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, a facilitator for Writers Collective of Canada, a creative writing instructor, and a fiction author.
Her qualitative and creative research explores the ways in which learning, gender, and militarism intersect in daily life, museums, militaries, and educational institutions. She has a particular focus on women’s experiences in the Canadian Armed Forces as relates to organizational culture, policies, education, and everyday practices. She served as a military officer Sea King helicopter air navigator, Co-Director of the Transforming Military Cultures (TMC) Network, President of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, and Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education. Dr. Taber holds the Brock University Distinguished Research and Creative Activity award, was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) Hall of Fame, and served as an expert witness for the Heyder-Beattie class action lawsuit on gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault in the Canadian Armed Forces. She is currently conducting a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded project on expressive writing groups with military veteran women as well as engaging in fiction-based research. Dr. Taber’s debut novel, A Sea of Spectres, is published with Acorn Press. Her sequel is forthcoming. Her short stories have appeared in journals such as The South Shore Review, Green Shoe Sanctuary, and Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture and Social Justice, among others.
- Feminist antimilitarist analysis of Canadian Armed Forces culture, policy, practices, and education
- Gendered representations of masculinities, femininities, and militarism in war and military museums
- Expressive writing with military women
- Fiction-based research: (a) feminist novels focused on women’s contemporary and historical experiences, with fantastical elements based on folklore; (b) methodological explorations
- Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education
- Writers’ Union of Canada
- Writers Collective of Canada Advisory Council
- British International Studies Association, Critical Military Studies Working Group
- International Association of Women’s Museums
Novels:
Taber, N. (forthcoming for 2026). A Cove of Witches. Charlottetown: Acorn Press.
Taber. N. (2024). A Sea of Spectres. Charlottetown: Acorn Press.
Peer-refereed journal articles:
Taber, N. (in press). Critiquing unearned military privilege: Unpacking the invisible duffle bag. Encounters article. Critical Military Studies.
Eichler, M., George, T., & Taber, N. (in press). Working in a space of contradictions: Military culture change work in Canada. Critical Military Studies.
Taber, N. (2025). Learning to share gendered military experiences: An autoethnographic exploration of expressive writing in transforming military cultures. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 37(4), 225-234.
Kitchen, A. & Taber, N. (2025). A day-in-the-life of clandestine women war workers at Casa Loma: Using fiction-based research to peel back layers of invisibility in gendered war work. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, 37(1), 7-23.
Davis, K., Richer, I., & Taber, N. (2025). Military culture and change: How a NATO workshop emphasizes the imperative of critical paradigms. Journal of Military and Veteran Family Health, 11(2), 168-179.
Taber, N. (2024). Merging historical feminist fiction-based research with the craft of fiction writing: Engaging readers in complex academic topics through story. Brock Education Journal, 33(1), 147-165.
Taber, N. & Shoemaker, M. (2024). A force to imagine: A feminist rethinking of Universality of Service. Perspectives. Journal of Military, Veteran, and Family Health, 10(1), 107-112.
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.
Chapters in edited books:
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.
Short stories:
Taber. N. (2024). Patches of belonging. In Writers Collective of Canada (Ed.), Then, I was a dragon. Her Story: Writing from Canadian military women (p. iv-vi). Sonderho Press.
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.
- SSHRC Insight, Reimagining military culture through counter-narratives: Using arts-based feminist transformative learning practice to explore Canadian military women’s gendered experiences, 2025-2030, $374,520
- Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) Program Collaborative Network, Transforming military cultures, Co-directors: Maya Eichler, Tammy George, Nancy Taber, 2022-2025, $750,000
- ADED 2P21, Fostering Adult Creativity and Imagination
- ADED 4F90, Research and Critical Reflection in Adult Education
- EDUC 5P24, Social and Cultural Contexts of Learning
- EDUC 5P35, Adult Teaching and Learning
- EDUC 5P36, Critical Perspectives in Adult Learning
