Race, Ethnicity, and Migration

Scholars in this area study how racial, ethnic, and national identities are salient uniting but also stratifying forces in people’s lives and across societies. Histories of colonialism, including Indigenous dispossession, struggles for sovereignty, and European resettlement, and patterns of migration and immigration shape racial and ethnic (in)equality in Canada and in other regions of the world. UBC faculty have conducted research on histories of colonial dispossession directed at Indigenous communities, the legal exclusion of Asian migrants, the experiences of undocumented and stateless peoples, the lived experiences of racialized refugees and immigrants settling in Canada, and attitudes toward immigration and political trust among different racial and ethnic groups.

Another prominent area within the study of race and ethnicity is how and why social inequalities are structured and sustained between different groups in education, work, health, and resource distribution, among other realms of life. Studies by UBC faculty focus on experiences of discrimination, in both institutional and personal settings, as well as on how race and ethnicity intersect with other identity categories such as gender, sexuality, class, age, and disability to shape group inclusion and exclusion.

Amanda Cheong:

Aryan Karimi:

Kimberly R. Huyser:

  • Huyser, Kimberly R., and Sofia Locklear*. 2021. “Reversing Statistical Erasure of Indigenous Peoples: The Social Construction of American Indians and Alaska Natives in the US using National Datasets.” Chapter in Walter, M., Kukutai, T., Gonzales, A.A., & Henry, R. (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology. Oxford University Press: New York. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197528778.013.34
  • Huyser, Kimberly R., Aggie J. Yellow Horse, Alena A. Kuhlemeier, and Michelle R. Huyser. 2021. “COVID-19 Pandemic and Indigenous Representation in Public Health Data.” American Journal of Public Health. 111(S3):S208-S214. (DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2021.306415)
  • Huyser, Kimberly R., Sofia Locklear, Connor M. Sheehan, Brenda L. Moore, and John Sibley Butler. 2021. “Consistent Honor, Persistent Disadvantage: American Indian and Alaska Native Veteran Health in the National Survey of Veterans.” Journal of Aging and Health. (DOI: 10.1177/08982643211014034)

Renisa Mawani:

Elizabeth Hirsh:

Rima Wilkes:

SOCI 560: Culture and Knowledge

  • SOCI 201: Ethnic Relations
  • SOCI 220: Sociology of Indigenous Peoples
  • SOCI-285 - Citizenship and Identity
  • SOCI 301: Sociology of Development and Underdevelopment
  • SOCI 302: Ethnic and Racial Inequality
  • SOCI 303: Sociology of Migration
  • SOCI 383: Sociological Methods: Historical Research.
  • SOCI-430 - Global Citizenship
  • SOCI-495 - Contemporary Chinese Society