Canada Research Chair in Sexuality and Urban Studies
December 2016
The Canada Research Chair (CRC) Program invests approximately $265 million per year to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. The CRC program is part of a national strategy to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research excellence in the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
On December 2, 2016, the Government of Canada announced the new Canada Research Chairs. I am delighted to have been named the Canada Research Chair in Sexuality and Urban Studies. My mandate is to elevate the status of sexuality as a central node for intellectual inquiry, especially as it relates to the cultural development, political programs, and urban planning of LGBTQ people.
Special Issue of WSQ on “Queer Methods”
Fall/Winter 2016
Click here to access all the articles on Project Muse
Matt Brim and I are delighted to announce the publication of our special issue of
WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly on “Queer Methods.”
As Queer Studies experiences a methodological renaissance, we look to the ways that the discipline’s resistance, impreciseness, and provocation toward established protocols might affect its development. A growing field within academia, this groundbreaking scholarly collection creates a forum for those in the humanities and social sciences to discuss the challenges of applying traditional research methods to LGBTQ populations.
Robert E. Park Book Award
Summer 2016
“Dear Amin, On behalf of [the adjudication committee], I want to congratulate you on being one of two Honorable Mentions for the CUSS [Community and Urban Sociology section of the American Sociological Association] Park Award. We had more than 40 submissions, and we all agreed that ‘There Goes the Gayborhood?’ stood out as as a truly excellent book. Congratulations.”
Top Instructor, Faculty of Arts, UBC
Spring 2016
The Dean of the Faculty of Arts has awarded me the distinction of being a “Top Instructor” on campus. This prize goes to instructors who are ranked by their students in the top 10% of all professors in the Faculty of Arts. In his letter to me, the Dean wrote the following: “As a leading global university, UBC aspires to be great in its three major areas of strength: research, teaching, and impact (community engagement, translation and mobilization of research, policy, etc.). Our greatest impact, however, will always be in the education of generations of students who will contribute immeasurably to the betterment of the world, and you have shown yourself capable of contributing to student instruction at the highest level. I want to thank you for your thoughtful and successful contributions to teaching at UBC.”
Editorial Board, American Sociological Review
2016-2019
I have been invited to join the editorial board of the American Sociological Review, the flagship journal of the American Sociological Association. This is a wonderful honor and recognition of my scholarly reputation. I am delighted for the opportunity to work with the new editors of ASR at Notre Dame: Omar Lizardo, Rory McVeigh, and Sarah Mustillo.
Deputy Editor, Mobilization
2016-2019
I have been invited to become a Deputy Editor for Mobilization, a leading journal for social movement studies. I will assist with reviewing, recommending reviewers, and evaluating sets of reviews in cases where I have expertise (LGBT movements, urban movements, cultural approaches to social movements, and qualitative methods). In addition, I will offer my opinion on special issues and the directions in which the journal should move. This is a terrific honor, and I am delighted for the opportunity to work with Editor Neal Caren.
Book Symposium, Environment and Planning A
Fall 2015
There Goes the Gayborhood? was the subject of an Author Meets Critics panel at the 2015 ASA meetings in Chicago.
The buzz surrounding the session inspired a symposium in Environment and Planning A. Contributors include Harvey Molotch, Andrew Deener, Iddo Tavory, and Mary Pattillo.
Click here for more information.
Author Meets Critics, American Sociological Association
August 2015
Join me in Chicago on August 24, 2015 for an Author Meets Critics session at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association. Organized by Verta Taylor (UCSB), the session will feature Harvey Molotch (NYU) as the presider and the following distinguished critics: Andrew Deener (U-Conn), Iddo Tavory (NYU), and Mary E. Patillo (Northwestern).
Author Meets Critics, Canadian Association of Geographers
June 2015
Join me in Vancouver on June 2, 2015 for an Author Meets Critics session at the annual meetings of the Canadian Association of Geographers. Distinguished panelists include: Dara Parker (executive director of QMUNITY), Holly Sovdi (Vancouver city planner), and Tiffany Muller Myrdahal (Simon Fraser University).
Author Meets Critics, Association of American Geographers
April 2015
Join me in Chicago on April 25, 2015 for an Author Meets Critics session at the annual meetings of the Association of American Geographers. Distinguished panelists include: Catherine Nash, Lawrence Knopp, Michael Brown, Petra Doan, and Farhang Rouhani. John Paul Catungal is the session organizer.
