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Norman Mark

photo of Mark Norman

Mark Norman

Contract and Sessional Faculty
Department of Health Aging & Society

Area(s) of Interest:

Biography

Mark Norman is a postdoctoral fellow whose research interests lie at the intersections of criminology, sociology, and health studies. He is currently working on two major research projects: a postdoctoral project, co-supervised by Rosemary Ricciardelli (Department of Sociology, Memorial University) and James Gillett (Department of Health, Aging & Society, McMaster University), on mental health and well-being among Canadian public safety and justice workers; and, as Primary Investigator, a SSHRC-funded project on the social meanings and organization of sport and physical recreation programs in Ontario youth custody facilities. In addition to his work on sport and physical activity in prisons, Norman has previously undertaken and published research on sport and digital media, sport and social development, and gender inequality in major sporting organizations. In 2019, Norman was an invited expert at the meeting of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Committee on Leveraging Sport in the Context of Youth Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Education

  • PhD, University of Toronto
  • MA, Simon Fraser University
  • BA, University of Toronto

Teaching

  • Leisure and Recreation in Later Life (Health, Aging & Society, Winter, 2018; Fall, 2019)
  • Perspectives on Disability, Chronic Illness and Aging (Health, Aging & Society; Winter, 2020 and Fall, 2020)
  • Selected Topics: Critical Perspectives on Sport, Physical Activity, and Health (Health, Aging & Society; Winter, 2021)
  • Sociology of Sport (Department of Sociology; Winter, 2019)

Research

Select publications:

Norman, M. (2020). Sport and Incarceration: Theoretical Considerations for Sport for Development Research. Social Inclusion, 8(3), DOI: 10.17645/si.v8i2.2748.

Norman, M. (2019) Transforming Space? Spatial Implications of Yoga in Prisons and Other Carceral Sites. Race & Yoga, 4(1), 1-16.

Norman, M. & Andrews, G.J. (2019). The Folding of Sport Space into Carceral Space: On the Making of Prisoners’ Experiences and Lives. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 63(3), 453-465.

Norman, M. (2018). Researching Sport in a ‘Total Institution’: Reflections on Research Barriers and Methodological Adaptations in a Study of Prison Physical Culture. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 1(1), 17-31.

Norman, M. (2017). Sport in the Underlife of a Total Institution: Social Control and Resistance in Canadian Prisons. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 52(5), 598–614.

Grants and Awards:

SSHRC Insight Development Grant (Principal Investigator). Sport and Physical Recreation in Ontario Youth Detention Centres: A Comprehensive Examination. Co-Investigators: R. Ricciardelli & B. Wilson.

SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant (Co-investigator). D-Bronx: An Academic-Community Partnership to Investigate the Impact of a Dog Handling Program for Incarcerated Youth. Principal Investigator: J. Gillett.

SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2017-19)

International Sociology of Sport Association Graduate Student Paper Award (2015)