Past Events

The Roaring Engine: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Politics of motor vehicle noise in the city. Presented by Jan Doering (Sociology, University of Toronto) Cities across Western countries are seeing frowing levels of contention over noise from modified cars and motorcylces. This project uses the case of motor vehicle noise to examine the city as a realm of sensory experience, expression, and conflict.

"You can't take it to heart': Responses to Racialization and Othering in a New Immigration Context Prof. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky (Masaryk University)

SOAN Seminar Series "What AI Can't Do: Interpretive Social Science and the Critique of Large Language Models" Dr. Fuyuki Kurasawa, York University

Dr. Naomi Lightman - Associate Professor at TMU Abstract: Research confirms that care work, both paid and unpaid, is socially and economically undervalued and exacts physical tolls on the provider. But is care work associated with reduced psychological wellbeing? This question will be examined using cross-national quantitative data and examining the potential intervening role of social expenditure. Differences tied to both the recipient of care (adults vs. children) and the occupational status of the worker will be addressed.

Dr. Jarrett Rose– Asst Prof at SUNY The Sociology of Psychedelic Culture, Science and Therapy

Dr. An Kosurko - MITACS Postdoctoral Fellow "Mediating dance instructions in hybrid online face-to-face settings for people living with dementia" Abstract: This presentation shares the results of a PhD dissertation that respecifies social inclusion in practical action for people living with dementia in online dance classes. The focus is on the novelty of the ethnomethodological approach using multimodal  conversation analysis and the implications of using technology in arts-based research and activities.

Title: Racialized Disinvestment and Displacement in Toronto

 The SOAN Society is hosting its annual SOAN career panel this Monday March 3rd, 5:30 - 7pm You don't have to be a student to attend. Please come if you are interested in hearing from sociology and anthropology graduates at different career stages about their work experiences and career paths.

Canada is currently experiencing a housing affordability crisis. Over the past few decades, housing prices have risen at double the income growth rate, with rental prices increasing by 10% annually. More than one-fifth of families face unmet housing needs. One of the most vulnerable groups identified in this crisis is immigrants, particularly those from racial minority backgrounds. In this presentation, I first document variations in the risk of living in unaffordable housing for immigrant families according to their race/ethnicity and nativity status.

This talk will focus on the cultural and symbolic aspects of making foods into “superfoods” within the context of a neoliberal and global agri-food regime. It will first consider consumption-side approaches to explaining superfoods. Then, using the case of Turkey’s avocado producers, it will point towards the need to place consumers and producers on equal cultural footing, across the global North/South divide, for a more complete understanding of how and why superfoods emerge as a 21stcentury phenomenon.