How did you decide to pursue a degree in SA? What interested you most about it?
During highschool I began to take an interest in ideas of social justice and making efforts to learn from other cultures. Yet, I didn’t know that these interests could be channeled into a post-secondary education until after I had been accepted into SFU’s Humanties department.

But then I began looking into Sociology and Anthropology classes, and initially felt compelled to learn about other cultures through Anthropology. In my first semester, I took SA 150, a class required as part of the curriculum for Anthropology. It was taught by Professor Lindsey Freeman, and while this was in many ways a surface-level introduction, it bent my brain into realizing all of these socially constructed understandings we were taught from the world around us – such as the social inventions of gender and race. These ideas to me were incredibly mind-blowing, and really challenged the way I thought. That led me into deciding I wanted to do Sociology. I loved that the classes challenged the way I would think, and mixed in with my budding interest in social justice, that only grew as I continued in the program.

What was your favourite SA course? Why?
My favourite course was SA 302W: Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism with Professor Ataman Avdan. The class explored linkages between capitalism, and topics of migration, urbanization, hunger, poverty, economic development, underdevelopment, global environmental change, and Indigenous struggles. Similar to SA 150, I found myself somewhat startled by the fact that capitalism (creating a value for money before all else) has and continues to cause mass devastation on all corners of the earth, harming both people and the environment. This course was a huge stepping-stone in influencing the way I understand the world today, and all of the inequalities, injustices, and environmental harms that exist within it. Most, if not all of these harms, stem back to the values held within capitalist society. So with SA 302W, I learned how to begin tracing these harms and injustices back to their capitalist foundations.

What’s something you’re proud of accomplishing during your time at SFU?
I have two big contenders for this, I can’t pick just one! But the first is my honours thesis, Front of House Experiences During COVID-19. The thesis explored how customer interactions and the general workloads of baristas were largely impacted throughout different stages of the pandemic. This paper really challenged me, because I was no longer just working with ideas and theory – I was working with real people and their lived experiences. And because of that, I wanted to make sure I was doing their stories justice. I conducted long interviews, spent several weeks transcribing and searching for key themes, and then even longer analyzing those themes and fitting them together. It was long and somewhat stressful 4 months. But with the experiences of the 7 barista participants and guidance from my thesis supervisor Professor Kendra Strauss, I learned so much and ended up with a qualitative research essay that I feel proud to have pulled together.

The next is the Women, Work, More podcast I got to produce and host during one of my Co-op terms with SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. The podcast pulled together my learnings from Labour Studies and Sociology courses, and worked to document the lived experiences of women and their relationships with work across life stages and social intersections. Each episode featured a snapshot-esque look into the lives of a specific group of women workers — starting with young women restaurant workers, then working mothers, then migrant women, with the series culminating on its final episode on senior women.

Because as a Sociology student I learned it is important to speak to, and not just about the groups you are speaking of – an integral part of this podcast was to give-way for the self-told stories of women workers’ lived experiences. So, as I interviewed academics, labour organizers and policy critics, I also spoke to, and amplified the voices of some of the women living these experiences themselves.

What are your plans post graduation?
As I’ve completed the last 2 years of my studies, my learnings in Sociology and Labour Studies allowed me to secure the role of Communications Coordinator at SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. This department works with community organizations to help create public programing that focuses on social and environmental justice, urban issues, and community – topics that I have become well-informed about during my time as a Sociology student. Through this work, I have become familiar with many environmental and social justice organizations throughout Vancouver, am continuing to challenge my colonial understandings on a day-to-day basis, and have been provided with an amazing stepping-stone to find my way into a career path I care about. 

Somewhere down the line I potentially see a Master’s degree as well, but I think I’ll give myself some time to think on that!

What advice would you give to current or future students?
If you have capacity, take advantage of opportunities like honours, Co-op, or clubs on campus. For me, this led to some of the most stand-out opportunities of my whole academic career.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to all of the Sociology, Anthropology, and Labour Studies professors that taught me throughout my undergrad, as well as all the advisors who guided me. The opportunity to learn from each and every one of them was incredibly valueable, and I look forward to continuing to learn as an alumna from the department.