Dr. J. Adam Perry is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work explores migration, precarious labour, and emancipatory adult education through qualitative, participatory, and arts-based methods. With a focus on rural and transnational contexts, Dr. Perry’s research critically examines Canada’s labour migration regimes, youth engagement, and community-based learning. He is the author of over 19 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Adult Education Quarterly, and >Agriculture and Human Values. Dr. Perry has led multiple SSHRC-funded projects, including Insight and Insight Development Grants, and collaborates widely with academic and community partners. His scholarship contributes to conversations in critical migration studies, adult education, and qualitative methodology, with a commitment to holistic and participatory approaches. Dr. Perry is committed to fostering inclusive and collaborative research practices that engage directly with youth, migrant communities, and rural stakeholders in the co-production of knowledge.
He has three projects that he is currently working on:
- I am a member of the Coalition for National Housing Standards for Migrant Agricultural Workers (CoNaMi). We have recently published a guidance document authored by 29 researchers, advocates, and clinicians working closely with migrant farm workers across Canada. As a part of this initiative, I have co-written an article for The Conversation Canada.
- In collaboration with researchers from StFX, the University of New Brunswick, and Dalhousie, along with several community-based collaborators from Northeastern Nova Scotia, I am leading a SSHRC Insight Grant project. This research explores how community-based adult education can engage broader and more diverse groups in an action-oriented dialogue that builds solidarity and shard purpose around the future of rural communities.
- In collaboration with researchers from StFX and MSVU, I am also leading a SSHRC Insight Development Grant project. This study seeks to better to better understand the outcomes of English as an Additional Language (EAL) instruction for recent adult immigrants and refugees to Nova Scotia. We are particularly interested in how language training affects their transitions to work and socio-cultural integration in a region with historically low levels of immigration.
Publications
Edited Special Issues
Perry, J. A., & Gesualdi-Fecteau, D. (2021). Contending with precarity, temporariness and life aspirations in the context of international labour migration. International Migration, 59(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12835.
Refereed Journal Articles
(student authors underlined)
Perry, J. A. & Nicholson, L. (2025). “It’s a reward for good performance”: Exploring the role of employer-employee relationships in Canada’s two-step economic immigration system. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 51(5), 1431-1447. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2360110.
Perry, J. A., & Bethune, L. R. (2024). ‘Decolonizing’ citizenship learning with international students: Exploring the possibilities through photovoice. Journal of International Students, 14(1), 97-118. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v14i1.5125.
Beaudry, J. L., & Perry, J. A. (2023). Leveling up: Toward decolonizing apprenticeship learning. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 75(2), 219-237. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2020.1833077
April, J., & Perry, J. A. (2023). When the path falls away: Learning to live well with food hypersensitivities. Journal of Critical Dietetics, 6(3), 71-93. https://doi.org/10.32920/cd.v6i3.1629.
McDonald, S., & Perry, J. A. (2023). Franklian existentialism and transformative learning: Unlikely co-captains for uncertain times. Advance Online Publication. Journal of Transformative Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/15413446231152853.
Perry, J. A. (2022). Situated learning and transnational labour migration: The case of Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. Adult Education Quarterly, 72(4), 422-438. http://doi.org/10.1177/07417136221095480.
Perry, J. A. (2021). ‘When my home is your business’: Transforming stories of housing in a post-industrial city. Studies in the Education of Adults, 53(2), 204-219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2021.1879453.
Perry, J. A. (2021). Frenzied synchronicities: Reworking the rhythms of international labour migration. Applied Mobilities, 6(2), 169-183. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23800127.2020.1811452.
Perry, J. A., & Scott, D. (2021). Car consumption among recent immigrants and refugees to rural Nova Scotia: An exploratory study. Journal of Rural and Community Development, 16(2), 120-136.
Perry, J. A. (2021). The negotiation of new family formation post-migration among low-wage migrant workers: The case of Canada. International Migration, 59(2), 41-56. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12698.
Perry, J. A. (2020). ‘Escaping’ managed labour migration: Worker exit as precarious migrant agency. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 27(4), 423-441. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2019.1589157.
Perry, J. A., Berlingieri, A., & Mirchandani, K. (2020). Precarious work, harassment, and the erosion of employment standards. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, 15(3), 331-348. https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-02-2019-1735.
Perry, J. A. (2019). Images of work, images of defiance: Engaging migrant farm worker voice through community-based arts. Agriculture and Human Values, 36(3), 627-640. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-9861-9.
Perry, J. A. (2018). Living at work and intra-worker sociality among migrant farm workers in Canada. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 19(4), 1021-1036. https://doi.org/10.1007/s1213.
Mirchandani, K., Vosko, L. F., Soni-Sinha, U., Perry, J. A., Noack, A. M., Hall, R., & Gellatly, M. (2018). Methodological k/nots: Designing research on the enforcement of labour standards. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 12(2), 133-147. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689816651793.
Perry, J. A. (2018). Play-making with migrant farm workers in Ontario, Canada: A kinesthetic and embodied approach to qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 18 (6), 689-705. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794117743463.
Perry, J. A. (2012). A silent revolution: Image Theatre as a system of decolonization. Research in Drama Education, 17(1), 103-119. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2012.648991.
Perry, J. A. (2012). Barely legal: Racism and migrant farm labour in the context of Canadian multiculturalism. Citizenship Studies, 16(2), 189-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2012.667611.
Gellatly, M, Grundy, J., Mirchandani, K., Perry, J. A., Thomas, M. P., & Vosko, L. F. (2011). ‘Modernizing’ Employment Standards? Administrative efficiency, market regulation, and the production of the illegitimate claimant in Ontario, Canada. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 22(2), 81-106. https://doi.org/10.1177/103530461102200205.
Book Chapters
Perry, J. A. (2022). Images of work, images of defiance: Engaging migrant farm worker voice through community-based arts. In C. Anderson, R. Binimelis Adell, M. P. Pimbert, M. Rivera Ferre (Eds.), Critical adult education in food movements (pp. 107-120). Springer Cham. (Reprinted from “Images of work, images of defiance: Engaging migrant farm worker voice through community-based arts,” 2019, Agriculture and Human Values, 36[3], 627-640, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-9861-9.
Perry, J. A. (2013). Living and learning through solidarity and struggle: Assessing the informal learning of Frontier College labourer-teachers. In D. Schugurensky, F. Duguid, & K. Mundel (Eds.), We know more than we can tell: Volunteer work, informal learning and social action (pp. 79-100). Sense Publishers.