Current MA Students

Zuhal Akay

Zuhal entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2022.

Supervisor: Lindsey Freeman

Samuella Appiah

Areas of study: women, gender abuse, labour migration, occupation and labour markets, social inequality, poverty and societal violence in Ghana

Samuella entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021. She received her Bachelor’s in Business Studies from Lancaster University. Although from a very different academic background, the study of sociology to Samuella is the quintessence of truly understanding the drastic differences and nuances of the world, thus her yearn to study with the hopes of contributing to creating a better world. Samuella's proposed research will explore the socio-economic differences facing the 'Kayaei' (younger women and oftentimes unskilled migrants from rural northern Ghana who serve as head porters in major market centres in the south).

Co-Supervisors: Maureen Kihika and Kendra Strauss

Gabriela Arana

Areas of study: psychiatric ideologies and sociology of mental illness, mental health

Gabriela entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2019. She completed her BA with a major in psychology and minor in sociology at the University of Alberta.

She is interested in exploring the idea of mental illness through a sociological lens, as opposed to a psychological one. This allows her to explore issues of governmentality and dominant Western ideology within the mental health care system. 

Supervisor: Dany Lacombe

Regina Baeza-Martinez

Regina entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023.

Supervisor: Evelyn Encalada Grez

Mary Berger

Mary entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023.

Supervisor: Barbara Mitchell

 Liv Bing

Liv entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023.

Supervisor: Wendy Chan

Rincy Dominic Calamba

Rincy entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021. She has a BA in Interdisciplinary American Studies at the University of Tübingen in Germany and a BA in International Studies major in American Studies, with a minor in Sociology from the Ateneo de Davao University in the Philippines. Her research interests are on temporary migrant labor issues and the experiences of migrant families in Canada with regards to race, gender, and citizenship issues. Other interests include: Filipino studies, Filipino diaspora and integration, sexuality and transnational movement.

Co-Supervisors: Evelyn Encalada Grez and Cindy Patton 

William Grayer

William entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023.

Ramy Habib

Areas of study: masculinities, gender socialization, social roles and identities, and social change

Ramy entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021. Prior to that, he completed a BA in English Language and Literature in Damascus University, Syria. Although from a different academic background, Ramy’s interest in sociology stems from his three years of work on gender, legislations and policies related to gender equality, and gender-based violence with the United Nations in Syria. His research interest is in masculinities and how specific conceptions of masculinities are developed, maintained, and/or challenged. Also of interest is the shifting roles and responsibilities between men and women in the wake of the Syrian crisis, the relationships between those changes and emerging forms of masculinities, and the influence of globalization and UN intervention on masculine identities in the Syrian context.

Co-Supervisors: Cindy Patton and Amanda Watson

Yujin Kim

Areas of study: Korean diasporas, return migration, transnational movements, memoir, affect theory

Yujin had completed her BA in Education and Culture from Doshisha University in Japan (Honours, summa cum laude). In her undergraduate thesis, Yujin researched Zainichi, Korean diasporas, and descendants in Japan, not only in the Japanese-Korean context but also in transitional perspectives. In line with this, Yujin is interested in exploring individuals' transnational experiences and life histories by analyzing Korean migrants' memoirs published in Japan, the US, and Canada.

Supervisor: Cindy Patton

Committee member: Barbara Mitchell

Grace Kwan

Grace Kwan entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2020. Grace is an author and editor who received her BA in Sociology and Professional Writing from the University of Toronto in 2020. Her graduate research undertakes migrant labour, precariousness, and racial capitalism. She's interested in how the workings of capitalism—along with middle class aspirations, tastes, and social and symbolic boundaries—inform the deepening precariousness of racialized workers engaged in migrant labour in North America.

Read Grace's student profile by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies here.

