As part of their series, #MeetTheNewProfs, the UTM Office of the Vice-Principal, Academic and Dean has posted a profile of Professor Gail Super on their website.
Professor Gail Super joined the faculty at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus as an Assistant Professor of Sociology in 2017. Her research focuses on the sociology of punishment, particularly the relationship between state and non-state actors involved in punishment.
We have reposted the profile here:
Gail Super
After spending her formative years in Africa, Gail Super has slowly migrated north and west. She earned a law degree in South Africa, and practised law in South Africa and Namibia before heading to the London School of Economics, where she earned a master’s degree in criminology. Then, it was on to New York City for a PhD in Law and Society at New York University. Last year, Super made the move across the 49th parallel to begin her academic career at UTM.
“I had long admired the work of my colleagues at UTM, so when I saw this job, I applied,” Super says. “It’s very demanding, but I really enjoy it.”
Within the field of law and society, Super’s real passion is punishment and society; her research focuses on how marginalized communities deal with issues of crime. She explores the ways punishment is defined and practised, both by the state and by the general population.
“In South Africa, for example, unless someone is killed, the state tolerates unofficial punishments such as beatings, but, suddenly, after a gruesome murder, the government will step in,” she says.
Super has received both a Connaught Foundation grant and a two-year grant from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council for her scholarship that examines lawful forms of crime prevention and unlawful forms of vigilante justice in informal (shack) settlements in South Africa. She spent a month this past summer in Cape Town conducting interviews for the project. Eventually, she plans to study and compare how marginalized communities in Canada deal with crime.
“It’s definitely research and writing that drives me, and I’m happy to be in a research-oriented department at UTM,” Super says.
The original, along with profiles of other new faculty to UTM, can be found here.
Professor Super obtained a law degree in South Africa, practiced law in South Africa and Namibia, and thereafter earned her master’s degree in criminology at the London School of Economics. She then headed to New York City for a PhD in Law and Society at New York University, and will now continue her career at UTM.
She has received a Connaught Foundation grant and a two-year grant from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council for her work, which examines lawful forms of crime prevention and unlawful forms of vigilante justice in informal (shack) settlements in South Africa. After spending this past summer in Cape Town conducting interviews for the project, she will continue her work in Canada to study and compare how marginalized communities in Canada deal with crime.