Clark Banack, PhD
Contact
Assistant Professor, Augustana - Social Sciences
- csbanack@ualberta.ca
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Rural Issues; Canadian and Alberta Politics; Populism; Religion and Politics
About
Education:
PhD (Political Science) University of British Columbia (2012)
MA (Political Science) University of British Columbia (2005)
BA (Honours) St. Francis Xavier University (2003)
Recent Academic Grants and Awards:
Alberta Real Estate Foundation Grant, 2025-26 ($149 830). “Addressing the Issue of Under-utilized Commercial Real Estate in Rural Alberta,” Primary Investigator
Alberta Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, 2025 ($102 280). "Policy Responses to Assist with Farm Succession Planning in Alberta," Primary Investigator
SSHRC Insight Grant, 2023 – 2027 ($338 337). "Pathways to Energy Democracy in Canada,” Co-Investigator (PI: Dr. John Parkins, Alberta)
2022: Awarded the John McMenemy Prize for authoring the best article published in the Canadian Journal of Political Science in 2021.
SSHRC Insight Development Grant, 2022-24 ($74 594). “Understanding Social and Political Attitudes in Rural Canada via Ethnography.” Primary Investigator
Alberta Real Estate Foundation Grant, 2022-23 ($59 920). “Innovative Local Co-operatives and Rural Development in Alberta.” Primary Investigator
KIAS Team Research Grant, 2022-2023 ($6940). “Exploring the Mental Health of Men’s Sheds in Rural Alberta.” Co- Primary Investigator
University of Alberta SIG Grant, 2022-23 ($5250). “Exploring the Economic Development Potential of Dark Sky Tourism for Rural Alberta." Primary Investigator
University of Alberta – University of Sheffield Seed Grant Program, 2022-23 ($25 000). “Mobilising Knowledge for Cooperative Energy Success: Comparative Case Studies in Alberta and England.” Co-Investigator (PI: Dr. John Parkins, Alberta)
SSHRC Insight Development Grant, 2021-24 ($66 050). “Neoliberalism and the Rural Populist Project.” Co-Investigator (PI: Dr. Lars Hallstrom, Leth)
University of Alberta KIAS Cluster Grant, 2022 – 2024, ($60 000). "Understanding Barriers - Canadian Map of Language Attitudes.” Collaborator (PI: Dr. Juhani Jarvikivi, Alberta)
University of Alberta SIG Grant, 2021-22 ($5000). “Designing/Testing Anti-Racism Programming in Rural Communities.” Primary Investigator
Government of Alberta Anti-Racism Grant, 2019-2020 ($25 000). “Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Alberta.” Primary Investigator.
SSHRC Insight Grant, 2016 – 2021 ($215 356). “The Politics of School Choice.” Co-Investigator (PI: Dr. Linda White, Toronto)
Research
Books:
Banack, Clark and Jim Farney, Faith, Rights, and Choice: The Politics of Religious Schools in Canada, University of Toronto Press, 2023.
Banack, Clark, and Dionne Pohler, eds. Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada, University of Alberta Press, 2023.
Banack, Clark. God’s Province: Evangelical Christianity, Political Thought, and Conservatism in Alberta, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2016.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:
Banack, Clark, "Resource Revenue, Political Volatility, and Alberta’s Evolving Party System," Canadian Political Science Review, forthcoming in 2025
Banack, Clark, and Glen Hvenegaard. "Dark Sky Tourism and Rural Development: Lessons From The Jasper Dark Sky Festival." Journal of Rural and Community Development, 20 (1), 2025, DOI: https://doi.org/10.63315/jrcd.v20i1.2541
Hvenegaard, Glen and Clark Banack. "Visitor outcomes from dark sky tourism: a case study of the Jasper Dark Sky Festival." Journal of Ecotourism, DOI:10.1080/14724049.2024.2320698
Banack, Clark, “Ethnography and Political Opinion: Identity, Alienation, and Anti-Establishmentarianism in Rural Alberta,” Canadian Journal of Political Science, 54 (1), 1-22, 2021.
Banack, Clark. “The Covid-19 Pandemic and Social Cohesion in Rural Canadian Communities: Letter-to-the-Editor Forums as a Window into Community Discord,” Journal of Rural and Community Development, 16(4), 1-26, 2021.
Banack, Clark. “Rural Identity in an Urban Canada: Minority Rights for Agrarian Communities?” American Review of Canadian Studies, 51 (4), 2021.
Banack, Clark. “Understanding the Influence of Faith-based Organizations on Education Policy in Alberta,” Canadian Journal of Political Science, 48:4 (December 2015), 933-959.
Banack, Clark, “Evangelical Christianity and Political Thought in Alberta,” Journal of Canadian Studies, 48:2 (Spring 2014), 70-99.
Peer- Reviewed Book Chapters:
Banack, Clark, "Western Conservatism and the Challenges of “Wexit” and Resentment-based Populism,” in C. Smith and T. McIntosh ed., The New Politics of Western Canada: Contested Histories, Uncertain Futures, University of British Columbia Press, forthcoming in 2025.
Banack, Clark, "The Rural-Urban Divide in Canadian Politics," in R. Koop and T. Small ed., Elections in Canada: People, Players and Processes, University of Toronto Press, forthcoming in 2025.
Banack, Clark, “Understanding Rural Attitudes Toward Cultural and Religious Minorities via Political Ethnography: The Case of Rural Alberta,” in C. Banack and D. Pohler ed. Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada, (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2023).
Banack, Clark and Dionne Pohler, “Introduction: Thinking about Inclusivity in Rural Canada,” in C. Banack and D. Pohler ed. Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada, (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2023).
Banack, Clark and Dionne Pohler, “Conclusion: Toward Inclusive Rural Communities,” in C. Banack and D. Pohler ed. Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada, (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2023).
Banack, Clark, “The Premiership of Alison Redford,” in Sylvia Bashevkin ed., Doing Politics Differently? Women Premiers in Canada's Provinces and Territories, (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2019), 225-249.
Banack, Clark. “‘Government for the People, Not by the People.’ Populism and Parliamentary Governance under Stephen Harper,” In T. Healy and S. Trew ed., The Harper Record 2008-2015, (Ottawa: Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives, 2015).
Banack, Clark, “Conservative Christianity, Anti-Statism and Alberta’s Public Sphere: The Curious Case of Bill 44,” in S. Lefebvre and L. Beaman ed., Religion in the Public Sphere: Canadian Case Studies, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014), 257-274.
Banack, Clark, “American Protestantism and the Roots of ‘Populist Conservatism’ in Alberta,” in J. Farney and D. Rayside ed., Conservatism in Canada, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013).
Courses
AUPOL 103 - Introduction to Global and Political Studies
Introduction to the ideas and key concepts that comprise the vocabulary of global and political studies. The course considers such ideas as democracy, order, power, authority, justice, freedom, development, globalization and equality.
AUPOL 357 - Selected Topics in Comparative Politics
Advanced study of a particular dimension of comparative politics. Topics may vary from year to year, depending on instructor and student interest. Prerequisite: AUPOL 103.