Continuing Faculty
Afsoun Afsahi
Afsoun Afsahi
Assistant Professor
emailafsoun.afsahi@ubc.ca
I am interested in exploring the ways in which discourses around “welcoming immigrant and refugees” can be seen as an exercise of power and contribute to the reproduction of positional inequalities. In doing so, I aim at formulating a right to non-assimilation and right to one’s own community...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Aleksa Alaica
Aleksa Alaica
Assistant Professor
emailaleksa.alaica@ubc.ca
As an anthropological archaeologist I am interested in the material correlates of mobility. My research on human-animal interactions engages with morphological and biogeochemical lines of evidence to study mobility, origin and migration in the past. By engaging with the CMS, I hope to be involved in...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Health and Migration | Mobility Studies and TransitGroup
Continuing Faculty
Alessandra Santos
My current research project addresses dislocations in the Latin American and Caribbean region in a hemispheric context, probing contemporary geographical, cultural and subjective displacements that occur due to economic globalization, new forms of cultural encounters, and conflicts arising from thes...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Alexia Bloch
My work has focused on mobility/immobility studies through ethnographic research in Russia and Eurasia. I have conducted research on migration, anthropology of gender, and statelessness. I have also analyzed the migration of post-Soviet labor migrants moving between Istanbul, Moscow, and southern Mo...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Alice Te Punga Somerville
Alice Te Punga Somerville
Professor
As a Māori scholar, my interest has been in the mobility of Māori people around New Zealand and transnationally. I have researched and published in the area of Māori diasporas in several sites with a particular interest in how conversations about Indigenous diaspora can draw on work about settler...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Language, Literacy, and LinguisticsGroup
Continuing Faculty
Alison Taylor
Alison Taylor
Professor
emailalison.taylor@ubc.ca
My current research examines the experiences of working university students including international students. My past research studies have addressed temporary foreign workers in nursing and trades in Canada.
Group
Continuing Faculty
Amanda Cheong
Amanda Cheong
Assistant Professor
emailamanda.cheong@ubc.ca
I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. My research examines the links between legal status and the reproduction of inequality, with a focus on undocumented migrants, stateless persons, and refugees. I am currently working on my book project, entitled Omitted...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Anita Girvan
emailanita.girvan@ubc.ca
My work is involved with global-local and socio-ecological traffics of de/colonization. Tracing flows of stories, people and plants, especially in diasporic Caribbean and Afro-descended movement, I am interested in affirming knowledges that have been e-raced or colonized. I am also interested in how...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Diasporas and Transnationalism | Health and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Anna Casas Aguilar
I am an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies in the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies at the University of British Columbia.
My work explores the intimate connections between gender, nationalisms, and regionalisms in modern Spanish and Catalan literature and visual cultur...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Anna Jurkevics
My research is in the fields of critical theory and democratic theory. I am particularly interested in theories of territory and land, conceptions of home, and my work challenges the concept of sovereign territoriality, suggesting a non-sovereign approach to territory and borders.
Group
Continuing Faculty
Annamma Joy
Annamma Joy
Professor
emailannamma.joy@ubc.ca
I am a full professor in the Faculty of Management at UBCO and have worked on ethnic identity and acculturation to Canada among immigrants from India, Portugal, and Italy. More recently, I have been examining the use and understanding of emergent technologies in the art world and how immigrants from...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Anne Murphy
Anne Murphy
Associate Professor
emailanne.murphy@ubc.ca
phone(604) 822-5185
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration StudiesMy work centres on the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, and Punjabi diaspora communities. My current research relates to advocacy for the Punjabi language both in South Asia and within diaspora Punjabi communities, with particular attention to literary/cultural production in Punjabi in these loc...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration StudiesGroup
Continuing Faculty
Annie Wan
Annie Wan
Associate Professor
emailannie.wan@ubc.ca
A XR researcher for well-being and for social good, and a XR developer, innovator in the field. Her latest research involves building a VR, OpenAI’s virtual health-assisted application which trains and prepares Alzheimer's caregivers. While another project studied an Asian heritage in Hong Kong, K...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Health and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Antje Ellermann
Antje Ellermann
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Professor | CMS Co-Director
phone(604) 822-4359
location_onDepartment of Political Science
My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in liberal democracies. I am particularly interested in the nexus between immigration and the power of the law; the politics of immigration policy making; anti-immigration populism; and the intersection of migration, settler colonialis...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Antje Ziethen
Antje Ziethen
Associate Professor
emailantje.ziethen@ubc.ca
I specialize in francophone literatures with a particular focus on urban space, migration, and gender. My research spans several geographical areas such as West Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, as well as North and South America. My most recent publications deal with the Black Mediterranean,...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Anusha Kassan
Anusha Kassan
Associate Professor
emailanusha.kassan@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | International Students and Temporary Workers | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesI am the Founder of the Vividhatà Research Group. Vividhatà (વિવિધતા) is the Guajarati word for diversity. Gujarat is the city in Indian where my paternal grand parents were born and the common language spoken there is Guajarati. My family has a fascinating immigration history, which...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | International Students and Temporary Workers | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesGroup
Continuing Faculty
Aryan Karimi
Aryan Karimi
Assistant Professor
emailaryan.karimi@ubc.ca
Asha Kaushal
Asha Kaushal
Associate Professor
phone(604) 822-3905
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigration and Refugee LawProfessor Kaushal researches and teaches immigration and citizenship law and theory, among other subjects. She is interested in how societies use law to negotiate admission, residence, and belonging.
