About
Originally from Canada and a member of Nipissing First Nation, Ashley lectures on social problems, the economics of social policy, parenting culture and the sociology of health and illness.
Her research explores the rising importance attributed emotions and behaviour in an era of ‘no alternative’ to capitalism. She is particularly interested in ‘vulnerable’ constructions of human subjects in the rhetoric of new social problems. She is the author of Semiotics of Happiness: rhetorical beginnings of a public problem published by Bloomsbury in 2015 and the forthcoming Significant Emotions which explores the seemingly never ending rise and fall of new emotional panaceas for social problems. She is a member of the editorial board for Zero Books and writes for a variety of popular online and print publications.