Dana Sawchuk – The Center for Critical Research on Religion

Dana Sawchuk

Dana Sawchuk is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Study of Religion in 2001. Much of her past work has involved studying the relationships between religion and politics, and Church and State, in Latin America. More recently, she has explored the representations of aging and older adults in both the religious and secular media. She is also interested in issues related to aging and activism, as well as aging and job loss.

Selected Publications

2020. Sawchuk, D., & Ly, M. “Older women using women’s magazines: The construction of knowledgeable selves.” Ageing and Society, 1-21. doi:10.1017/S0144686X20001129

2018. Sawchuk, D. “The Birthday Card Exercise: Replicating Research as Active Learning.” Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 39(4): 481-90.

2018. Nierobisz, A., & D. Sawchuk. “Religious Coping among Older, Unemployed Workers: Narratives of the Job Loss Experience.” Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging, 30(4): 325-53.

2015. Sawchuk D. “Aging and older adults in three Roman Catholic magazines: Successful aging and the Third and Fourth Ages reframed.” Journal of Aging Studies, 35, 221-228. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2015.08.012)

2015. Sawchuk, D., & J. Clarke. “Representations of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in the North American Roman Catholic Print Media, 1990-2013.” Journal of Disability & Religion, 19(2): 146-67.

2013. “Peace Profile: The Raging Grannies.” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 25 (1): 129-35.

2009. “The Raging Grannies: Defying Stereotypes and Embracing Aging through Activism.” Journal of Women and Aging 21(3):171-185.

2007. “Exploring Power and Gender Issues Emergent in an Institutional Workshop on Preventing Clergy Sexual Misconduct.” Dana Sawchuk (principal author), with Thomas St. James O’Connor, Richard Walsh-Bowers, Christopher Ross, and Maria Hatzipantelis. Pastoral Psychology 55(4): 499-511.

2005. “Horkheimer and Adorno on Social Change: Problems and Potential in Light of ‘History from Below.’” Critical Sociology 31(4): 537-57.

2004. The Costa Rican Catholic Church, Social Justice, and the Rights of Workers, 1979-96. Editions SR. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press and Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion.

1997. “The Catholic Church in the Nicaraguan Revolution: A Gramscian Analysis.” Sociology of Religion 58(1): 39-51.