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigration and Refugee LawGroup
Continuing Faculty
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Ayaka Yoshimizu
Ayaka Yoshimizu
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Associate Professor of Teaching
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Race, Religion and Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationMy research examines cultural memories of transnational migrant sex workers and explores decolonial ways to memorialize histories of migration and sex work through performance ethnography. My current research looks at various forms of memorials of Japanese sex workers who lived in the transpacific w...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Race, Religion and Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Benjamin Bryce
Benjamin Bryce
Associate Professor
emailben.bryce@ubc.ca
phone(604) 822-5162
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Labour and Economics | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationI am a historian of migration in the Americas, with a particular focus on both Argentina and Canada. In addition to my teaching in the UBC History Department, I am also chair of the Latin American Studies program (2022-2025). Beyond UBC, I am the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Canadian Histor...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Labour and Economics | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Benjamin Cheung
Benjamin Cheung
Lecturer
My research has examined the process of acculturation/cultural adaptation in cultural psychology, focusing on personal, group, and societal factors. I also hope to better understand cultural dynamics between multigenerational diaspora and folks "back home." Moreover, I am interested in understanding...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Benjamin Goold
Benjamin Goold
Professor
emailgoold@allard.ubc.ca
phone(604) 822-9255
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Immigration and Refugee Law | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionMy major research interests include privacy rights, the use of surveillance technologies by the police and intelligence communities, and the rhetoric and language of human rights. I have written numerous works on privacy, surveillance, and security, including CCTV and Policing (Oxford University Pre...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Immigration and Refugee Law | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Continuing Faculty
Bethany Hastie
My research examines low-wage labour migration, and focuses on understanding how legal regulations governing work and immigration status create barriers to legal and social inclusion, and access to justice for migrant workers. I have explored these issues most directly in the context of the low-wage...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Carla Hilario
emailcarla.hilario@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesMy program of research addresses the structural and social determinants of young people's health, including migration as a determinant of mental health outcomes and access to health care services for newcomers, immigrants, refugees, and racialized young people.
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesGroup
Continuing Faculty
Carlos Teixeira
Carlos Teixeira
Professor
Thematic Research Area
Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesMy research interests have gradually evolved from an early focus on Portuguese settlement in Canada to a research interest on the settlement experiences of different immigrant groups, especially their challenge in finding adequate housing and their participation in ethnic entrepreneurship. My curren...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesGroup
Continuing Faculty
Catherine Dauvergne
Catherine Dauvergne
Professor
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigration and Refugee LawI have been working in the area of refugee, immigration, and citizenship law over the past quarter of a century. I have written three books that take a broad perspective on the theoretical underpinnings of these areas of law, including considering how human rights principles and discourses fit into ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigration and Refugee LawGroup
Continuing Faculty
Claudio Vellutini
Claudio Vellutini
Associate Professor
phone(604) 822-6795
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Mobility Studies and TransitI am an opera scholar, studying the history, dissemination, and reception of nineteenth-century Italian and German opera. I am currently working on a book manuscript on opera networks and cultural exchange between Vienna and the Italian States in the first half of the nineteenth century. I am also i...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Mobility Studies and TransitGroup
Continuing Faculty
David Gramling
Prof. Gramling (he/they) is author of The Invention of Monolingualism (Bloomsbury 2016, American Association for Applied Linguistics Book Award, 2018), co-author of Palliative Care Conversations: Clinical and Applied Linguistic Perspectives (De Gruyter 2019, with his brother Robert Gramling), ...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
David Green
My research examines the impacts of migration of the receiving economy. Some of my work has explored how the impacts of the resource boom spread across Canada—more specifically, how wage increases in Alberta and Saskatchewan spread to the rest of the country; the impact of temporary foreign worker...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Eagle Glassheim
Eagle Glassheim
Professor of History
emaileagle.g@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Historical Migration StudiesMy main research areas include the history of East and Central Europe, Habsburg Central Europe, Modern Germany, and Environmental History. Ongoing research interests include the environmental history of the "Black Triangle," an industrial and coal mining region spanning Poland, Chechoslovakia, and...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Historical Migration StudiesGroup
Continuing Faculty
Efrat Arbel
Efrat Arbel
Associate Professor
emailarbel@allard.ubc.ca
phone(604) 822-6287
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Detention, Deportation and Enforcement | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationEfrat Arbel is an Associate Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. Her research is focused on Canadian immigration detention, refugee protection, and border governance. She has published widely in these fields. Her research has helped shaped law and policy in Canada, and has introduced crea...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Detention, Deportation and Enforcement | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Elif Sari
Elif Sari
Assistant Professor
emailelif.sari@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationMy research draws on ethnographic and community-engaged fieldwork (2014-19) in Turkey with Iranian LGBTQ refugees awaiting resettlement to the United States and Canada. I explore how Iranian refugees cope with the precarious and uncertain form of waiting in small Turkish towns, while negotiating the...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam
Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam
Assistant Professor
emailbiz.nijdam@ubc.ca
phone(604) 827-6394
location_onBuchanan Tower 905
Elizabeth “Biz” Nijdam is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where she lives, works, and learns on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of Musqueam, Squ...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Elizabeth Saewyc
Elizabeth Saewyc
Professor and Director
I lead the Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre, a multidisciplinary research centre with collaborations across Canada and across the world. Our research focuses on marginalized young people and how their experiences of stigma, discrimination, violence and trauma influences their heal...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Immigrant Integration | International Students and Temporary WorkersGroup
Continuing Faculty
Erin Baines
Erin is the Ivan Head South-North Chair (supported by the International Development Research Centre – Canada) and an Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. Her research attends to the ways former combatants, survivors of sexual ...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Franco De Angelis
Franco De Angelis
Professor
phone(604) 822-6749
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationIn my research, I have developed cross-cultural, interdisciplinary methodologies that employ not only all forms of ancient source, particularly archaeology (often the only form of contemporary evidence), but also a robust arsenal of theoretical tools to interpret this highly varied source base. Putt...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Gage Averill
Gage Averill is an ethnomusicologist. He has written on the role of music in both Haitian and Trinidadian migration to North America, especially on music’s contribution to a poetics of place that enacts nostalgia and memory, negotiates the relationship of migrant communities to host communities, a...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Gaoheng Zhang
Gaoheng Zhang
Associate Professor
emailgaoheng.zhang@ubc.ca
phone(604) 827-5264
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGaoheng Zhang is Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of three monographs focused on China-Italy cultural mobilities and communications: Migration and the Media: Debating Chinese Migration to Italy, 1992-2012 (Toronto: University of Toronto P...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Continuing Faculty
George Belliveau
I specialize in Theatre Education, where I integrate theatre as a form of research and artistic expression across multiple disciplines. My co-edited book, Research-based Theatre: An Artistic Methodology (2016, Intellect), establishes the complexity and richness of this emerging field of artistic res...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Geraldine Pratt
My research focuses on transnational migration, care economies and performance. I have collaborated with professional theater artists to create performances on the migration of Filipino domestic workers to Canada, on migration and settler colonialism, and on the migration from Europe and the United ...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Gillian Creese
I research immigrant and refugee settlement in Canada with particular attention to intersections of gender, racialization and class. My recent research charts the emergence of a new African diaspora in metro Vancouver, and my current work explores gendered outcomes for the second generation of Afric...Read more
Group
Continuing Faculty
Guofang Li
My research interests include immigrant and refugee students’ language and literacy education, social integration, immigrant language policies and programs, parental engagement, as well as teacher education and professional development for these diverse populations. In particular, my work explores...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Immigrant Integration | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Guy Stecklov
Much of my research focuses how incentives affect migration decisions in poor settings, often using experimental or quasi-experimental frameworks. In recent years I have been examining general patterns of rural-urban migration across the life course within sub-Saharan Africa and am currently studyin...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Harini Rajagopal
வணக்கம்! I am a listener of stories and enjoy working on collaborative and creative pedagogical designs. I am grateful to live and work on the traditional, unceded, ancestral territories of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm people.