Supervisor: Kendra Strauss

Sarah Law (袁文)

Areas of study: ecological grief, neoliberalism, climate justice, power and violence, political economy, politics of softness, cultures of capitalism

Sarah entered the Sociology MA program in the Fall of 2022. She graduated from SFU with her BA in Sociology (Honours) and a Certificate in Social Justice. Her undergraduate honours thesis research presented ecological grief as an embodied social practice that mourns environmental losses, hopes for the future, and deeply held beliefs about our socio-political realities. She is interested in further exploring the relationships between the climate crisis and ecological grief with cultures of capitalism and neoliberal identity politics.

Supervisor: Kyle Willmott
Committee member: Amanda Watson

You can read more about Sarah’s honours thesis here and her community engagement work here.

Geri Lee

Geri completed a joint degree in Sociology and Anthropology from SFU in October 2022 and entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023. Her research interests include sex work, Indigenous women in Canada, labour precarity, and perceptions of the self and the body in relation to labour. Her proposed thesis topic explores the lived experiences of online sex workers who pivoted to the industry during COVID-19 lockdown periods, with a specific focus on the social and economic stigma-related barriers they face when transitioning to a non-sex-work related industry following the lifting of pandemic policies

Supervisor: Maureen Kihika
Committee member: Dany Lacombe

Steffanie Ling

Areas of study: land dispossession and cultural labour, heterodox Marxism, solidarity studies, political economy

Steffanie entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021. She graduated with a BFA in Critical and Cultural Practices with a minor in Curatorial Studies from Emily Carr University. Her research project will undertake a workers’ inquiry surveying the labour conditions of art workers in connection to toxic philanthropy and extractive industries in the non-profit cultural sector. 

She currently works as a research assistant in Labour Studies and School of Communications on projects related to precarity, migrant labour, and essential work. 

Sometimes, she publishes art criticism and organizes the occasional film screening. Her books are NASCAR (Blank Cheque, 2016) and MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (House House Press, 2022). For fun, she studies Japanese, practices basketball, and organizes study groups on Discord. 

Supervisor: Kendra Strauss
Committee member: Kyle Willmott

Student Profile

Molly MacKay

Areas of study: Eco-tourism, environmental theology, conservation ethics and policy, Indigenous land rights and relations

Molly completed a BEnv in Resource and Environmental Management and a BA in World Languages and Literature at SFU in 2023 and entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023. Her thesis will focus on conservation politics and the ramifications of eco-tourism in East Africa. Molly will be predominantly conducting research on Chyulu Hills National Park in southeastern Kenya. 
In her free time, Molly is either reading or walking her husky. 

Supervisor: Yildiz Atasoy

Asli Ozer

Areas of study: violence against women, intimate partner violence, help-seeking behaviours, COVID-19 pandemic-related issues

Asli Ozer entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021 after receiving her BA in Sociology and Psychology from the University of British Columbia. Asli’s research focuses on how Turkish women seek help when they experience intimate partner violence before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research will further explore how Turkey’s political and cultural context impact Turkish women’s experiences with help-seeking.

Supervisor: Barbara Mitchell
Committee member: Yildiz Atasoy

Kevin Park

Areas of study: critical race theory, race and ethnicity, quantitative methods, racial health disparities

Kevin entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2020. He completed a BA in Sociology at Simon Fraser University in 2018. 

Supervisor: Travers

Noah Sim

Noah entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023.

Supervisor: Amanda Watson

Karlie Tessmer

Areas of study: social housing, families, welfare, and feminist studies

Karlie entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021. Prior to that, Karlie completed a joint BA (Honours with Distinction) in Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University, 2020. Her previous research examined relationship formation and categorization in professional kitchen settings. Her current research explores the ways social housing agencies subjugate women and children on behalf of the Canadian State. She is particularly interested in the interaction between agency staff and women living in social housing as a point of resistance to State subjectification and dominance.

Karlie recently worked as a research assistant in the Sociology & Anthropology department on projects related to imagined kinship, parent feelings, New Westminster heritage and commemorative practices (in collaboration with the City of New Westminster), and Inuit housing.

She has frequently collaborated with authors on their published works and contributed to blogs and newsletters disseminating research findings. In her spare time, she likes to read fantasy novels, watch Peaky Blinders with her partner, and spend time with her family on the weekends.

