Sofia Locklear

Dr. Sofia Locklear is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and is 3rd generation Ukrainian from Kenora, Ontario. She graduated with her PhD in Sociology from the University of New Mexico in 2021 and was a recipient of the American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship Program in 2020-2021 (MFP Cohort 47). Her research more broadly studies the racialization of Indigenous people in North America. This includes but is not limited to white identify formation, health and education outcomes for Indigenous people, as well as applied Indigenous Evaluation in the field of public health. Theoretically, her work draws upon and extends established literature on racial formation, critical whiteness studies, critical race theory, and critical Indigenous studies. Methodologically, she gathers and analyzes qualitative data as it illuminates the complexities of inequity. Yet, she is also interested in the numerical outcomes that manifest for Indigenous people, and if she must will conduct quantitative data analyses to complement the qualitative work. Funded through the National Science Foundation, Sofia and her collogue Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, are currently working on a National Science Foundation funded project on the housing experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native people living in urban settings across the United States.

Recent Publications

Locklear, S., Hesketh, M., Begay N., Brixey, J., Echo-Hawk A,. and James, R. (2023) “Reclaiming our Narratives: An Indigenous Evaluation Framework for Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Communities”. The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation. 38(1):8-26.

Korver-Glenn, E., Locklear, S., Howell, J., and Whitehead E. (2023). “Displaced and unsafe: The legacy of settler-colonial racial capitalism in the U.S. Rental Market”. Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and the City 4(2):113-134.