Current Projects

  • Caribbean Transnational Culture and Carnival
  • Transnational Families and Social Media
  • STEM Women and barriers to tenure and promotion
  • Caribbean immigrants living arrangements and family structures in Canada
  • The second and third generation of Caribbean Canadians
  • Adaptive Capacity networks and forest fires

Research Interests

  • Caribbean Studies
  • Migration and Settlement
  • Race and Ethnic Relations

Brief Vita

Education

  • 1995-1997 Post Doctoral Research Fellowship Oxford Brooks University. Living Arrangements, Family Structure and Social Change of Caribbeans in Britain.
  • 1996 Ph.D. in Sociology, York University, Canada. Thesis title: "The Strategies and Strategizing of University Educated Caribbean-born Men in Canada: A Study of Occupation and Income Achievements". Supervisor: Alan Simmons.
  • 1996 Graduate Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies, York University.
  • 1995 University Teaching Practicum Certificate, York University.
  • 1990 Master of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. Research focus: Social Planning and Policy for Human Settlement Issues in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
  • 1990 Graduate Diploma in Latin America and Caribbean Studies, York University.
  • 1983-1987 Honors B.A. in Sociology and Latin American and Caribbean Studies, York University.

Journal Publications

  • 2019 Plaza, Dwaine & Lauren Plaza "Facebook and WhatsApp as Elements in Transnational Care Chains for the Trinidadian Diaspora" Genealogy, Vol. 3, No. 15 pp 1-22.
  • 2019 Warner, Rebecca & Dwaine Plaza et. al. Advancing women in STEM: institutional transformation. The Lancet Vol 393, No 10171, pp 6-9. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/vol393no10171/PIIS0140-6736(19)X0006-9 Lancet
  • 2014 Plaza, Dwaine “Roti and Doubles as Comfort Foods for the Trinidadian Diaspora in Canada, the United States, and Britain” Social Research: An International Quarterly Vol. 81, No.2, pp. 463-488.
  • 2014 Plaza, Dwaine & Amy Below “Social Media as a Tool for Transnational Caregiving for the Caribbean Diaspora” Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 1 No. 63, pp.25—56
  • 2012 Plaza, Dwaine “Facebook Serving as a Transnational Bridge for Connecting the Trinidadian Disapora Community” Comunidades, Number 2, June 2012, pp. 52-55. www.azores.gov.pt.
  • 2009 Plaza, Dwaine “Transnational Identity Maintenance via the Internet A Content Analysis of the Websites Constructed by Second Generation Caribbean-Origin Students in Post–Secondary Institutions” Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, Volume: 7, Fall 2009, pp. 37-52.
  • 2009 Wahab, Amar & Dwaine Plaza “Queerness in the Transnational Caribbean-Canadian Diaspora” Caribbean Review of Gender Studies Vol 3 Fall 2001 pp 1-39 http://sta.uwi.edu/crgs/november2009/index.asp
  • 2008 Plaza, Dwaine “Transnational Return Migration to the English Speaking Caribbean.” Revue Europeenne des Migrations Internationales. Vol, 24No 1. pp. 115-137.
  • 2007 Plaza, Dwaine “An Examination of Transnational Remittance Practices of Jamaican Canadian Families.” Global Development Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3-4, pp. 217-250.