Rooted in antiracist perspecti...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Heidi Tworek
Heidi Tworek
Professor; Director, Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions
emailheidi.tworek@ubc.ca
phone(604) 822-5181
Group
Continuing Faculty
Helena Zeweri
Helena Zeweri
Assistant Professor
emailhzeweri@mail.ubc.ca
Using anthropological methods and concepts, my scholarship lies at the intersection of global migration studies, the social impacts of policy, and the political life of diasporas, with a focus on Australia, Afghanistan, and the US. Broadly speaking, my work aims to further conceptualizations of migr...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Hessam Dehghani
Hessam Dehghani
Assistant Professor of teaching Persian Language and Culture
I teach Persian language and culture, primarily to heritage students who are the children of Iranian and Afghan immigrants. These students are often navigating the complexities of reconnecting with their ancestral homeland and culture while simultaneously contending with the pressures of assimilatio...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Families and the Life Course | International Students and Temporary Workers | Language, Literacy, and LinguisticsGroup
Continuing Faculty
Hongxia Shan
Dr. Shan is interested in the changing work and learning practices in the context of immigration, globalization, and transnationalism. She has conducted research and published in the areas of work and learning, knowledge “transfer” and translation, lifelong learning, organizational learning, di...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Continuing Faculty
Irene Bloemraad
emaili.bloemraad@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi 321
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless Migration
I study how immigrants become incorporated into political communities and the consequences of migration on politics and understandings of membership. My research stands at the intersection of migration studies and political sociology, with a strong interdisciplinary (and international) scope. I ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Jan Bena
Jan Bena
Associate Professor
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Labour and EconomicsMy research lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship, labor, and finance, with a particular focus on immigrant-owned firms. I examine how the cultural backgrounds of immigrant entrepreneurs shape firm formation, labor market practices, and organizational outcomes. I also explore how cultural tra...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Labour and EconomicsGroup
Continuing Faculty
Janice Ho
emailj.ho@ubc.ca
I study how immigrants and refugees employ narrative and rhetorical strategies to make claims on citizenship rights and human rights, and the way the genre of the novel mediates these claims. I am also interested in twentieth- and twenty-first century literary representations of diaspora, refugees, ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and TransnationalismGroup
Continuing Faculty
Jemima Baada
Jemima Baada
Assistant Professor
emailjemima.baada@ubc.ca
My research uses a gendered lens to examine how diversely situated individuals and groups are affected by climate change, domestic and foreign investment, health inequalities and rural migration in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other parts of the world. I am particularly interested in learning about ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Jenny Peterson
Jenny Peterson
Associate Professor of Teaching
Dr. Jenny Peterson is broadly interested in the politics of international aid with her past work analysing process of liberal peacebuilding and critiques thereof. Finding much of this critical work homogenizing of a diverse range of processes she has recently began exploring conceptual and empirica...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
John Christopoulos
John Christopoulos
Undergraduate Chair, Associate Professor
phone(604) 822-5938
Group
Continuing Faculty
Juanita Sundberg
Juanita Sundberg
Associate Professor
phone(604) 822-3535
I bring the insights of feminist political ecology and the sensibilities of an ethnographer to bear on nature conservation, border security, and militarization. My work seeks to foster conversations between feminist geopolitics, critical race theory, posthumanism, political ecology, and Latin Americ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler ColonialismGroup
Continuing Faculty
Julia Gabriele Harten
Julia Gabriele Harten
Assistant Professor
emailjulia.harten@ubc.ca
Today, private rental markets are pivotal to understanding housing and cities. Yet, private renting remains ill-understood because good data about renting is lacking. My work addresses this gap in two ways: (1) by developing innovative data strategies and (2) by studying the housing choices, outcome...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | International Students and Temporary Workers | Labour and EconomicsGroup
Continuing Faculty
Julien Picault
Julien Picault
Professor
As a labor economist who emphasizes the study of discrimination in the labour market, immigration, and more specifically immigrants, is at the center of my research. My previous work sought to identify some root causes of discrimination and assess the effectiveness of policies that foster equitable ...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Justin Lee Haruyama
Justin Lee Haruyama is an ACLS Yvette and William Kirby Centennial Fellow in Chinese Studies and incoming assistant professor in the Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies at UBC Okanagan. Haruyama’s current book manuscript examines the controversial presence of Chinese migrants and i...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Kai Ostwald
My work focuses on how states accommodate ethnic diversity, and how those institutions and policies shape inter-ethnic attitudes and behaviours. I generally focus on Southeast Asia, where a significant portion of the diversity results from both historic and contemporary migration.
