Professor (CD, PhD), Department of Educational Studies
Program Director, Adult Education
Contact for Availability for Graduate Advisement
Dr. Nancy Taber is a professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Brock University. Her research explores the ways in which learning, gender, and militarism intersect in daily life, popular culture, museums, militaries, and educational institutions. She has a particular focus on women’s experiences in the Canadian Armed Forces as relates to organizational culture, official polices, education, and informal everyday practices, with respect to gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. She is a retired military officer who served as a Sea King helicopter air navigator. Dr. Taber is Co-Director of the Transforming Military Cultures (TMC) Research Network. She is a former President of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education and the former Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education. Dr. Taber was named a Top 20 Women in Defence 2022, by Esprit de Corps Magazine, was a 2022 inductee into the International Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) Hall of Fame, and served as an expert witness for the Heyder-Beattie class action lawsuits. She is currently using the genre of fiction to explore the complexities of women’s lives as relates to war and militarism. Dr. Taber’s debut novel, A Sea of Spectres, will be published in June 2024 with Acorn Press.
- Feminist antimilitarist analysis of Canadian Armed Forces culture, policy, practices, and education
- Gendered representations of masculinities, femininities, and militarism in war and military museums
- Fiction-based research: (a) historical novels with fantastical elements based on folklore and myths; (b) methodological explorations
- Member of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education
- Member of the Canadian Authors Association
- Member of Historical Novel Society
Books:
Sanford, K., Clover, D.E., Taber, N. & Williamson, S. (Eds.). (2020). Feminist critique and the museum: Educating for a critical consciousness. Leiden: Brill Sense.
Hampson. S., Lebel, U. & Taber, N. (Eds.). (2018). Mothers, military, and society. Toronto: Demeter Press.
Book chapters:
Taber, N. & Grover, A. (2022). Public pedagogy, adult education, and sexuality education. The Palgrave encyclopedia of sexuality education (pp.1-9). Palgrave.
Taber, N. (2022). Designing feminist fiction-based research projects in museums: An example of sexual violence in war. In Clover, D.E., Sanford, K., & Allen, W. (Eds.), Academic project designs and methods: From professional development to critical and creative practice (pp. 128-132). Victoria: University of Victoria.
Taber, N. (2022). Feminist fiction-based research in the context of war and military museums: Fostering imagination, engagement, and empathy. In D.E. Clover, C. Harman, K. Sanford, & S. Williamson (Eds.), Feminism, adult education, and creative possibility: Imaginative responses (pp. 87-100). Bloomsbury Publishing.
Hampson, S. & Taber, N. (2020). Military education: Evolution and future directions. In T.S. Rocco, M.C. Smith, R.C. Mizzi, L.R. Merriweather, & J.D. Hawley (Eds.), 2020 Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education (232-239). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Taber, N. (2020). Qualitative research methodologies: A critical adult education approach. In S. Brigham, R. McGray, & K. Jubas (Eds.), Adult Education and Learning in Canada: Advancing a critical legacy (pp. 258-267). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing Inc.
Taber, N. (2020). Whose (military) heritage: A feminist antimilitarist analysis of heritage sites in Canada, England, and Europe. In K. Sanford, D.E. Clover, N. Taber, & S. Williamson (Eds.), Feminist critique and the museum: Educating for a critical consciousness (pp. 137-155). Leiden: Brill Sense.
Sanford, K., Clover, D.E., Taber, N., & Williamson, S. (2020). Introduction. In K. Sanford, D.E. Clover, N. Taber, & S. Williamson (Eds.), Feminist critique and the museum: Educating for a critical consciousness (pp. 1-19). Leiden: Brill Sense.
Taber, N. (2020). Creating disruptive fiction and found poems: Pedagogical engagement with/in museums. In D.E. Clover, S. Dzulkifli, H. Gelderman, & K. Sanford (Eds.), Feminist adult educators’ guide to aesthetic, creative, and disruptive strategies in museums and community (pp. 197-207). University of Victoria Gender Justice, Creative Pedagogies and Arts- Based Research Group.
Taber, N. (2020). Variations of the feminist museum hack: Feminist antimilitarist. In D.E. Clover, S. Dzulkifli, H. Gelderman, & K. Sanford (Eds.), Feminist adult educators’ guide to aesthetic, creative, and disruptive strategies in museums and community (pp. 7-13). University of Victoria Gender Justice, Creative Pedagogies and Arts- Based Research Group.
Gouthro, P., Taber, N., & Brazil, A. (2019). What is needed to create gender inclusive learning organizations? In A. Ortenblad (Ed.), Handbook on learning organizations (pp. 243-255). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taber, N. (2018). Connecting the past and future through contemporary discourses of motherhood and militarism in Canada: Bomb Girls and Continuum. In Hampson. S., Lebel, U. & Taber, N. (Eds.), Mothers, military, and society (pp. 111-130). Toronto: Demeter Press.
Hampson. S., Lebel, U. & Taber, N. (2018). Introduction: Mothers, military, and society in conversation. In Hampson. S., Lebel, U. & Taber, N. (Eds.), Mothers, military, and society (pp. 9-20). Toronto: Demeter Press.
Taber, N. (2018). Institutional ethnography, autoethnography, and narrative: An argument for incorporating multiple methodologies. In K. Hughes, J. Coulton, J. Goodwin & J. Hughes (Eds.), Contemporary approaches to ethnographic research. Sage Publications.