Supervisor: Pamela Stern
Committee member: Amanda Watson

Pavel Vlasov

Pavel entered the MA program in Sociology in Fall 2023. Prior to that, Pavel had received an Associate Degree from Douglas colledge and transitioned to complete a BA at SFU in 2022. While pursuing his Masters degree, Pavel is also working as a teaching assistant for the department.

Pavel's research consists of analyzing a number of sociologically inclined theoretical perspectives on the collapse of the Soviet Union in an attempt to provide clarity on the topic.

Outside of his studies he enjoys playing the piano, violin, camping, and cooking.

Supervisor: Gary Teeple

Isabella Wang

Areas of study: autotheory, contemporary poetry and poetics, experimental forms, queer activism, health policy, precarity and harm reduction for homeless youths, resistance and rebellion

Isabella the author of two poetry collections, On Forgetting a Language (Baseline Press, 2019), and Pebble Swing (Nightwood Editions, 2021)—shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. In the Canadian literary community, she is an editor with Room magazine, a bookseller with Massy Books, web coordinator with poetry in canada, program advisory consultant and mentor with the UBC Learner's Exchange, and directs her own non-profit writing program, 4827 Revise Revision St., which offers career consultations and mentorship services for at-risk youths free-of-charge. In her MA, Isabella hopes to develop Choreography of Forgetting, an experimental poetry manuscript that teases out the stories contained in the strokes of Chinese calligraphy, and explores the ‘forgotten’ when China, during the Great Leap Forward, made its full transition from traditional to simplified characters.

In her undergrad, Isabella worked as the department dog sitter for SFU English.

Supervisor: Lindsey Freeman

Committee members: Stephen Collis and Amanda Watson

Samantha Wong

Samantha entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2022.

Supervisor: Kyle Willmott

Ying (Winnie) Zhang

Areas of study: comparative education systems, education reform in China, class mobility of education

Winnie entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2022. She finished her BA in Sociology in the summer of 2022.

Supervisor: Cindy Patton

Paloma Bhattacharjee

Paloma entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2021.

Supervisor: Cristina Moretti

Ty Bryant

Areas of study: Diaspora studies; identity; Indigenous-Asian relationalities; anthropology of becoming; Taiwan

Ty is a citizen of We Wai Kai First Nation. He entered the MA program in Anthropology in Fall 2023. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (First Class with Distinction) at Simon Fraser University. Ty's upcoming MA thesis, "Making a Home in Vancouver: Taiwanese Reckonings With Settler Colonialism," will explore the unique settlerhood and positionality of the local Taiwanese diaspora, and how such a positonality intersects with identity formation, homemaking practices, and relationalities with Indigeneity on unceded territories.

Supervisor: Michael Hathaway

Committee members: Kyle Willmott and May Farrales

Yueming Chen

Yueming entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2019.

Supervisor: Jie Yang

Vivi Wei Cong

Vivi entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2021 after completing her BA at the University of British Columbia in May 2021. Her thesis focuses on discussing the influences brought by the contemporary beauty anxiety experienced in China and how this social phenomenon contributes to the Chinese beauty economy sector. Moreover, she also explores more about how the Chinese beauty standards have evolved throughout history. 

Supervisor: Jie Yang

Vaughn Curioso

Vaughn entered the MA program in Anthropology in Fall 2023.

Supervisor: Kathleen Millar

Rajdeep Dhadwal

Rajdeep entered the MA program in Anthropology in Fall 2023.

Supervisor: Cristina Moretti

John C. Foerster

Areas of study: substance abuse, narcotics, harm reduction, experimental ethnography, epistemology

John entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2020. He attended the University of Central Florida and graduated in 2020 with a BA in History. John completed his undergraduate honors thesis on the realities of the U.S. Opiate Crisis within Orange County, FL and the popular etymology/understandings of this event. During John's time in Florida he worked passionately with the Florida Farmworkers Association assisting with maternal and general female-identifying wellness through the Woman 2 Woman Conference, of which he has been a part of over the last 10 years.