Group
Continuing Faculty
Karis Shearer
emailkaris.shearer@ubc.ca
My research focuses on literary audio, the literary event, book history, and women’s labour within poetry communities in Canada. My current research projects include a biography of Canadian poet Daphne Marlatt, which understands migration to be central to Marlatt’s lived experience and her poeti...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Language, Literacy, and LinguisticsGroup
Continuing Faculty
Karun Karki
Karun Karki
Associate Professor
emailkarun.karki@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationAs a critical race scholar, I have been working with and writing about the unheard voices of minoritized communities, including immigrants, refugees, temporary migrant workers, and 2SLGBTQ+ people in Canada and internationally. In the context of global displacement, I am more interested in understan...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Katherine Bowers
Katherine Bowers
Associate Professor
phone(604) 822-6431
My research focuses, broadly speaking, on the migration and circulation of literary genres, forms, and texts across European space and the way they shape cultural production in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia. I am also interested in the movement of ideas and in the ways information travel...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Kathryn McConnell
Kathryn McConnell
Assistant Professor
Thematic Research Area
Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationI study how increasingly frequent extreme weather events influence internal migration dynamics. My research in this area includes a national study of the effects of wildfire destruction on migration patterns in the United States and qualitative research on post-wildfire migration decision-making. I ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Kimberly Bain
Kimberly Bain
Assistant Professor
emailkimberly.bain@ubc.ca
In my scholarly and critical-creative work, my most pressing and urgent concerns have consolidated around questions of the history, theory, and philosophy of the African diaspora. My work thinks about Black migration across the 18th century through the contemporary moment. I am currently at work on ...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Kyong Yoon
Kyong Yoon
Professor of English and Cultural Studies
emailkyong.yoon@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Labour and EconomicsKyong Yoon is a Seoul-born media researcher. His research focuses on digital media audiences, trans-Pacific migration, and transnational Korean pop culture. He is the author of Digital Mediascapes of Transnational Korean Youth Culture (2020) and Diasporic Hallyu: The Korean Wave in Korean Canadian Y...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Labour and EconomicsGroup
Continuing Faculty
Lennon Mhishi
Lennon Mhishi
Assistant Professor
emaillennon.mhishi@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationI am an anthropologist whose interdisciplinary work spans interests in Africa and its diasporas, the afterlives of slavery and colonialism, and the approaches to contemporary forms of exploitation, forced labour and human rights in different African countries. I have experience in migration and dias...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Leonora C. Angeles
Leonora C. Angeles (UBC School of Community and Regional Planning & Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice) works in the area of community and international development, including immigrant integration, linked to transnational migration and feminist issues. Her most recent re...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Lisa Brunner
emaillisa.brunner@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi 323
I am an interdisciplinary scholar who studies the intersection of immigration, citizenship, and education, with a focus on how settler colonial states and institutions govern mobility and belonging. My areas of specialization include adult and higher education, Canadian immigration policy, internati...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Madeleine Ransom
Madeleine Ransom
Assistant Professor
My research focuses on the nature and value of human expertise in the face of AI, and its relationship to wellbeing. Migrants often possess significance expertise in a domain, but seldom get to use it in their new context, often to the detriment of their own wellbeing and to that of their new countr...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Marc-David Seidel
I am interested in the role of migration in the growth and death of innovation ecosystems. One example in a local context is understanding the role of migration in the growth of innovation in the Vancouver ecosystem. I’m particularly interested in alternative economic models of organization enable...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Marie-Eve Bouchard
Marie-Eve Bouchard
Assistant Professor
emailme.bouchard@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Diasporas and Transnationalism | Immigrant Integration | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Race, Religion and MigrationI am an Assistant Professor of Sociolinguistics in the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies (FHIS). I hold a PhD degree from New York University, where I specialized in both sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology.
As an anthropologically oriented sociolinguist, I tend to enjoy...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Diasporas and Transnationalism | Immigrant Integration | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Markus Hallensleben
My research project, situated within the wider context of the global mobility turn and critical European Culture Studies, investigates narratives of forced migration in contemporary German-language literature. Since the recent surge of asylum seekers into Europe, German-language literatures and cult...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Maryam Darvishian
I have been a Research Associate at the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH), University of British Columbia (UBC) for more than two years and currently serve as the Senior Project Manager for the Cancer Prevention Research Cluster. In this role, I lead and coordinate multiple cancer preven...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Matthew Wright
Matthew Wright
Associate Professor
Matthew Wright earned his BA in political science and history from McGill University, and his PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining UBC’s Department of Political Science, he was an Associate Professor of Government at American University in Washing...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Megan Daniels
Megan Daniels
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Assistant Professor
emailmegan.daniels@ubc.ca
phone(604) 827-1635
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationMy research focuses on cross-cultural interaction in the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia over the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 1500-500 BCE). A major component of these broad interests involves interdisciplinary approaches to the study of ancient migration, approaches which help us understa...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Michael Hooper
Michael Hooper
Associate Professor
Michael Hooper's research focuses on urban planning, policy and politics, with particular interest in three themes related to urban spatial transformation: displacement, disasters and densification. Much of his work has focused on the drivers and consequences of displacement, including displacement ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Michelle Stack
Michelle Stack
Associate Professor
Thematic Research Area
Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationCentral research interest concerns how people, knowledge and institutions are categorized and the influence of these categorizations on our collective ability to respond to racism and debility. I have written about media representations of refugees, co-led media training for refugees, and photovoice...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Minelle Mahtani
Minelle Mahtani
Associate Professor
I am an Associate Professor in the at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at UBC. I'm the co-editor of “Global Mixed Race” (NYU Press, 2014) and the author of “Mixed Race Amnesia: Resisting the Romanticization of Multiraciality in Canada” (UBC Press). My research ...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Miu Chung Yan
Miu Chung Yan
Professor
emailmiu.yan@ubc.ca
phone(604) 822-8688
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Immigrant Integration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesMy areas of migration related research includes policies and services to support immigrants/refugees for settlement and integration, labour market experience of and racism experienced by youth from immigrant families, roles and functions of place-based community organizations in supporting social in...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Immigrant Integration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesGroup
Continuing Faculty
Nathan Nunn
Nathan Nunn
Professor
emailnathan.nunn@ubc.ca
Nathan Nunn has examined the causes and consequences of migration. He has studied the consequences of immigration within the United States for long-term economic development, as well as the psychological effects of immigration on immigrants and their children and grandchildren. He has also examined ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Neda Maghbouleh
Neda Maghbouleh
Associate Professor | Canada Research Chair in Race, Ethnicity, Migration, and Identity
Neda Maghbouleh studies the racialization of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) migrants in North America. She is an expert on ethnic and racial categories and identity formation as they relate to immigration processes and refugee resettlement.
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Continuing Faculty
Neha Gupta
Neha Gupta
Assistant Professor
emailneha.gupta@ubc.ca
My research interests are in working alongside, and with South Asian diaspora communities, in their experiences of race- and caste-based discrimination in the Canadian context, and narratives of belonging. I am especially interested in digital methods, tools and techniques in heritage studies.