Peer-refereed journal articles:
Taber, N. (2023). Women pirates learning through legitimate peripheral participation: Applying theory to shape a fictional narrative based on historical fact. Field Note. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 35(2), 123-132.
Taber, N. (2023). Understanding and addressing opposition to transforming military cultures: Moving from technical and humanist to critical learning. Canadian Military Journal, 23(3), 30-36.
Eichler, M., George, T., & Taber, N. (2023). The Arbour report and beyond. Canadian Military Journal, 23(2), 35-44.
Taber, N. (2022). “Trusted to serve”: Rethinking the CAF ethos for cultural change. Canadian Military Journal, 22(3), 13-19.
Taber, N. (2022). “Lt. Col Smith with unknown Bomb Girl”: Problematizing narratives of male battlefield heroism in Canadian military museums. Critical Military Studies, 8(1), 99-117.
Taber, N. & Grover, A. (2021). Leveraging, militarizing, and stereotyping civilians for the war effort: Pedagogies of gender in war museums in Canada, England, and Europe. International Journal for Lifelong Education, 40(3), 268-280.
Taber, N. (2020). The Canadian Armed Forces: Battling between Operation Honour and Operation Hop on Her. Critical Military Studies, 6(1), 19-40.
Taber, N., Clover, D., & Sanford, K. (2019). Performing gender in a Barbie Expo: White passivity, exotic otherness, and tradition in a fashionista bow. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 41(1), 1-25.
Taber, N. (2019). Learning about military women from memoirs: The “Ideological I.” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 40(4), 265-281.
Clover, D., Taber, N., & Sanford, K. (2018). The feminist museum hack: A pedagogy of seeing and possibility. Storia delle Donne, 14, 125-140.
Clover, D., Taber, N, & Sanford, K. (2018). Dripping pink and blue: Seeing the unseen of patriarchy though the feminist museum hack. Studies in Adult Education and Learning, 24(3), 11-28.
Lane, L , Woloshyn, V. & Taber, N. (2018). Tangles, tears, and messy conversations: Using a media discussion group to explore notions of strong women. Journal of Gender Studies, 27(5), 497-508.
Taber, N. (2018). After Deschamps: Men, masculinities, and the Canadian Armed Forces. Journal of Military and Veteran Health Research, 4(1), 100-107.
Taber, N. (2018). Le cochon, a washed up mermaid, and soldier’s bread: Three generations of Acadian women at the intersection of museums and fiction. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 37(1), 4-20.
Gouthro, P., Taber, N., & Brazil, A. (2018). Universities as inclusive learning organizations for women?: Considering the role of women in faculty and leadership positions in academe. The Learning Organization, 25(1), 29-39.
Fiction, short stories:
Taber, N. (2023). Mission first (Flash fiction contest shortlist). The South Shore Review, Issue 8. Editor, Trasie Sands.
Taber, N. (2022). Bombshell beauties. The Green Shoe Sanctuary. Editor, A.L. Shilling.
Taber, N. (2021). Secrets and stockings. The South Shore Review. Editor, Trasie Sands.
Taber, N. (2020). Khaki and emerald green. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, & Social Justice, 41(2), 88-94.
Taber, N. (2020). Precarious passage. Fifteen Stories High, Vol. 20. St. Catharines: Canadian Authors Association, Niagara Branch. (Short story contest, Honourable Mention.)
Taber, N. (2020). Climbing. QuickBrownFox. Editor, Brian Henry.
Taber, N. (2020). Secrets and stockings. The Blake-Jones Review. Editor, Trasie Sands.
Taber, N. (2019). Fellie’s escape. QuickBrownFox. Editor, Brian Henry.
Taber, N. (2019). Climbing. CommuterLit: Fiction on the Go. Editor, Nancy Kay Clark.
Taber, N. (2019). Flickering hope. In S. Frayne (Ed.), Fifteen Stories High, Vol. 19. St. Catharines: Canadian Authors Association, Niagara Branch. (Short story contest, Honourable Mention.)
Poems:
Taber, N. (2022). Impossible possibilites. The Green Shoe Sanctuary. Editor, A.L. Shilling.
Co-Director of Transforming Military Cultures (TMC) Research Network, funded by Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) Program, 3-year $750,000 grant.
- ADED 4F90, Research and Critical Reflection in Adult Education
- ADED 4P92: Gender in Adult Education
- EDUC 3P96: Advanced Community-Based Internship
- EDUC 5P00: Introduction to Social and Cultural Contexts of Education, Part 1: Preparing the Ground
- EDUC 5P01: Introduction to Social and Cultural Contexts of Education, Part II: Developing a Critical Language
- EDUC 5P14: War, Gender, and Learning
- EDUC 5P24: Social and Cultural Contexts of Learning
- EDUC 5P35: Adult Teaching and Learning
- EDUC 5P36: Critical Perspectives in Adult Education
- EDUC 5P92: Introduction to Educational Research
- EDUC 5Q97: Culminating Seminar in Educational Studies
- EDUC 7P31: Social, Cultural, Political Contexts of Education
- EDUC 8P02: Diversity Issues in Schooling
- SJES 5P02: Theorizing Social Justice and Equity Studies
