PhDs on the Job Market

Our PhD students receive an excellent training in research and pedagogy, preparing them for careers in top research and teaching universities. While many also choose to pursue careers outside of the academy, on this page, we feature those students currently seeking positions in universities or colleges.


Cinthya Guzman PortraitCinthya Guzman

c.guzman@mail.utoronto.ca
Website

Dissertation Title: Situated Agency and the Unfolding of Emotional Experiences 

Dissertation Committee: Dan Silver, Melissa Milkie, and Ethan Fosse 

Research and Teaching Areas: Theory, Emotions, Gender, Qualitative Methods, Introduction to Sociology 

Statement on Teaching and Research Interests: Cinthya Guzman’s research primarily focuses on the theoretical canonization processes in sociology across English, German, and French contexts, revealing the institutional and cultural influences that shape the discipline. A secondary exploration examines the interplay between emotions and agency, especially the societal implications of boredom, utilizing innovative methodologies to combine real-time observations with qualitative insights. In the classroom, Cinthya teaches various core and substantial areas, including introduction to sociological perspectives, theory, and qualitative methods, as well as courses in gender inequality and special topics in culture and theory. Her emphasis on interactive exercises and experiential learning ensures students actively grasp and apply theoretical concepts. She is the recipient of the University of Toronto’s TA Teaching Excellence Award 2022.  

Publications:  


Jordon Foster Jordan Foster

jordann.foster@mail.utoronto.ca
Website

Dissertation Title: The Rich Kids of Instagram: Tracing Symbolic Wealth and Social Visibility in The Digital Era

Dissertation Committee: Josée Johnston, Shyon Baumann, and David Pettinicchio

Research and Teaching Areas: Cultural sociology, media studies, inequality

Statement on Teaching and Research Interests:  Jordan Foster is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His research lies at the intersection of culture, new media, and inequality with a critical focus on how everyday and taken-for-granted trends reinforce and reproduce inequality. His dissertation project, “The Rich Kids of Instagram,” follows the rise of social media influencers and the industry personnel who surround them to show what forms of content influencers traffic in, the status characteristics that shape their visibility online, and the rewards that follow. Outside of this work, Jordan engages with critical questions related to social media platforms and their democratic and inclusive potentials. Specifically, he investigates what opportunities and challenges these platforms provide to historically marginalized communities and those who embody markers of difference.

Publications:


Marie-Lise Drapeau-Bisson

Marie-Lise Drapeau-Bisson

ml.drapeau.bisson@mail.utoronto.ca
Website
Academia.edu

Dissertation Title: Reading, Evaluating and Commemorating Feminism : Excluding and reviving dynamics in the reception of L'Euguélionne in Québec

Dissertation Committee: Judith Taylor (Chair), Shyon Baumann, Josée Johnston

Research and Teaching Areas: Cultural Sociology, Sociology of Arts, Qualitative Methods, Social Movements Studies, Commemoration Studies, Feminist Studies, Québec Studies.

Statement on Teaching and Research Interests:  My work is motivated by a desire to understand how activists innovate to escape erasure. While activists often rely on a well-worn repertoire of tactics for continuity, they need to transform their repertoires to address new issues and renew mobilization. This tension is at the heart of research projects I have undertaken over the past 10 years: from the pots and pans protests in Montreal, to reproductive justice activists in Northern Ireland, to Québec feminists practicing commemorative work to defy the invisibilisation of the movement’s cultural production.

My work puts in conversation literatures that, despite important consonances, are not in dialogue due to disciplinary or linguistic boundaries. In my teaching, this bridging work broadens students' horizons and helps them develop critical thinking skills. I also help students to develop concrete job market skills through assignments that borrow from various genres, from peer feedback, to letter writing, to project proposals. You can learn more about my current research and teaching interests by visiting my website.