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Nikhita Obeegadoo
Nikhita Obeegadoo
Assistant Professor
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationMy research focuses on oceanic migrations in archipelagoes of the Indian Ocean, Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. Rooted in comparative literary practices, my work employs multilingual, multispecies and decolonial frameworks to ask: How are the entwined histories of the Middle Passage, the kala pani jour...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Oral Robinson
Oral Robinson
Lecturer
emailoral.robinson@ubc.ca
Migration, Ethnic Relations, Social Interaction, Development, Research Methods and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
I am currently working on the following projects: Intercultural Contact and Friendship formation in Canada; Migration and identities in the Caribbean
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Continuing Faculty
Pasang Sherpa
Pasang Sherpa
Assistant Professor
emailpasang.sherpa@ubc.ca
Tashi Delek!
I am a Sharwa anthropologist from Pharak, southern part of Mt. Everest region in northeastern Nepal. My research, writing and pedagogy focus on climate change and Indigeneity among Himalayan communities, guided by the question: How do we live in the midst of dying?
I am currently ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Peter Klein
I am collaborating on an ongoing project called Strangers at Home, which looks at xenophobia in Europe (tangentially connected to migration, since the rise of xenophobia is widely attributed in part to the rise of refugee migration).
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Continuing Faculty
Ramón Antonio (Arturo) Victoriano-Martínez
My research, as presented in my book Rayanos y Dominicanyorks engages with the literary representation of the transnational experiences of Dominicans, particularly those living along the Dominican-Haitian border (Rayanos) and those who have migrated to the United States (Dominicanyorks). I explore h...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Renisa Mawani
Renisa Mawani
Professor
emailRenisa@mail.ubc.ca
My research coalesces at the juncture of critical theory and British colonial legal history. To date, my work has aimed to write histories of indigenous dispossession and "Asiatic" migration (from China and India, in particular) as conjoined and entangled colonial legal processes that are central t...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Rima Wilkes
My research considers the relationship between politics and racial and ethnic inequality. I have written on the integration of racial minorities and immigrants in advanced industrial democracies; some of my current research focuses on the causes and consequences of political and social trust. I’m ...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Robert Russo
Robert Russo
LLMCL Graduate Program Lecturer
emailrusso@allard.ubc.ca
Dr. Russo obtained his LLB, LLM and PhD degrees from the Allard School of Law. His research has been primarily in the area of immigration and labour/employment law relating to temporary foreign workers. He has published several peer-reviewed articles in this field. He joined UBC as a part-time facul...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Continuing Faculty
Rosanne Sia
Rosanne Sia
Assistant Professor
emailrosanne.sia@ubc.ca
I am Assistant Professor at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia.
My first book project examines cultural histories of migration, race, and gender in the US-Mexico borderlands. Mujer Peregrina: Performing Race, Space, and Memory in th...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Sara Shneiderman
Sara Shneiderman
Associate Professor
phone(604) 822-4387
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationI am a socio-cultural anthropologist with long-term ethnographic commitments in the Himalayas and South Asia, and emerging research engagements in British Columbia, Canada. My research explores how social transformation is shaped by dynamics of citizenship and belonging (in relation to Indigenous, e...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Sarah Leavitt
Sarah Leavitt
Assistant Professor
emailsarah.leavitt@ubc.ca
My research focuses on storytelling through comics, particularly non-fiction stories. I was part of the Graphic Narratives of Migration project and am interested in how comics can be used to share experiences, ask questions and spark conversations about migration.
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Continuing Faculty
Sean Lauer
My research explores the sociology of community and the experience of newcomers in Canada in particular. I am interested in studying the experience of newcomers in the network of community based organizations in Vancouver and how these organizations impact social capacity development. My work also e...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Shirley Chau
Shirley Chau
Associate Professor
emailshirley.chau@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | International Students and Temporary Workers | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationSince 1998, my program of research has focused on the impacts of immigration and resettlement on the health and wellbeing of migrants in Canada. This has resulted in research that has informed the impacts of the Hong Kong diaspora of 1997 on children and families in Canada, the health and wellbeing ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | International Students and Temporary Workers | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Sofia Noori
Sofia Noori
Assistant Professor
emailsofia.noori@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationDr Noori’s research and writing focuses on young refugees who move to Canada and work to establish a stable sense of self and belonging. Her research and writing provide readers with a better understanding of how refugee youth identify. Her research demonstrates how these young people navigate var...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Sophie Borwein
Sophie Borwein
Assistant Professor
My research engages with questions that connect political economy, political behaviour, and public policy. One area of my research is focused on the determinants of attitudes toward inequality and welfare states. I have previously written about how people's knowledge of immigration policy shapes the...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Sue Frohlick
Sue Frohlick
Professor of Anthropology, Gender, Women and Sexual Studies
emailsue.frohlick@ubc.ca
I am interested in migration, ethnographically, as embodied, affective, sensorial experiences and subjectivities, and as encounters with social formations and relations including kinship, family, reproduction, sexuality, and white supremacy and anti-Black racism. I have focused on the boundaries bet...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Mobility Studies and TransitGroup
Continuing Faculty
Suzanne Huot
emailsuzanne.huot@ubc.ca
phone604 822 7395
location_onT325 - 2211 Wesbrook Mall Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 2B5
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesDr. Huot is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. My research primarily explores migrants' experiences in Canada at the local scale through community-engaged research. I centre primarily on the implications of Francophone immigration policies for ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesGroup
Continuing Faculty
Terri Givens
Terri Givens
Professor
emailterri.givens@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationTerri Givens is well-known as a researcher on the politics of immigration in Europe. Her more recent project focuses on the conflation of immigration and race on a more global scale. She has also written a textbook, Immigration in the 21st Century: The Comparative Politics of Immigration Policy
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Thomas Lemieux
My research revolves around the theme of labour markets and earnings inequality in Canada, the United States, and other countries. I study how the evolution of income inequality compares between immigrants and Canadian-born workers and the factors behind these differences. I have also compared the e...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Thomas Schneider
Thomas Schneider
Professor
My research interests focus on interconnections between ancient Egypt and other civilizations of the ancient Near East, the Levant and Northeast Africa, including questions of migration and ethnic identity, cultural contact, as well as linguistic, literary and religious transfer. I am also intereste...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Uma Kumar
Uma Kumar
Lecturer
phone(604) 822-6329
Uma Kumar moved to Vancouver from India in 2003 and has been teaching with CENES since 2007. She holds a PhD in German Studies, a Master’s in German Studies and a Master’s in English Literature from the University of Bombay, India. Uma spent six years at the University of Vienna, doing research ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Continuing Faculty
Vince Hopkins
emailvince.hopkins@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Politics, Policy and Public OpinionVince is broadly interested in Canadian politics, with emphasis on applied social policy. Specifically, he examines low take-up of government programs—how political and psychological barriers prevent citizens from accessing the services they need. His current research aims to improve take-up of em...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Continuing Faculty
Xiaojun Li
Xiaojun Li
Associate Professor
emailxiaojun.li@ubc.ca
Xiaojun Li received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University. He is currently Associate Professor of Political Science at UBC and non-resident scholar at the 21st Century China Centre at UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Previously, he was a Princeton-Harvard China an...Read more
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Continuing Faculty
Ying Zhu
Ying Zhu
Associate Professor
emailying.zhu@ubc.ca
I pursue two major research paths: 1) exploring the impact of emerging technologies like AI and the Metaverse on consumer behaviour, and 2) examining how marketing approaches (e.g., digital marketing, business networks) drive business outcomes.
