Current MA Students

Zuhal Akay

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

Supervisor: Yildiz Atasoy

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

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 

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

Sharan Johal

Areas of study: Immigration and asylum, race and ethnicity, racism, racialization, multiculturalism, gender, social and economic integration, resettlement, health

Sharan entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2019. She completed a BA in Sociology at Simon Fraser University in 2018 and a Legal Studies Diploma at Douglas College in 2016.

Supervisor: Wendy Chan

Yujin Kim

Areas of study: migration, transnational movements, race and ethnicity, Korean diasporas and migrants

Yujin entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2022. In 2022, she completed her BA in Education and Culture from Doshisha University in Japan where she researched Zainichi (Korean diasporas and descendants in Japan). 

Supervisor: Cindy Patton

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

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

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

Mariana Pinzon-Caicedo

Areas of study: memory, trauma, transitional justice

Mariana joined the MA in Sociology in the Spring of 2022. Prior to joining SFU as a student, Mariana worked at the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Labour Organization, with positions both at headquarters and the field. Mariana holds a MSc. In Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. Her current research is heavily influenced by the conflict in Colombia and the peace agreement signed between the Colombian Government and the FARC. She is particularly interested in the interaction victims have with the transitional justice system set in place. 

Supervisor: Cindy Patton
Committee member: Kyle Willmott

Fun fact! Mariana's dog (Safu) is a rescue from Sao Tome and Principe, a beautiful island in the Gulf of Guinea.

Hannah Selg

Hannah entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021. Prior to that, Hannah received her BA in Sports Management and Sports Sociology from the University of Stuttgart in Germany. Hannah‘s graduate research undertakes the inequality and exclusion associated to gender and sexuality in the context of sport. While still maintaining an active research interest in the inequality that cisgender female athletes face compared to cisgender male athletes, her focus recently opened up to the inequality and exclusion of members of the LGBTQIA+ community experience in sport. 

Supervisor: Travers

Karlie Tessmer

Areas of study: housing, the construction of space and place, gender and sexuality, bodily practices, kinship and family formation, health and well-being

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 proposed research takes a new direction by examining the concept of home in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Karlie hopes to explore how young professional families have (re)constructed their homes to accommodate things like work, education, play, and safety. 

Supervisor: Pamela Stern
Committee member: Amanda Watson

Courtney Vance

Areas of study: Indigenous art pedagogies; Indigenous policy; biopolitics; environmental racism; Indigenous planning, decolonizing the city

Courtney entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2021 after completing a BA with a joint major in Sociology and Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies and Anthropology minor at SFU in 2020. Her research focuses on learning how Indigenous urban planning methods can be forwarded in settler cities, specifically by investigating Vancouverism/the Vancouver-model in relation to “Vancouver’s” self-acclaimed status as a ‘City of Reconciliation.’

Courtney currently works as a research assistant through SFU Library’s Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre on the Salish Weave Box Sets: Art & Storytelling Project, and with her MA supervisor on Indigenous policy-related projects. 

Supervisor: Kyle Willmott
Committee member: M.M. Ramírez (Geography)

Samantha Wong

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

Supervisor: Kyle Willmott

Victor Yao

Areas of study: cities, municipalities, industrial democracy, political economy, sociology of law

Victor entered the MA program in Sociology in the Fall of 2019. He completed a BA in Criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in 2017 where he published research on municipal bylaws and their role in the so-called ‘War on Drugs’. His research interests include the study and potential of municipalities, models of industrial democracy, political economy, and the sociology of law.

Supervisor: Nick Scott

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

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

Elizabeth Danis

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

Supervisor: Michael Hathaway

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

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

Supervisor: Jie Yang

Candase Jensen

Areas of study: theory, ideas surrounding identity, feminism

Candase entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2015 after completing a BA with a split major in Anthropology and Sociology at the University of the Fraser Valley in 2014.

She plans to focus her thesis research on the experiences of women who live with endometriosis along with the stigma and taboo surrounding women’s health issues.

Supervisor: Cindy Patton
Committee member: Amanda Watson

Sheila Joe

Sheila entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2018. Sheila completed her BA in Anthropology at the University of the Fraser Valley in 2006. Her research will be focused on ethnographic work with a Yukon First Nation. The Champagne and Aishihik First Nation (CAFN) traditional territory is vast, people and places were connected by trail networks and waterways. Tangible cultural resources are still found throughout the traditional territory, one such resource are arborglyphs that were created many generations ago but still stand along the trails. They represent culturally significant areas and are an affirmation of Southern Tutchone/Tlingit cultural identity and can provide an analysis of times past, how people lived and where they travelled. We acknowledge that CAFN citizens still maintain a presence on the land and they have rights and responsibilities they need to sustain as stewards of the land and water, retain and share their local and traditional knowledge and to ensure the continuance of their inherent right to their traditional territory.

Supervisor: Pamela Stern
Committee member: George Nicholas (Archaeology)

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

Michelle La

Areas of study: informal economies, valuation, speculation, consumption as labour

Michelle entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2016. She completed her BA (with honours) in Sociology and Anthropology. Her research investigates how “sneakerheads” and sneaker traders online and in-person participate in an informal economy revolved around limited-edition sneakers. She focuses on the varied economic practices of traders, how sneakers can become the object of fantasy and enchantment among an active community of consumers, and the ways corporations such as Nike and Adidas influence the economic practices of traders. 

Michelle’s research was featured by The CBC: $40K shoes, rare finds draws thousands to Vancouver Sneaker Con

Supervisor: Jie Yang
Committee member: Kendra Strauss

Morgaine Lee

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

Supervisor: Michael Hathaway

Sam Seoung-Hwan Lee

Sam entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2020.  He completed his BA in Anthropology at Vancouver Island University. His research interests focus on local perceptions of halal restaurants in the Itaewon district of Seoul, South Korea. By pursuing research on this topic, he intends to explore the meaning of food production and consumption as a gesture of solidarity. 

Supervisor: Pamela Stern

Kabir Madan

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

Kabir entered the MA program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2022, after having completed his BA in Sociology from Shiv Nadar University in India. His research has focused on urban commons in Indian cities. Kabir has also worked as a soccer coach for toddlers, and has taught history and sociology to high school students in his hometown in India. 

Fun fact: he is terrified of heights and mathematics!

Supervisor: Cristina Moretti

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