Publications:


Noga KeidarNoga Keidar

Dissertation title: The Making of Urban Knowledge: Ideas, Cities, Gurus

Dissertation committee: Dan Silver (Chair), Mark Fox, John Hannigan

Research and teaching areas: Urban Sociology, Political Socioloy, Sociology of Ideas, Immigration, Race and Ethnicity

In her research, Noga examines what it means for a messy and complex entity like a city to adopt a new idea, and how particular ideas have become ‘must-haves’ for cities. Her different research projects touch upon these issues from different angles, asking, for instance: How do urban models become relevant when placed in a context extremely different from the one in which they were formulated?  How does the ‘same’ idea vary over time and across geographical scales? How have a small group of charismatic urban thinkers established their position as urban ‘gurus’? And how in practice do they connect cities with ideas? Noga examines these questions using multiple qualitative and quantitative methods. Noga is currently an Azrieli postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she also teaches Urban Sociology and works as the Deputy Director and Head of Research of the "Urban Clinic". 

Publications:


James LanniganJames Lannigan

james.lannigan@mail.utoronto.ca
News

Dissertation title: “Discourse and structure: An examination of the organizational identities and networks of contemporary specialty coffee retailers”

Dissertation committee: Bonnie Erickson (supervisor), Clayton Childress, Josée Johnston

Research and teaching areas: Social Research Methods, Sociology of Culture, Social Networks, Urban Sociology

James Lannigan is a PhD candidate enrolled in the Sociology department at the University of Toronto. His current research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of the Sociology of Culture, Social Networks, and Urban Sociology. His dissertation work focuses on the networks of specialty coffee retailers paying close attention to the development of distinct identity-making practices and their contemporary adaptation to challenges in the marketplace from chain competition. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, James has been recently focusing on how this population has adapted their organizational practices to deal with uncertainties facing the niche as a whole.

Publications:


Headshot of Martin LukkMartin Lukk

martin.lukk@mail.utoronto.ca
Website

Dissertation title: The Distributional Question in Contemporary Nationalism

Dissertation committee: Erik Schneiderhan, Geoffrey Wodtke (co-chair, U. Chicago), David Pettinicchio, Vanina Leschziner

Research and teaching areas: Political Sociology, Inequality and Stratification, Social Policy, Health and Illness, Race and Ethnicity

Statement on teaching and research interests: I study the political consequences of economic inequality. The dramatic growth in income and wealth inequality in industrialized countries is among the major social and economic developments of the postwar era. My research examines the individual consequences of this and related transformations in three areas: political identity, voting behavior, and social welfare. I am particularly interested in how income inequality shapes conceptions about legitimate membership in the nation; how attitudes about the nation affect support for radical-right parties; and how novel digital solutions to financing individual health care needs reproduce economic inequality. I study these issues primarily using quantitative analyses of survey data and computational approaches to data collection and analysis. My scholarship contributes to research in multiple areas, including political sociology, inequality and stratification, social policy, health and illness, and race and ethnicity. At the core of my work is an effort to understand how long-term structural changes shape individuals’ political lives in today’s democratic societies, including decisions about how to identify, vote, and get help in times of need. I am author of the forthcoming book GoFailMe: Digital Philanthropy and the Politics of Social Welfare (Stanford University Press, 2023), written with Erik Schneiderhan.


Man Xu (Angela)

manx.xu@mail.utoronto.ca

Website 

Dissertation Title: : Brokering transnational exchange: examining Chinese Muslim’s identity formation and relational labor in the global trade economy

Dissertation Committee: : Patricia Landolt (co-chair), Ping-Chun Hsiung (co-chair), Laura Doering

Research and Teaching Areas: Globalization, Migration, Race and Ethnicity, Economic Sociology, Qualitative Methodology, China Studies

Statement on Teaching and Research Interests:  I study globalization and migration as forces of change that shape social identity, ethnic relations, economic processes, and state governance. My research interprets recent shifts in the global political economy, such as the rise of Global China and the expanding ties within the Global South. My dissertation delves into the experiences of Hui Muslims who work as brokers facilitating trade between China and the Middle East. This project theorizes how the growing trade economy within Asia produces new segment of relational labor, and how ethnic minority people’s brokerage work contributes to shifts in the structure of the global economy. The dissertation brings into dialogue economic sociology, race, ethnicity, and migration studies, to advance the sociology of brokerage.