  • 2007 Gonzales-Berry, Erlinda, Marcella, Mendoza & Dwaine Plaza "Segmented Assimilation of One-and-a Half Generation Mexican Youth in Oregon" Latino(a) Research Review. Vol. 6 No. 1-2 pp. 94-118.
  • 2007 Plaza, Dwaine "Migration Caribbeene et Integration au Canada: a la poursuite du reve d’ascension Sociale (1900-1998)." Terres D’Amerique, Vol 6, pp. 141-157.
  • 2006 Plaza, Dwaine. “The Construction of a Segmented Hybrid Identity Among One and a Half and Second Generation Indo- and African- Caribbean Canadians.” Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research. Vol. 6 (3) 207-230.
  • 2004 Plaza Dwaine. “Disaggregating the Indo and African-Caribbean Migration and Settlement Experience in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Vol. 29, No. 57-58, pp. 241-266.
  • 2004 Robert Thompson, Kurt, Peters & Dwaine Plaza “Learning through Listening: Applying an Action Learning Model to a Cross-Cultural Field Study Experience in Native America,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations. Vol. 28, No. 2 pp 165-180.
  • 2002 Plaza, Dwaine & Kathleen Stanley. “Camaraderie and Hierarchy in College Football: A Content Analysis of Team Photographs.” Sociology of Sport On Line. Volume 5, No. 2. Special Issue, November/December. http://physed.otago.ac.nz/sosol/v5i2/v5i2.html
  • 2000 Plaza, Dwaine, “In Pursuit of the Mobility Dream: Second Generation British/Caribbeans Returning to Jamaica and Barbados,” Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp 135-160.
  • 2002 Kathleen Stanley & Dwaine Plaza, “No Passport Required: An Action Learning Approach to Teaching About Globalization”. The Journal of Teaching Sociology, Vol. 30 No. 1. pp 110-130.
  • 2001 Plaza, Dwaine. “A Socio-Historic Examination of Caribbean Migration to Canada: Moving to the Beat of Changes in Immigration Policy”. Wabaggi Journal of Diaspora Studies , Vol 4, No 1. pp. 39-80.
  • 2000 Carl, James, Dwaine Plaza & Cliff, Jansen, “Issues of Race in the Employment Experiences of Caribbean Women in Toronto,” Canadian Women Studies Journal, Vol 19, No. 3 pp. 129-134.
  • 2000 Plaza, Dwaine. “Transnational Grannies: The Changing Family Responsibility of Elderly African Caribbean-born Women Resident in Britain”. Social Indicators Research Journal, Vol XI, No7, pp. 180-201.
  • 1999 Simmons, Alan & Dwaine Plaza, “Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: The Pursuit of University Training Among Afro-Caribbean Migrants and Their Children in Toronto”. In the Canadian Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vol XXX, No. 3, pp. 99-120.
  • 1995 Mehta, Michael & Dwaine Plaza, "A Content Analysis of Pornographic Images on the Internet". In J. Shallit and H. Lyons (eds.) Free Speech and Privacy in the Information Age, Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier University Press, pp. 246-258.
  • 1992 Alan, Simmons & Dwaine Plaza. "International Migration and Schooling in the Eastern Caribbean". La Educacion: Revista Interamericana De Desarrollo Educativo, Washington: Organization of American States, No. 107, pp. 187-214.

