Associate Professor (Ph.D. Brandeis University)

Research Interests

Sociology of culture, Social psychology, Environmental philosophy, Sociology of tourism

Contact Information

Ph: 709-864-6913
Em: jadler@mun.ca
Office: A-4063

Personal Profile

Born in San Francisco, Dr. Adler moved to Newfoundland in 1972. She began her career as a sociologist with a focus on art and art education, applying concepts from the sociology of work to the sociology of the arts and publishing the book Artists in Offices: An Ethnography of an Academic Art Scene. She then moved on to consider travel as an art form, applying concepts from the sociology of art to the sociology of travel and tourism, publishing papers on "Travel as a Performed Art," The Origins of Sight-seeing" and "Tramping, a Note on the History of Youth Culture."
More recently she has published work on the social history of early monastic travel, on early cultures of mobility and stability, and on ancient monastic roots of contemporary cultural themes: "The Holy Man as Traveler and Travel Attraction," "Cultivating Wilderness: Environmentalism and Legacies of Early Christian Asceticism." Her work has appeared in many academic publications, including: Comparative Studies in Society and History: An International Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology and Annals of Tourism Research. She has published a short story, "The Road to Abu Simbel," and several poems. Her son, Antony, made her the mother of a Newfoundlander.

Research

Artists in Offices: An Ethnography of an Academic Art Scene. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books. (Author)

"Cultivating Wilderness: Environmentalism and the Legacies of Early Christian Asceticism," Comparative Studies in Society and History: An International Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 48.

"The Holy Man as Traveller and as Travel Attraction." In William Swatos and Luigi Tomasi (Eds.) From Medieval Pilgrimage to Religious Tourism. Westport, CT: Praeger.

"Travel as Performed Art," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94.