As an immigrant and a marketing researcher specializ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Families and the Life Course | Health and Migration | International Students and Temporary Workers | Labour and EconomicsGroup
Continuing Faculty
Yue Qian
Dr. Yue Qian is interested in understanding how gender intersects with family, work, and population processes—such as assortative mating (i.e., who marries whom), occupational segregation, and migration—to shape individual well-being and societal inequality.
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | International Students and Temporary WorkersGroup
Continuing FacultyAdjunct Faculty
Conrad King
Conrad King
He/Him
Thematic Research Area
Education and MigrationConrad is interested in understanding the nexus between education and immigration in advanced democracies. He has examined higher education internationalization in the European Union as well as in 'Anglosphere' countries that are destinations for many international students (Canada included)....Read more
Thematic Research Area
Education and MigrationGroup
Adjunct FacultySessional Lecturers
Amanda Cardoso
Amanda Cardoso
Lecturer
My research focusses on understanding language variation and change, the role of population movements in these processes and the effect that attitudes to different languages or groups have in these situations, and the development of new methodologies for analysing speech sounds and sound patterns. R...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Language, Literacy, and LinguisticsGroup
Sessional Lecturers
ON LEAVE
Until Summer 2026
Ana Vivaldi
Ana Vivaldi
ON LEAVE
Until Summer 2026
Sessional Instructor
emaila.vivaldi@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationMy interdisciplinary research inquires how Indigenous territorialities are built in and from the city, through active mobilities. I inquier how migrant and urban Indigenous people confront unspoken forms of racism by a diversity of strategies including: reconecting the city to traditional territorie...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Families and the Life Course | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Angela Andersen
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and MigrationMy work with architecture intersects with migration issues related to place and movement. In my research, I have examined unquantified internal and urban displacement through architectural evidence, and the strategies of migrants adapting to new environments. In my teaching, I utilize art and archit...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and MigrationGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Ania Switzer
Ania Switzer
Sessional Lecturer
emailania.switzer@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigrant IntegrationI am a historical-political sociologist, and have previously worked at Leo Baeck Institute in London, USC Shoah Foundation and Jagiellonian University in Krakow. My areas of specialisation are nationalism, post-war Central and Eastern Europe and its borderlands, production of knowledge and memory, a...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigrant IntegrationGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Arianna Dagnino
Arianna Dagnino
Sessional Lecturer
phone(604) 822-5797
My main research interests focus on the effects of migration, global mobility, neo-nomadism and complex cultural flows on cultural identities, creativity, and intercultural relations. Most of all, I am interested in how processes of transculturation shape creative artefacts (in particular literary ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Mobility Studies and TransitGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Dorothee Leesing
Dorothee Leesing
Sessional Lecturer
Dorothee Leesing is a researcher who specializes in media representation, urban development, and education. Her doctoral thesis on urban densification’s media portrayal, particularly high-rise buildings, uncovers societal implications. She has published on digital media, gaming, and gamified learn...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Mobility Studies and TransitGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Fatemeh Arian Nejad
Fatemeh Arian Nejad
She/Her
emailfatemeh.arian@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Families and the Life CourseMy research is focused on immigrant caregivers who have children with special needs navigating the education and healthcare system. There is a lack of research that portrays the lives of immigrant parents with children diagnosed with SN children in Canada. The scarcity of such data inhibits the cult...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Families and the Life CourseGroup
Sessional Lecturers
John Culbert
John Culbert
Sessional Lecturer
emailjohn.culbert@ubc.ca
phone(604) 822-4465
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Detention, Deportation and Enforcement | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationI am the author of Paralyses: Literature, Travel and Ethnography in French Modernity (U. Nebraska Press, 2010), winner of a Best in Field award from the Modern Language Association. My newest book, Proximities: Literature, Mobility, and the Politics of Displacement is due out from Liverpool Universi...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Detention, Deportation and Enforcement | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Health and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Lisa Richlen
Lisa Richlen
Sessional Lecturer
emaillmrichlen@gmail.com
Lisa Richlen, a Canadian citizen through her mother, is originally from Seattle. She lived in Israel from 2000-2021 and, from 2004-2021 worked as an employee of and a consultant for tens of social change and human rights organizations. In 2021, Richlen completed a PhD at Ben Gurion University of the...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Diasporas and Transnationalism | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Mahtab Sirdani
Mahtab Sirdani
Sessional Lecturer
emailmsirdani@mail.ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Health and Migration | Immigrant IntegrationMy PhD dissertation is titled: "Migration and Hope: Muslim Iranians in North America" wherein I focus on the interplay between vulnerability, hope, and well-being of pious Muslim residents of Massachusetts in the United States and Vancouver, BC in Canada.