Book Publications

  • 2006 Plaza, Dwaine & Frances Henry. Returning to the Source: The Final Stage of the Caribbean Migration Circuit. Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.
  • 2020 Frances Henry & Dwaine Plaza Caribbean Women In Carnival, University Press of  Mississippi.

Book Chapter Publications

  • 2020 Plaza, Dwaine “Caribbana in Toronto: From Male Dominance to Female Agency” in Henry, Frances (ed.) Caribbean Women In Carnival, University Press of Mississippi.
  • 2020 Plaza, Dwaine & DeCosmo, Jan “The Africanization of Trinidad Carnival: From the Jamet to Bikini, Beads and Feathers” in Henry, Frances (ed.) Caribbean Women In Carnival, University Press of Mississippi.
  • 2018 Bonnie Ruder, Dwaine Plaza & Rebecca Warner & Michelle Bothwell "It’s Just Locker Room Talk:" STEM Women Faculty Experiencing Institutional Betrayal” in Christine Cho (ed) Poison in the Watercooler, Palgrave McMillan.
  • 2014 Plaza, Dwaine “Barrels of Love Barrels of Love: A Study of the Soft Goods Remittance Practices of Transnational Jamaican Households in Klobe, Sinah (ed) Caribbean Food Cultures, Ian Randal Publisher.
  • 2014 Coles, Derron & Plaza, Dwaine “African Americans in STEM” in Brent Steel (ed.), Science and Politics: An A to Z Guide to Issues and Controversies. Los Angeles, CA: Sage/CQ Press.
  • 2010 Plaza, Dwaine “A Content Analysis of Web Pages Constructed by Second-Generation Caribbeans in Andoni Alonso & Pedro Oiazabal (ed) Reading Digital Diasporas: Spaces of Identity, Politics and Technology, Nevada: University of Nevada Press
  • 2009 Plaza, Dwaine & Frances Henry “Transnational Return Migration to the English-Speaking Caribbean” in Elizabeth-Thomas-Hope (ed) Freedom and Constraint in Caribbean Migration and Diaspora, Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, pp. 157-180.
  • 2007 Plaza, Dwaine “Qualitative Research Methods Soc 418/518 Syllabus” in the American Sociological Association 4th edition of the 2007 Teaching Qualitative Methods Compendium.
  • 2007 Gonzales-Berry, Erlinda & Dwaine Plaza. “‘We are tired of cookies and old clothes’: From Poverty Programs to Community Empowerment Among Oregon’s Mexicano Population, 1957-1975.” In Xing, Jun et al. Seeing Color: Indigenous Peoples and Radicalized ethnic Minorities in Oregon, Pp 93-116, Oregon State University Press.
  • 2006 Plaza, Dwaine “Second Generation “Returnee” Migration to Jamaica and Barbados: Pursing Happiness and Mobility.” In Plaza, Dwaine & Frances Henry (ed). Returning to the Source: The Final Stage of the Caribbean Migration Circuit, pp 145-166. Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.
  • 2006 Plaza, Dwaine & Frances Henry “An Overview of Return Migration to the English Speaking Caribbean.” In Plaza, Dwaine & Frances Henry (ed). Returning to the Source: The Final Stage of the Caribbean Migration Circuit, pp 145-166. Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.
  • 2006 Simmons, Alan. & Dwaine, Plaza. “The Caribbean Community in Canada: Transnational Connections and Transformation” in Wong, Lloyd & Vic Satzewich, Negotiating Borders and Belonging: Transnational Identities and Practices in Canada. University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 130-149.
  • 2004 Plaza Dwaine, “Caribbean Migration to Canada: Mobility and Opportunity 1900-2001” In Sandra Courtman (ed) Beyond the Blood, The Beach and the Banana: New Perspectives in Caribbean Studies. Ian Randal Publisher.
  • 2001 Plaza Dwaine. “Race and Ethnic Relations Syllabus 437/537,” American Sociological Association Teaching Guide on Race and Ethnic Relations 2001 Edition. New York: American Sociological Association.
  • 2001 Plaza, Dwaine. “Aging in Babylon: Elderly Caribbeans Living in Great Britain”. In Harry Goulbourne (ed.) Caribbean Families in Britain and the Transatlantic World, London: Macmillian, The University of Warwick Caribbean Studies Series. pp. 219-231.
  • 1999 Plaza, Dwaine. contributing author and (co-editor) (with Mark Edwards) to “Writing Within Sociology: A Guide for Undergraduates”. Oregon State University, Department of Sociology.
  • 1998 Plaza, Dwaine. “Strategies and Strategizing: The Struggles for Upward Mobility Among University Educated Caribbean-Born Men in Canada”. In Mary Chamberlain (ed.) Globalized Identities: New Directions in the Study of Caribbean Migration, London: Routledge, pp. 249-266.
  • 1997 Mehta, Michael, & Dwaine Plaza, "Pornography in cyberspace: An exploration of what's in Usenet". In Sarah. Kiesler (ed.), Culture of the Internet, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 53-67.
  • 1995 Plaza Dwaine, "Foodbanks in the New International Division of Labor: An Examination of the "New" Clients at the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto". In Ioan, Davies & Paul Anisef (eds.) Contested Boundaries/ Different Sociologies, York University, North York: Institute for Social Research, pp. 453-472.
  • 1990 Plaza Dwaine. An Examination of Low Income Housing and Disaster Preparedness in Select Commonwealth Caribbean Countries: Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica and St. Lucia, Ottawa: CIDA Publications.
  • 1989 Plaza, Dwaine with David, Morley and Paul, Wilkinson. The Barbados Micro-Computer Database, Barbados. Electronic database formatted for regional distribution.
  • 1988 Plaza D. Low Income Housing Options In Jamaica, Toronto: Faculty of Environmental Studies International News Letter, Vol. 3, No 5, pp.25-35.

Research Awards

  • 2019 Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS). Toward a theory of adaptive capacity in coupled human and natural systems. (Funded 1.4 million for four years).
  • 2015 NSF EAGER project: Understanding the confluence: social identities and engineering education and practice. (Funded at $300,000 for two years).
  • 2014 Advance Grant National Science Foundation—Campus climate for women in STEM/SBS fields. (Funded at 3.2 Million for five years).