Karen Foster

Sociologue

Karen Foster is a sociologist whose research and writing spans rural sociology, the sociology of work, political economy, and historical sociology, and draws on qualitative and quantitative methods. An Associate Professor in Sociology and Social Anthropology a Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), she holds the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Rural Futures for Atlantic Canada, and directs the Rural Futures Research Centre. Her current studies include a mixed-methods examination of rural occupational succession (in small farms, businesses and fisheries); a survey-based study of the housing needs of young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder in rural and urban Nova Scotia; and a survey about the career pathways of Canadian sociology graduates. She has written three academic books, with a fourth--an edited collection entitled, The Right to Be Rural--in preparation.