahya, N., Roldan, W.*, Lee, J. H., Yip, J., Luke, J., Joya, A.*, Summerlin, E.*, & Patino-Liu, D. M.* (2022) Virtual reality and youth incarceration: Methodological reflections from a media education & research program. Canadian Journal of Communication.
Dahya, N., Arvisais O., Decarpentrie, L.*, & Dedeoglu, C. E.* (2022). Ethics, Power and Agency in Transnational Qualitative Methods: A Case Study in Remote and Participatory Collaboration with Refugees. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences conference proceedings.
Dahya, N., King, W.E., Lee, K.J., & Lee, J.H. (2021). Perceptions and experiences of Virtual Reality in Public Libraries. Journal of Documentation, 77(3), 617-637
Dahya, N. & King, W.E. (2020). Politics of Race, Gender, and Visual Representation in Feminist Media Education. Discourse: Studies in The Cultural Politics of Education, 41(5), 673-690.
Dahya, N. Dryden-Peterson, S., Douhaibi, D. & Arvisais, O. (2019) Social Support Networks, Instant Messaging, and Gender Equity in Refugee Education. Information, Communication & Society, 22(6), 774-790.
Dryden-Peterson, S., Dahya, N. and Adelman, E. (2017). Pathways to educational success among refugees: Connecting locally and globally-situated resources. American Educational Research Journal, 54(6), 1011-1047.
Dahya, N. and Dryden-Peterson, S. (2017). Tracing pathways to higher education for refugees: the role of virtual support networks and mobile phones for women in refugee camps. Comparative Education, 53(2), 284-301.
Dahya, N., Jenson, J. and Fong, K. (2017). (En)Gendering videogame development: a feminist approach to gender, education & game studies. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Culture, 39(4), 367-390.
Dussel, I. & Dahya, N. (2017) Introduction: problematizing voice and representation in youth media production. Special Issue: Voice and Representation in Youth Media Production in Educational Settings: Transnational Dialogues. Learning, Media & Technology, 42(1), 1-7.
Dahya, N. (2017). Critical perspectives in youth digital media production: ‘voice’ and representation in educational contexts. Learning, Media & Technology, 42(1), 100-111.
Barkaoui, K., Barrett, S. E., Samaroo, J., Dahya, N., Alidina, S. & James, C. (2015). Teachers’ conceptions of student engagement in learning: the case of three urban schools. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 61(1), 1-20.
Dahya, N. & Jenson, J. (2015). Mis/representations in school based digital media: an ethnographic study with Muslim Girls. Diaspora, Minority & Indigenous Education: Studies in Migration, Integration, Equity & Cultural Survival, 9(2), 108-123.
Samaroo, J., Dahya, N., Alidina, S. (2013). Exploring the challenges of conducting respectful research: The seen and unforeseen methodological factors within urban school research. Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de l’éducation, 36(3), 438-457.
Jenson, J., Dahya, N. & Fisher, S. (2014). Valuing Production Values: A 'Do It Yourself' Media Production Club. Learning, Media & Technology, 39(2), 215-228.
Dahya, N. (2009). Serious Learning in Playful Roles: Socio-political games for education. Loading, 3(4).
Book Chapters
Abikar, A., Aden, A., Thumlert K., Dayha N. & Jenson, J. (2021). Refugees respond: Using digital tools, networks and ‘production pedagogies’ to envision possible futures. In W. Giles & L. Miller (Eds.), Borderless Higher Education for Refugees. London, UK: Bloomsbury, pp. 81-101.
Douhaibi, D., Dahya, N., Dryden-Peterson, S., and Arvisais, O. (2020). Culture, Gender and Technology: Mediating Teacher Training Using Text Messaging in Refugee Camps. J. Bhabha, W.M. Giles, and F. Mahomed (Eds). A Better Future: The Role of Higher Education for Displaced and Marginalized People. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 451-472.
Saleem, Z. & Dahya, N. (2019). Values, Neoliberalism & the Digital Divide: Nonwhite media makers and the production of meaning. E. Morrell and J. Rowsell (Eds). Stories from Inequity to Justice in Literacy Education: Confronting Digital Divides. New York: Routledge, pp. 165-184.
Dahya, N. & King, W.E. (2019). Feminist perspectives and mobile culture(s): power and participation in girls’ digital video making communities. In Berliner, L. and Krabill, R. (Eds). Feminist Interventions in Participatory Media: Pedagogy, Publics, Practice.
Jenson, J., Dahya, N. & Fisher, S. (2014). “Power struggles: knowledge production in a DIY news club”. In Megan Boler and Matt Ratto (Eds.) DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media. Boston: MIT Press.
Papers in Refereed Conference Proceedings
Lee, K.J., King, W.E., Dahya, N. & Lee, J.H. (2020). Librarian perspectives on the role of Virtual Reality in Public Libraries. ASIST, 57(1).
Dahya, N. (2012). Looking through Student Experiences: Unveiling the School-Community Divide. Proceedings of the American Educational Researcher Association 2012 Annual Conference Roundtable Discussion. Vancouver, BC.
Jenson, J., Dahya, N., Taylor, N., & Fisher, S. (2010). Digital Naifs: Researchers’ Experiences Scaffolding Student Productions. Proceedings of the ED-MEDIA 2010 Annual Conference. Toronto, Ontario.
CONSULTING
I am available for consultancy work in two forms:
1. I am available for research and writing projects related to my areas of expertise, such as writing commissioned reports on refugee education and technology or on anti-oppressive curriculum in media education.
2. I am also available to support research groups in their work to building anti-oppressive research practices at the levels of team preparation and practices as well as within qualitative and ethnographically informed research studies, particularly those working with non-dominant communities.
For rates, examples of past work, and discussion of potential projects, please contact me directly at negin.dahya@utoronto.ca