Dr. Cihan Erdal has been awarded a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2026–2028, and will be joining the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies (CDTPS) at the University of Toronto as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Dr. Erdal will undertake a new research project titled “Choreographing Radical Hope: The Arts as Political Response in Nihilistic Times” as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the CDTPS at the University of Toronto, working with Professor Kathleen Gallagher.

Through centering youth-led creative responses, Dr. Erdal’s upcoming multi-sited ethnographic research not only offers new empirical insights but also proposes a theoretical model for examining democratic resilience through artistic-political orientations as radical democratic engagement.

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Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Research Professor Cihan Erdal’s co-authored article, “Breaking the ‘Pact of Silence’: Armenian Youth Activism and Coalition-Building in Contemporary Turkey,” has been published in Displaced Families, Dispersed Memories (Helsinki University Press).

The chapter explores how Armenian youth activism challenges inherited silences and builds solidarities in contemporary Turkey, showing how memory work can become a future-oriented political practice. Closely examining the interplay between memory activism and family memory, this research article highlights the hybridization of Armenian and family identity and the growing influence of transnational family and activist networks. 

You can read the chapter here:

More about the book:

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Kai Jacobsen (Sociology MA 2024) recently published a journal article based on their Master’s research in the International Journal of Transgender Health. The article,  argues that systemic changes to healthcare systems are needed to improve trans autistic people’s experiences of gender-affirming care. Kai received �Ӱ�ԭ��’s Senate Medal for outstanding academic achievement and is currently a CIHR Vanier scholar at UBC.

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Due to the success of Seasonal Sociology (first edition, 2020), the editors Tonya Davidson and Ondine Park developed a second edition. This edition has six new chapters, including chapters on Labour Day, disability and online dating, maple sugar shacks, summer wildfires, and social movements like Pride and Black Lives Matter.

This edition includes chapters by �Ӱ�ԭ�� University Sociology & Anthropology faculty Tonya Davidson (Chapter 17, on summer cottages), Rania Tfaily (Chapter 12 on demography and seasonal births, deaths, marriages and divorces), and SOAN Anthropology PhD alum Emma Bider (Chapter 11 on maple trees, tree-taping, and the myth of the sugar shack). 

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Konstantin Petoukhov—alumnus, contract instructor, and adjunct professor—has published a new book with Routledge titled The Quest for Reparations for Indian Residential School Abuse: Confronting the Legacy of the Independent Assessment Process.

The book critically examines how reparations have been approached for survivors of settler colonial violence in Canada. It takes an in-depth look at the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), the federal compensation program intended to address the harms of the Indian Residential School system—a system designed to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children.

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We are delighted to congratulate Andrew Crosby, a graduate of our Sociology Ph.D. program, on winning the for his book, !

The Canadian Sociology Book Award has been created to honour outstanding publications which advance sociological knowledge as centred on Canadian society or situated in the Canadian context using a sociological approach in research and/or theory.

Andrew’s work explores the pressing issue of housing insecurity in Canada, shedding light on the financial forces driving eviction and the increasing commodification of rental housing.

Congratulations, Andrew! For more information about the award and Andrew’s book, visit

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“Frank Graves will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 9 a.m. ceremony on Friday, June 21, in recognition of a distinguished career in public opinion and policy research and outstanding contributions to research-based policy making.

As the Founder and President of EKOS Research Associates Inc., Graves is one of the country’s leading applied social researchers, directing some of the largest and most challenging social research assignments conducted in Canada. For more than three decades, the firm has held a reputation for creative and rigorous research in the areas of public policy, social policy, and program evaluation, and as a leader in innovative survey techniques and methodology.

His analysis and advice has been sought by senior decision makers in both the private and public sectors, including CEOs of top 100 Canadian companies, the Prime Minister’s Office, federal cabinet, the Clerk of the Privy Council, federal Deputy Ministers, the United States Ambassador to Canada, as well as the Canadian Ambassador to the United States.

Graves has been published widely and is a frequent commentator in Canadian and American media. He has directed numerous public opinion research projects on behalf of CBC, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and La Presse.

Graves is a �Ӱ�ԭ�� alumnus having completed an honours degree in social anthropology (first class honours) and an MA in sociology. He serves on the advisory board of �Ӱ�ԭ��’s Sprott School of Business and is an adjunct research professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He has lectured at the Rotman School of Business, Harvard Kennedy School, University of Ottawa and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Graves is a founding Board Member and Fellow of the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC), a Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI), a Canada Council Doctoral Fellow and Honorary Fellow with the School of Public Policy (University of Calgary).” (�Ӱ�ԭ�� University, 2024).

Reference: �Ӱ�ԭ�� University. (2024). Honorary degree recipients: Francis Graves. Retrieved June 11, 2024, from

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Dr. Emerich Daroya, who graduated with a PhD in Sociology in 2021, has secured a new role as a Lecturer in Gender, Sexuality and Diversity Studies within the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy at La Trobe University in Australia.

Dr. Daroya attributes his education and training at �Ӱ�ԭ�� University as having prepared him for this exciting opportunity. Congratulations on this new career journey, Emerich!

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Congratulations to former Anthropology MA student Anita Agrawal on being an award recipient of the Women’s Executive Network “Top 100- Canada’s Most Powerful Women for 2023”!

Read the article and all about Anita’s amazing accomplishments !

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A big congratulations to former Anthropology MA student Sarah O’Sullivan on her new accomplishments!

Sarah received her MA from �Ӱ�ԭ�� in Anthropology and African Studies in 2014. Her PhD is in Anthropology with a collaborative specialization in Global Health at the University of Toronto. She defended her dissertation titled Stigma Imaginaries: HIV and the Politics of “Developing” in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda in August of 2023. Her work explores HIV stigma and post-conflict development in northern Uganda.

In August of this year Sarah has started as a faculty lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Capilano University. She will be moving to North Vancouver at the end of the year and will begin teaching in January of 2024. Congratulations Sarah!

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