Skip to main content
Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Arshia U. Zaidi
PhD

Associate Professor

Criminology and Justice

Faculty of Social Science and Humanities

Contact information

Bordessa Hall - Room 327
Downtown Oshawa
55 Bond Street East
Oshawa, ON

905.721.8668 ext. 3443

arshia.zaidi@ontariotechu.ca

Background

Dr. Arshia U. Zaidi is an Associate Professor at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario.  She received her PhD in Sociology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Zaidi is a methodologist who uses qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches to better understand the social and generational issues of the South Asian family. Her theoretical lens of intersectionality helps her cultivate the social explanations surrounding these critical matters.  Additionally, Dr. Zaidi has received SSHRC funding to address her research agenda and mobilize knowledge.  Dr. Zaidi uses her South Asian ethnic identity to create trust and collaboration within these communities to build knowledge forward.

Education

  • PhD, Sociology Wayne State University
  • MA, Sociology University of Windsor
  • BA (Hon), Psychology University of Windsor
  • BSc, General University of Windsor

Courses taught

Undergraduate:

  • Data Analysis 1 (2910)
  • Advanced Data Analysis 2 (3910)
  • Integrating Projects (4099)
  • Sociological Theories of Criminology (2810)
  • Honours Thesis

Graduate:

  • Advanced Data Analysis 1 Graduate (5010)
  • Advanced Multivariate Data Analysis 2 Graduate (5030)
  • Graduate supervision for MA/PhD and major papers

Research and expertise

Research background and interests:

  • intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors
  • issues of immigration, assimilation and acculturation
  • race, gender, sexuality and family generational issues
  • survivors of elderly abuse
  • power of information communication technology/social media in IPV and immigrant youth
  • methodological issues in the field (insider/outsider; community partnerships)
  • Islamophobia
  • human trafficking 

Research supervision areas:

  • intimate partner violence in immigrant families
  • quantitative/qualitative methodologies
  • race, gender, sexuality, family and culture
  • socio-cultural issues of immigration
  • survivors of elderly abuse
  • information communication technology social media/technology usage
  • generational issues
  • Islamophobia
  • SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant. Differential Impacts of Transition to Remote Academic Labour at GTA Universities During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Arshia U. Zaidi (Co-investigator) with Natalie Oman (Principal Investigator). 
    • 2021-2022
  • SSHRC Insight Grant. An Era of Islamophobia: Navigating the Dynamics of Ethnic Identities, Social Exclusion and Emotional Well-being among South Asian Muslim Youth in Canada. Arshia U. Zaidi (Principal Investigator) with Barbara Perry.
  • 2020-2022
  • SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant. COVID-19 and Sex Trafficking: Understanding Intersections and Amplification of Precarity for Survivors of Labour Exploitation in the Sex Industry in the Durham Region. Arshia U. Zaidi (Co-investigator) and Olga Marques (Principal Investigator).
  • 2020-2021
  • SSHRC Internal Grant. Swipe Right: The Social Media “Hook-up” Culture for Racialized Women in Postsecondary Institutions. Arshia U. Zaidi and Olga Marques (collaborators).
  • 2019-2020

Teaching awards at Ontario Tech University:

  • September 2020 - Nominated for Ontario Tech Teaching Faculty Award
  • December 2011 - Recipient of FSSH Teaching Faculty Award

Involvement

  • Recent publications

    Ammar, N. & Zaidi, A.U. (June 2019). Methodological challenges in doing collaborative- research with immigrant women experiencing intimate partner violence in Canada in Methods of Criminology and Criminal Justice Research, eds M. Deflem & D. Silva.

    Shahid Alvi & Arshia Zaidi (November 2019) “My Existence is not Haram”: Intersectional Lives in LGBTQ Muslims Living in Canada, Journal of Homosexuality, DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2019.1695422

    Alvi, S., & Zaidi, A. U. (2017). Invisible Voices: An Intersectional Exploration of Quality of Life for Elderly South Asian Immigrant Women in a Canadian Sample. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 1-24.

     

  • Recent conference presentations

    2017 November Should IPV Agencies in Canada be better equipped with Mental Health Experts and Counselling? Philadelphia, PA (Zaidi/Ammar/Couture-Carron)-Abstract accepted for roundtable discussion.

    “911-Please State Your Emergency”: (Ammar & Zaidi) An Exploration of How Immigrant Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Survivors Reach Out and Experience Police Services in Canada-Accepted and Presenting November 2016.

    Challenging Tradition: An Exploratory Study of Experiences of Canadian Muslim Homosexual (CMH) Youth who “Come Out of the Closet,” presented June 24 to 25 at conference at Brescia University College in London, Ontario.

    June 2015. Qualitative Analysis Conference at Brescia University College from June 25 to 27, Zaidi, A.U. Challenging Traditions: An Exploratory Study on Muslim Homosexuality.

    2014 American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, California (November), Ammar, N., Zaidi, A.U. Methodological challenges in doing collaborative-research “community partnership” advocacy research on intimate partner violence survivors in Canada.