News

I am delighted to announce that I have been awarded a Killam Research Prize for “outstanding research and scholarly contributions.” It is one of the highest research awards given to faculty across all departments and all disciplines at the university.  Winners are selected by the Faculty Research Award Committee, which spans arts and humanities, business, applied science, science, and medicine at UBC. See the announcement from sociology here.

My latest book, Sex Cultures, was recently reviewed in the British Journal of Sociology. Eric Anderson from the University of Winchester writes, “In Sex Cultures, sociologist Amin Ghaziani provides a smart, engaging and accessible introduction to thinking about sex in society. He begins with the premise that sexuality is the sum of ‘sex plus culture’, and proceeds to advocate propositions about the cultural expressions and analysis of sexuality that will resonate with a wide range of scholars. Drawing on a canon of scholarship from the social sciences and the humanities, along with a creative strategy of using an international set of ‘case studies’ to breathe life into those respective theories, he places culture in the driver’s seat and thus at the centre of the production of sexuality…[A] well-written, well-evidenced, and scintillating account.”

My three graduate students and I co-authored an essay in The Conversation about the emergence of “queer pop-ups,” or ephemeral community spaces that challenge arguments about the decline of queer sociality in North America. Our essay is entitled, “Queer Pop-Ups Take Us Beyond the Gayborhood.” Click here to read it.

I published an op-ed in the Sunday edition of the LA Times. The piece is entitled, “What we really mean when we talk about acceptance of gay people.” Click here to read it.

My graduate student Adriana Brodyn and I published our article in the journal City & Community. Entitled “Performative Progressiveness: Accounting for New Forms of Inequality in the Gayborhood,” we explore how public opinions that show a liberalization in attitudes toward homosexuality actually conceal subtle forms of prejudice and discrimination among straight residents of urban gay districts. You can our research under the “Articles” tab. Our piece has received a tremendous amount of media attention as well, including Vogue UK. You can access this coverage under the “Media and Public Relations” tab.

I am delighted to announce the publication of “Queer Pop-Ups,” my new essay that I co-authored with my graduate student Ryan Stillwagon. We explore the temporary spaces of queer community-building and argue that they provide cultural innovations in urban nightlife. You can access the research under the “Articles” tab.