Supervisor: Dany Lacombe

Wenlei Huang

Areas of study: affective labor, social work, gender, mental health, China

Wenlei entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2021. Her thesis project focuses on urban renewal and community development in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and examines how social workers navigate shifting roles and expectations in the post-pandemic context.

Supervisor: Jie Yang
Committee member: Cindy Patton

Lisa Kremer

Areas of study: food, gender, spirituality and religion, bodies, and embodiment

Lisa entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2022. She completed a BA (Honours, with Distinction) in Anthropology and a minor in Creative Writing at Vancouver Island University in 2022. 

Supervisor: Pamela Stern

Morgaine Lee

Areas of study: multispecies, anthropology of science, fungi, STS, visual anthropology, ethnographic film, affect theory, multimodal methods

Morgaine completed her BA Honours in Anthropology at SFU in 2019. Her master's project combines film, writing, and installation to explore the stories we tell about fungi. For more on her work, including her undergrad project "ANTHROPO a story about fungi in four parts" (2019) please see here.

Supervisor: Michael Hathaway
Committee Members: Lindsey Freeman and Nadia Shihab

Kabir Madan

Areas of study: citizenship, urban commons, right to the city, anthropology of sports, experimental ethnography

Kabir entered the M.A program in Anthropology in Fall 2022, after having completed his B.A in Sociology in India. As of Fall 2023, Kabir is back in India for his fieldwork on the urban planning and sports infrastructure in New Delhi. He had worked as a high school teacher as well as a soccer coach in India before beginning his Graduate studies.

Supervisor: Cristina Moretti

Committee Member: Nicholas Scott

Carolina Miranda

Carolina entered the MA program in Anthropology in Fall 2023.

Supervisor: Kathleen Millar

Julio C. Moreno Correa

Areas of Study: social psychology, education

Julio entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2022. He is an international student from Colombia, who studied undergraduate in Psychology and master in Education at Universidad de Antioquia. He is particularly interested in research about differences regarding the perspective of peace processes between Colombians in their country and migrants living in Canada. 

Supervisor: Kathleen Millar

Niyat Ogbazghi

Niyat entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2021.

Co-Supervisors: Maureen Kihika and Pamela Stern

Tazin Rahman Ananya

Areas of study: Work and employment condition, affect, precarity, right to well-being, South Asia

Tazin entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2021. She received a Bachelor's and Master’s degree in Anthropology from Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh. Prior to entering this MA program, she worked as a Lecturer of Anthropology in Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) and worked as a consultant researcher for Palladium International LTD. Her proposed research explores the precarious condition and affect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant job losses on the urban middle-class population of Dhaka city in Bangladesh. She is interested to learn that how the restrictions, financial and other bindings during COVID-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown have affective results on the urban middle-class Dhaka-dwellers and how the government is reluctant to rehabilitate the harmed middle-class, since middle-class is not considered as a "vulnerable" group by the policy makers.

Supervisor: Kendra Strauss
Committee member: Cristina Moretti

Noemi Rosario Martinez

Noemi entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2022.

Supervisor: Kathleen Millar

Kenmore Thompson

Kenmore (he/him) entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2020 after completing a BA in Anthropology and Political Science from Memorial University in 2016. Kenmore is a Newfoundlander and his diverse resume includes custodial work, answering phones at a call centre, teaching English overseas, and development work in rural Tanzania.

Kenmore's MA research uses an autonomist Marxist standpoint to examine the social reproductive labour that goes into the creation and maintenance of online video game communities by primarily examining the player "Orgs" that surround the under-development space sim MMO Star Citizen.

Some other topics that distract Kenmore from time-to-time are (in no particular order): imagining Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as forming a kind of diaspora; questions of value and exchange among adult LEGO hobbyists; food anthropology; memes on Chinese social media; and new and creative ways of carrying out "public" Anthropology.

Supervisor: Kendra Strauss
Committee Member: Pamela Stern