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Current PhD Students
Sociology PhD Students
Baran (Abu) Fakhri
Baran Fakhri is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Simon Fraser University, Canada. In their ongoing doctoral research, they work with undocumented Afghan migrants (of the Hazara community) in Turkey. Through ethnography, they follow these Afghans in their migration journey from Afghanistan to Iran, Turkey, and Europe exploring their narratives of displacement, mobility, and ‘illegality.’ Their research areas are ‘irregular’ migration and labour, borders and ‘illegality,’ with a focus on memory, refugee (political) subjectivity, and forced migration temporalities.
Education:
PhD candidate (Sociology): Simon Fraser University
MA (Anthropology): University of Tehran
Supervisor: Lindsey Freeman
Committee member: Kathleen Millar
Zhexi Hu
Area of study: Gender sociology; qualitative methods; lesbian and bisexual women in mainland China; mixed-orientation marriages (MOMs)
Hi there! I did my undergraduate in the University of Oregon with a major in sociology and minor in Arabic and Scandinavian studies. I did my master’s at the University of Edinburgh and my research focused on how studying in the United States change Chinese international students perceptions on sex and homosexuality. After obtaining my master’s, I worked in Beijing as a photographer and videographer for 4 years before coming back to university to do a PhD. My current research focuses on lesbian and bisexual women and their experiences in mixed-orientation marriage. I hope to shed light on heterosexual men who are in mixed-orientation marriages also known as Tongfu (同夫 in Chinese) community in mainland China. Interesting fact about me: I speak Chinese, English, Arabic, and Swedish. I am also intermediate in Norwegian.
Supervisor: Travers
Committee Member: Darren Byler
Steffanie Ling
Areas of study: land dispossession and cultural labour, heterodox Marxism, solidarity studies, political economy
Steffanie graduated with a BFA in Critical and Cultural Practices with a minor in Curatorial Studies from Emily Carr University. Her research project will undertake a workers’ inquiry surveying the labour conditions of art workers in connection to toxic philanthropy and extractive industries in the non-profit cultural sector.
She currently works as a research assistant in Labour Studies and School of Communications on projects related to precarity, migrant labour, and essential work.
Sometimes, she publishes art criticism and organizes the occasional film screening. Her books are NASCAR (Blank Cheque, 2016) and MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (House House Press, 2022). For fun, she studies Japanese, practices basketball, and organizes study groups on Discord.
Supervisor: Kendra Strauss
Committee member: Kyle Willmott
Clarissa Cecilia Mijares
Clarissa entered the PhD program in Sociology in the Fall of 2022.
Supervisor: Lindsey Freeman
Mariana Pinzon-Caicedo
Areas of study: Sociology of Development, Inequality & Exclusion
Mariana is a second-year PhD student in Sociology at the department. Her research will focus on a critical analysis of poverty reduction strategies.Prior to joining SFU as a Sociology Student, Mariana worked at the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the International Labour Organization, with positions both at headquarters and the field, where she was involved in the design and evaluation of social policies and programs tailored to promote full inclusion of all groups in society. Mariana holds an MA in Sociology from Simon Fraser University (SFU), an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a BSc in Economics from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.
Supervisor: Travers
Committee member: Kathleen Millar
Anthropology PhD Students
Hannah Couse
Areas of study: psychiatric and psychological anthropology, mental health, gender studies, masculinity, hegemony
Hannah entered the PhD program in Anthropology in Fall 2022. She received her MSc in Medical Anthropology at the University of Oxford in 2020 and her BA in Anthropology at the University of Colorado Denver in 2018. Her doctoral research will focus on men’s mental health in the west, specifically how hegemonic masculinity affects men’s willingness to seek mental healthcare as well as attempting to uncover enabling factors for those who do. She hopes to engage with structural, social, and subjective factors that are built and reinforced by masculine perspectives of mental illness and help-seeking behaviours.
Supervisor: Jie Yang
Madelyn Prevost
Areas of study: economic anthropology; labour; affect; placemaking; sensory ethnography; arts-based methods.
Madelyn entered the PhD program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2019, and recently completed twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. There, she researched fibre artists (spinners, weavers, dyers, knitters, felters, stitchers) with a focus on the relationship between artisanal labour and place, and the ethical projects encompassed by artisanal labour. In addition to writing her dissertation, she is creating an ethnographic vignette quilt that acts as a non-text, material record of the fibre art community on the Sunshine Coast. This, in addition to a number of pieces created by her interlocutors, will be on display at the Sunshine Coast Art Gallery in September-October 2024 for Madelyn’s curated exhibition, Carefully Gathered.
She has worked as a research assistant in the Sociology & Anthropology department (in collaboration with the City of New Westminster) and the Labour Studies Department on projects concerning New Westminster heritage and commemoration, BC labour history, and oral history.
In her spare time, she enjoys listening to podcasts, spending time with her cats, weightlifting, hiking with her partner, and indulging in her artistic hobbies.
Education: PhD Candidate (Anthropology), Simon Fraser University
MA (The Study Of Religion), University of Toronto
Supervisor: Pamela Stern
Committee member: Kathleen Millar
Yuan Wei
Areas of study: gender and sexuality, queer and transgender studies, medical anthropology
Yuan entered the PhD program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2016. He received his MA in Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and BA in International Politics at Fudan University. His doctoral research intends to delve into the medical practices around transsexualism and lived experience of gender variant people in post-socialist China. He is also enthusiastic about integrating social research with activism. Before entering SFU, he had worked in NGO development and gender equality for about two years.
Supervisor: Cindy Patton
Committee members: Helen Leung (GSWS) and Pamela Stern
Xiaowen Zhang
Xiaowen entered the PhD program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2021.
Supervisor: Jie Yang
Jinglun Zhu
Jinglun entered the PhD program in Anthropology in the Fall of 2021.
Co-Supervisors: Cindy Patton and Kendra Strauss