Research Themes

Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah was recently featured in an opinion piece in The Toronto Star by columnist Shree Paradkar. The story discusses a new report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) detailing how Toronto Police are more likely to criminalize and use violence during encounters with Black people. The article Are we OK living in … Read More

Professor Scott Schieman wrote an article in The Toronto Star, with University of Toronto undergraduate student Ryu Won Kang. The article The distracted worker is the greatest perceived threat to employers despite all the benefits of working from home looks at employers’ concerns of increased distractions experienced by employees while working from home.  To some employers, … Read More

Professor Scott Schieman recently spoke with Piya Chattopadhyay on her new show The Sunday Magazine on CBC Radio about how the covid-19 pandemic has impacted our lives and society as a whole. Professor Schieman outlines an array of challenges Canadians face with regards to parenthood, gender disparities, the socio-economic divide, and the effects of loneliness on … Read More

Jordan Foster’s new blog looks at how the pandemic has affected fashion influencers and the fashion industry more broadly. At present, influencers and the brands they work with face a number of challenges related to the pandemic  including obstacles related to travel and limitations surrounding advertising budgets. But influencers are responding to these challenges with significant … Read More

Brewing Resistance: Indian Coffee House and the Emergency in Postcolonial India (Cambridge University Press, 2020) uncovers the little known story of the movement against the Emergency as seen through New Delhi’s Indian Coffee House based on new archival evidence and oral histories with the men who led the movement against the Emergency. Created by British plantation owners to … Read More

Dr.Cynthia Cranford is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Professor Cynthia Cranford studies inequalities of gender, work and migration, and collective efforts to resist them.. Dr. Cranford includes a brief description of the book in the biography listed on her contact page:   Dr. Cranford’s book, Home Care Fault Lines: Understanding Tensions … Read More

Congratulations to Phd student Eduardo Gutierrez Cornelius, who recently learned that he was awarded one of the 2020 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships! Vanier Canada Scholarships are among the most prestigious scholarships available to graduate students studying in Canadian institutions. Vanier scholars are chosen based on their academic excellence, research potential and leadership potential and demonstrated … Read More

Professor Emine Fidan Elcioglu’s newly published book, Divided by the Wall: Progressive and Conservative Immigration Politics at the U.S.-Mexico Border (University of California Press) tells the story of why ordinary Americans join volunteer organizations to either help undocumented immigrants or aid immigration enforcement. Based on twenty months of immersive ethnography, Divided by the Wall mines … Read More

Professor Tahseen Shams’ newly published book, “Here, There, and Elsewhere: The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World,” looks at how immigrants’ lives are both influenced and influence the societies of their origin, their destination, as well as societies elsewhere in an interconnected global community.  The book draws from the South Asian Muslim American … Read More

Congratulations to Professor Tahseen Shams who recently received a 2020-2021 Bissell-Heyd Research Fellowship for the Centre for the Study of the United States at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. The goal of her research is to examine and elaborate on the impacts of racial and social injustice, drawing from immigrants’ experiences … Read More

Professor Melissa Milkie recently co-wrote an article in The Conversation discussing the shift in housework amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her co-investigators have found that fathers have begun to do a greater share of the housework and complete more parental tasks at home than they had done before the pandemic. Professor Melissa Milkie is … Read More

Professor David Pettinicchio recently co-wrote an op-ed in The Toronto Star discussing the negative impacts wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadians with disabilities and long-term chronic health conditions.  Although most people with disabilities and chronic health conditions who applied for the CERB found the process accessible, they expressed anxieties about what will happen in the … Read More

Professor Sida Liu recently spoke to UTM News regarding the case of two Canadians facing espionage charges in China. Professor Liu is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, with teaching responsibilities on the UT Mississauga (UTM) campus. He is a faculty fellow at the American Bar Foundation. He is also an … Read More

Professor Jennifer Adese recently spoke to U of T News on the importance of raising awareness of Métis women and their stories within a Canadian context. Professor Adese explains that it is crucial to look into the historical accounts of Métis girls and women, examining the reasons why Métis, as a whole, were mistreated and … Read More

Professor Julius Haag recently responded to a specific tweet on Twitter from Jamil Jivani. This tweet response, along with several other ones, including one by professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, was picked up by CBC news. In his response to the tweet from Jamil Jivani, Professor Haag mentions the dangers of inappropriately labelling marginalized and criminalized people … Read More

Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah recently spoke to CBC News on limiting unnecessary interactions between the public and the police force. Professor Owusu-Bempah says that this is an important step to take because some of these unnecessary interactions have resulted in violence. Professor Owusu-Bempah explains that other agencies may be more suitable to complete some of the … Read More

Congratulations to postdoctoral researcher Daniela Russ who recently received the IEEE Fellowship in the History of Electrical and Computing Technology for her project “Computers, Optimal Planning, and the Science of Energetics in the Soviet Union (1951-1982)“. In this part of her post-doctoral project, Russ asks how cybernetic methods and computing technology enabled engineers to find … Read More

PhD candidate Cinthya Guzman recently published an article in Contexts Magazine on routine disruption amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Her previous research focused on ways in which contexts shape routinization regarding the lives of 100 Canadians. Following up with her research participants, PhD candidate Cinthya’s work now also examines the impact of routine changes wrought by COVID-19. … Read More

Professor Nicholas Spence recently received a Connaught New Researcher Award for his project, “The Impact of Social Context (Income Inequality) on Health Among Indigenous Peoples in Canada.”  The project begins with the understanding that for some Indigenous Peoples in Canada the standard of living is comparable in many respects to that of developing countries but … Read More

Professor Ellen Berrey’s newly SSHRC-funded research project, “Student Protests and University Responses in the United States and Canada, 2012-2018,” with Dr. Alex Hanna (Google, Inc.) examines where, when, why, and how students protest and how university administrations respond. Her goal is to identify patterns in protest mobilization, the diffusion (or spread) of protest, and universities’ … Read More