Melinda Vandenbeld Giles's research involves exploring ideas of home, belonging and identity in a neoliberal global context of precarity and migration. In particular, Melinda did her fieldwork with mothers living with their children in motel rooms in Toronto. She has published an edited volume titled Mothering in the Age of Neoliberalism along with several book chapters and journal articles. Melinda’s graduate research was supported by SSHRC. Her MA research involved exploring identity within the context of African-derived religions in the Americas, specifically Candomblé and Rastafarianism. She has published a feminist novel based on her research in Brazil.