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Health and Migration | Immigrant IntegrationGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Mehran Jamshidi
Mehran Jamshidi
Lecturer
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionMy research delves into the role of credentials in shaping the social and cultural capital of skilled immigrants in Canada, particularly in Metro Vancouver. I'm exploring how these credentials impact the ability of immigrant project managers to effectively integrate into the Canadian job market, des...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Sessional Lecturers
Su-Anne Yeo
Su-Anne Yeo
Sessional Instructor
emailsuanne.yeo@ubc.ca
My research examines how screen-based media from Asia and the Asian diaspora help to constitute new identities and social imaginaries. Currently, I am working on a research-led, practice-based, and community-engaged project about the late Hong Kong singer, actor, and queer icon, Leslie Cheung, who m...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler ColonialismGroup
Sessional LecturersPostdoctoral Fellows
Atieh Razavi Yekta
Atieh Razavi Yekta
She/Her
emailatieh.yekta@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Health and Migration | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionMy research focuses on how emerging technologies are transforming worker health and safety in Canada and the policy responses that support these areas, particularly for immigrant workers. My doctoral work examined the working experiences of immigrant platform workers in Vancouver using a sociotechni...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Health and Migration | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Caitlyn Yates
Caitlyn Yates
She/Her
I am a migration researcher and policy expert focused on Latin America and the Caribbean. I am primarily interested in mobility, transit, border enforcement, and Western Hemispheric migration policy. My current book project, titled: "Undeportable" examines the mobility experiences of migrants from t...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Christian Schimpf
Thematic Research Area
Economics of Migration | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Social, Community and Human ServicesA key area of my research are behavioural insights into labour market policies. To this end, my work identifies behaviourally-informed solutions to pressing challenges in public service delivery of social programs and political mobilization in Canada and beyond. The work has implications for a wide ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Economics of Migration | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Social, Community and Human ServicesGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Felix Landry Yuan
Félix Landry Yuan is an artist and scholar whose work straddles the interface of culture and nature, and their fluid interdependence across space and time. His current research explores how elders navigate their relationships with nature and connections with ancestors in their preferred deathcare/b...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler ColonialismGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Jessica Templeman
Jessica Templeman
Postdoctoral Fellow
My research examines the criminalization of migration in Canada. My doctoral work considered how s. 36(1)(a) of the IRPA impacts migrant sentencing in Canada. My postdoctoral work now investigates how officers decide on inadmissibility using criminal court materials.
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigration and Refugee Law | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Kashif Raza
Kashif Raza
Postdoctoral Fellow
emailkraza24@mail.ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationMy research explores the intricate intersections of migration, education, and policy, and how this intersectionality shapes international mobility, policy choices, educational contexts, curricular and instructional decisions, and sense of belonging/citizenship. I have conducted research and publishe...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Kevin Lee
Kevin Lee
Killam Postdoctoral Fellow
emailklee119@mail.ubc.ca
A connective thread in much of my research is the political role of migrant civil society, particularly as organizational hubs of community organizing and policy advocacy. My current book project investigates these issues in the context of Indigenous Pacific Islander social movements in the continen...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
María Cervantes-Macías
María Cervantes-Macías is a labour geographer whose research sits at the intersection of migration, digital labour, and labour market governance. She is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Migration Studies and an Affiliate Member of the Department of Geography at the Un...Read more
Group
Postdoctoral Fellows
Monique Gagné Petteni
Monique Gagné Petteni
Research Associate
emailmonique.gagne@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Immigrant Integration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationI am a Research Associate in the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), part of the School of Population and Public Health. Much of my work is focused on understanding children’s development in the context of unprecedented levels of global migration and how settlement countries such as Canada c...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Immigrant Integration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Sandra Schinnerl
Sandra Schinnerl
Postdoctoral Fellow
location_onC.K. Choi 322
I am interested in the intersections between education and immigration policy and the migration pathways of economic migrants including those of international students. My postdoctoral research work contributes to the examination of how bureaucracies in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom navig...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Economics of Migration | Immigrant Integration | Labour and Economics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Postdoctoral Fellows
Shahin Kassam
Shahin Kassam
Postdoctoral Fellow
emailshahin.kassam@ubc.ca
Building upon my doctoral findings, my program of research centres on women impacted by forced migration. We know that most women forcibly displaced from their home countries have been, and continue to be, affected by gender-based violence. We know that settlement organizations are central to ensuri...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Labour and Economics | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Postdoctoral FellowsEmeriti
Daniel Hiebert
Daniel Hiebert
Professor Emeritus
emaildan.hiebert@ubc.ca
My areas of interest include how immigration reshapes cities; the relationship between immigrants and urban economies; immigrants and housing markets; and the social reordering of cities as a result of immigration. I’m also interested in the nature of what is increasingly referred to as “superdi...Read more
Group
Emeriti
Richard Johnston
I’m interested in the relationships between native born settlers and immigrants in relation to the welfare state. My work ranges from survey- and experimentally-based work on civic (and uncivic) orientations to multi-country comparative work on immigration and social spending. Some of my research ...Read more
Group
EmeritiExecutive Committee
Alexia Bloch
My work has focused on mobility/immobility studies through ethnographic research in Russia and Eurasia. I have conducted research on migration, anthropology of gender, and statelessness. I have also analyzed the migration of post-Soviet labor migrants moving between Istanbul, Moscow, and southern Mo...Read more
Group
Executive Committee
Amanda Cheong
Amanda Cheong
Assistant Professor
emailamanda.cheong@ubc.ca
I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. My research examines the links between legal status and the reproduction of inequality, with a focus on undocumented migrants, stateless persons, and refugees. I am currently working on my book project, entitled Omitted...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Antje Ellermann
Antje Ellermann
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Professor | CMS Co-Director
phone(604) 822-4359
location_onDepartment of Political Science
My research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in liberal democracies. I am particularly interested in the nexus between immigration and the power of the law; the politics of immigration policy making; anti-immigration populism; and the intersection of migration, settler colonialis...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Antje Ziethen
Antje Ziethen
Associate Professor
emailantje.ziethen@ubc.ca
I specialize in francophone literatures with a particular focus on urban space, migration, and gender. My research spans several geographical areas such as West Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, as well as North and South America. My most recent publications deal with the Black Mediterranean,...Read more
Group
Executive Committee
Catherine Dauvergne
Catherine Dauvergne
Professor
