Dr. Liam Kennedy

Department Chair/Associate Professor

Phone: 4574
Email: lkenne56@uwo.ca

Broadly, my research investigates and challenges social inequalities in the criminal justice system and sporting world. I seek to document how the ways we think, talk about, and practice crime, deviance, and punishment (re)produce power relations, legitimate governance strategies, and exclude large portions of the social body.

Education

• Ph.D. in Sociology – University of Toronto (2015)
• M.A. in Criminology – University of Toronto (2009)
• B.A. with Honours in Criminology – York University (2008)

Teaching

• SOC2256: Sociology of Corrections 
• SOC2266: Crime and Society 
• SOC3379: Crime, Punishment, and Pop Culture
• SOC4409: Seminar in Criminological Theory and Research

Research

Sociology of Punishment; Media Representations of Crime and Deviance; Criminological Theory; Sociology of Sport; Critical Sports Criminology

Selected Publications

Kennedy, Liam and Madelaine Coelho. 2022. Security, Suspicion, and Surveillance? There’s an App for That. Surveillance and Society 20(2): 127-141.

Norman, Mark, Derek Silva, Liam Kennedy, and William Cipolli III. 2022. ‘Essential for the Soul’?: Leisure as a Flashpoint During COVID-19 Lockdowns in Ontario, Canada. Annals of Leisure Research. DOI: 10.1080/11745398.2022.2055586

Kennedy, Liam. 2021. “Whenever There’s Trouble, Just Yelp for Help”: Crime, Conservation, and Corporatization in Paw Patrol. Crime, Media, Culture 17(2): 255-270.

Kennedy, Liam and Derek Silva (equal co-authorship). 2021. ‘Knuckle-Dragging Thugs’: Civilizing Processes and the Biosocial Revolution in the National Hockey League. Crime, Media, Culture. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659019883773

Kennedy, Liam. 2020. Postwar Interpersonal Violence: Reflections and New Research Directions. Aggression and Violent Behavior 53: 101429.

Kennedy, Liam and Derek Silva (equal co-authorship). 2020. “Discipline That Hurts”: Punitive Logics and Governance in Sport. Punishment & Society 22(5): 658-680.

Kennedy, Liam and Madelaine Coelho (equal co-authorship). 2020. ‘Absolutely the Worst Drug I’ve Ever Seen’: Risk, Governance, and the Construction of the Illicit Fentanyl ‘Crisis’. Theoretical Criminology 24(4): 612-632.

Kennedy, Liam, Derek Silva, William Cipolli III, and Madelaine Coelho. 2019. ‘We Are All Broncos’: Hockey, Tragedy, and the Formation of Canadian Identity. Sociology of Sport Journal 36(3): 189-202.

Kennedy, Liam. 2018. ‘Man I’m All Torn Up Inside’: Analyzing Audience Responses to Making a Murderer. Crime, Media, Culture 14(3): 391-408.

Gartner, Rosemary and Liam Kennedy. 2018. War and Postwar Violence. Crime and Justice 47(1): 1-67.

Kennedy, Liam and Jenna Valleriani (equal co-authorship). 2017. ‘Everybody Loves a Redemption Story Around Election Time’: Rob Ford and Media Construction of Substance Misuse and Recovery. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 59(4): 461-497.

Kennedy, Liam. 2017. ‘Today They Kill With The Chair Instead Of The Tree’: Remembering and Forgetting Slavery at a Plantation Prison. Theoretical Criminology 21(2): 133-150.

Kennedy, Liam. 2016. ‘He Must Learn What Being A Man Is All About’: Negotiating the Male Code at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Deviant Behavior 37(2): 151-166.

Kennedy, Liam. 2013. ‘Longtermer Blues’: Penal Politics, Reform, and Carceral Experiences at Angola. Punishment & Society 15(3): 304-322.

Kruttschnitt, Candace, Anja Dirkzwager, and Liam Kennedy. 2013. Strangers in a Strange Land: Recounting the Experiences of a Racialized Group of Foreign National Inmates. British Journal of Sociology 64(3): 478-500.

Richardson, Chris and Liam Kennedy. 2012. “Gang” as Empty Signifier in Contemporary Canadian Newspapers. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 54(4): 443-479.