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigration and Refugee LawI have been working in the area of refugee, immigration, and citizenship law over the past quarter of a century. I have written three books that take a broad perspective on the theoretical underpinnings of these areas of law, including considering how human rights principles and discourses fit into ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigration and Refugee LawGroup
Executive Committee
Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam
Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam
Assistant Professor
emailbiz.nijdam@ubc.ca
phone(604) 827-6394
location_onBuchanan Tower 905
Elizabeth “Biz” Nijdam is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where she lives, works, and learns on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of Musqueam, Squ...Read more
Group
Executive Committee
Gaoheng Zhang
Gaoheng Zhang
Associate Professor
emailgaoheng.zhang@ubc.ca
phone(604) 827-5264
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGaoheng Zhang is Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of three monographs focused on China-Italy cultural mobilities and communications: Migration and the Media: Debating Chinese Migration to Italy, 1992-2012 (Toronto: University of Toronto P...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Historical Migration Studies | Immigrant Integration | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Executive Committee
Geraldine Pratt
My research focuses on transnational migration, care economies and performance. I have collaborated with professional theater artists to create performances on the migration of Filipino domestic workers to Canada, on migration and settler colonialism, and on the migration from Europe and the United ...Read more
Group
Executive Committee
Helena Zeweri
Helena Zeweri
Assistant Professor
emailhzeweri@mail.ubc.ca
Using anthropological methods and concepts, my scholarship lies at the intersection of global migration studies, the social impacts of policy, and the political life of diasporas, with a focus on Australia, Afghanistan, and the US. Broadly speaking, my work aims to further conceptualizations of migr...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Irene Bloemraad
emaili.bloemraad@ubc.ca
location_onC.K. Choi 321
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless Migration
I study how immigrants become incorporated into political communities and the consequences of migration on politics and understandings of membership. My research stands at the intersection of migration studies and political sociology, with a strong interdisciplinary (and international) scope. I ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Immigrant Integration | Immigration and Refugee Law | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human Services | Undocumented, Liminal and Stateless MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Jemima Baada
Jemima Baada
Assistant Professor
emailjemima.baada@ubc.ca
My research uses a gendered lens to examine how diversely situated individuals and groups are affected by climate change, domestic and foreign investment, health inequalities and rural migration in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other parts of the world. I am particularly interested in learning about ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Economics of Migration | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Lennon Mhishi
Lennon Mhishi
Assistant Professor
emaillennon.mhishi@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationI am an anthropologist whose interdisciplinary work spans interests in Africa and its diasporas, the afterlives of slavery and colonialism, and the approaches to contemporary forms of exploitation, forced labour and human rights in different African countries. I have experience in migration and dias...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Markus Hallensleben
My research project, situated within the wider context of the global mobility turn and critical European Culture Studies, investigates narratives of forced migration in contemporary German-language literature. Since the recent surge of asylum seekers into Europe, German-language literatures and cult...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Matthew Wright
Matthew Wright
Associate Professor
Matthew Wright earned his BA in political science and history from McGill University, and his PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining UBC’s Department of Political Science, he was an Associate Professor of Government at American University in Washing...Read more
Group
Executive Committee
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Megan Daniels
Megan Daniels
ON LEAVE
2025-26 Academic Year
Assistant Professor
emailmegan.daniels@ubc.ca
phone(604) 827-1635
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationMy research focuses on cross-cultural interaction in the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia over the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 1500-500 BCE). A major component of these broad interests involves interdisciplinary approaches to the study of ancient migration, approaches which help us understa...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Historical Migration Studies | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Race, Religion and Migration | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Pasang Sherpa
Pasang Sherpa
Assistant Professor
emailpasang.sherpa@ubc.ca
Tashi Delek!
I am a Sharwa anthropologist from Pharak, southern part of Mt. Everest region in northeastern Nepal. My research, writing and pedagogy focus on climate change and Indigeneity among Himalayan communities, guided by the question: How do we live in the midst of dying?
I am currently ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Sean Lauer
My research explores the sociology of community and the experience of newcomers in Canada in particular. I am interested in studying the experience of newcomers in the network of community based organizations in Vancouver and how these organizations impact social capacity development. My work also e...Read more
Group
Executive Committee
Suzanne Huot
emailsuzanne.huot@ubc.ca
phone604 822 7395
location_onT325 - 2211 Wesbrook Mall Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 2B5
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesDr. Huot is an Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. My research primarily explores migrants' experiences in Canada at the local scale through community-engaged research. I centre primarily on the implications of Francophone immigration policies for ...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced Migration | Social, Community and Human ServicesGroup
Executive Committee
Terri Givens
Terri Givens
Professor
emailterri.givens@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationTerri Givens is well-known as a researcher on the politics of immigration in Europe. Her more recent project focuses on the conflation of immigration and race on a more global scale. She has also written a textbook, Immigration in the 21st Century: The Comparative Politics of Immigration Policy
Thematic Research Area
Borders, Sovereignty and the State | Citizenship, Narratives and Politics of Belonging | Culture, Media and Migration | Diasporas and Transnationalism | Gender, Sexuality and Migration | Immigrant Integration | Indigeneity, Decolonization and Settler Colonialism | Labour and Economics | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Race, Religion and MigrationGroup
Executive Committee
Vince Hopkins
emailvince.hopkins@ubc.ca
Thematic Research Area
Politics, Policy and Public OpinionVince is broadly interested in Canadian politics, with emphasis on applied social policy. Specifically, he examines low take-up of government programs—how political and psychological barriers prevent citizens from accessing the services they need. His current research aims to improve take-up of em...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Politics, Policy and Public OpinionGroup
Executive CommitteeIn Memoriam
Shannon Ward
RESEARCH SUMMARY
Linguistic Anthropology; language acquisition and socialization; language shift and endangerment; children and childhood; greater Tibetan and Himalayan communities.
COURSES & TEACHING
Linguistic Anthropology; multilingualism; language documentation and revitalization....Read more
Thematic Research Area
Diasporas and Transnationalism | Language, Literacy, and Linguistics | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
In Memoriam
Y-Dang Troeung
Y-Dang Troeung
Assistant Professor
Y-Dang Troeung was an Associate Professor of English at the University of British Columbia and a member of the CMS Research Creation research group. She researched and taught in the fields of transnational Asian literatures, critical refugee studies, global south studies, and critical disability stu...Read more
Group
In MemoriamVisiting Faculty
David Durand-Delacre
I am a human geographer and critical migration scholar interested in the political, cultural, and epistemological controversies arising from growing concern about climate change’s impact on human mobilities. I situate my work broadly within mobilities studies, social sciences of climate change, an...Read more
Thematic Research Area
Culture, Media and Migration | Mobility Studies and Transit | Politics, Policy and Public Opinion | Refugees, Asylees, Humanitarian, Climate, and Forced MigrationGroup
Visiting Faculty