2015 Over the Rainbow Project Book List,
American Library Association
April 2015
The 2015 Over the Rainbow Project book list, sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association (ALA), has been decided at their Midwinter Meeting in Chicago. There Goes the Gayborhood? has been selected for inclusion in “a bibliography of books that exhibit commendable literary quality and significant authentic GLBT content.”
Lesbian Geographies
March-April 2015
When we think about gay neighborhoods, many of us are not immediately imagining lesbians. But like gay men, lesbians also have certain cities, neighborhoods, and small towns in which they are more likely to live. Click here to read my latest essay on unique lesbian geographies.
Writing for The Society Pages, Lisa Wade picked up on my essay and continued to explore why gay men and lesbians don’t always share the same spaces and places. Read her post here.
Pacific Standard magazine picked up Wade’s post, which you can read here.
Shortly after Lisa Wade published her post, the Metro Vancouver newspaper called me for an interview about the subject. Read their story, “Lesbian Couples ‘Trailblazers’ of Trendy Neighborhoods,” here.
Next came The Langara Voice newspaper. Read the story, entitled “Lesbian Couples Predict Hot Property Markets,” here.
Perhaps the most comprehensive coverage came from blogger Riese, who is also the CEO, CFO, and editor-in-chief of Autostraddle. Check out her piece, “Where Do Lesbians Live?,” here.
I also gave a live radio interview on CBC (“On the Coast”) with host Stephen Quinn.
Listen to the interview here (time: 39:15), entitled “Lesbians and Urban Renewal.”
The conversation culminated in a focused interview with the Globe and Mail.
Read the conversation here.
Invitation to Speak in the Geography Colloquium
February 5, 2015
Click here to see a flier advertising my talk in the geography department at UBC.
Invitation to Speak at the University of Toronto
January 14, 2015
I had the pleasure of visiting the sociology department at the University of Toronto, where I spoke about my research on urban gay districts.
Book Tour
August – December 2014
As anyone who works in publishing or who has authored a book can tell you–book tours are hit or miss. Fortunately, my tour has landed firmly at the hit end of the spectrum. Click here to read an entry on the Princeton University Press blog that shows some photos from the road and a list of upcoming stops. Below are all the dates for my book tour:
August 17: San Francisco (The Green Arcade)
August 29: Chicago (Unabridged Bookstore)
September 9: Vancouver (Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies)
October 2: New York (Special Event at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies)
October 23: Vancouver (Little Sisters bookstore)
December 12: Seattle (Eliott Bay Book Company — the final stop!)
The New Yorker
August 8, 2014
Click here to read a review of my book
The first review of my book has been published — and it appeared in the New Yorker.
The Media Moment Begins
July 28, 2014
Click here to read the official press release for my new book
Today, UBC Public Affairs circulated a major press release for my book and unleashed an avalanche of media interest–including print, radio, and television. See the Media link for details.
Where Has ‘Gay’ Gone?
The Conversation Continues–With Added Nuance
July 22, 2014
Click here to read a media interview
Shortly after my essay in the Advocate was published (see below), a reporter from The Province called me for an interview. In this article, we continue the conversation about (LGBTQ) Pride.
Where Did the ‘Gay’ in ‘Gay Pride’ Go?
July 17, 2014
In this essay, I explore what it means to make a rhetorical move against articulating specific gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer identities. I published this piece in the Advocate.
Are Gay Neighborhoods An Endangered Species?
Summer 2014
In this essay, I wrestle with the sweeping changes that we are witnessing in gay neighborhoods across the United States. Are these urban areas passé? Are they worth saving? Are these even the right questions to ask? I published this piece in the Pride edition of Gay City News, America’s largest circulation printed edition LGBT newspaper (based out of New York City).
Special Issue of Theory and Society
on “Measuring Culture”
July 2014
Click here to access all the articles
John Mohr and I are delighted to announce the publication of a special double-issue of Theory and Society on “Measuring Culture.” The volume was inspired by a conference of the same name that we organized in October 2012 at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The impetus for our gathering was a shared sense that although social scientific studies of “culture” have made great strides on conceptual clarification of the concept (its many meanings), we still have made but little progress on the problem of how to measure it (ways of operationalizing it, determining appropriate indicators for it, breaking it down into observable analytic units, and thus studying it). How can we represent matters of culture and provide some observational grounding for them? How can we coordinate our theoretical concepts – something like “culture,” for instance – with our observational procedures? And how can we diversify our measurement protocols and outcomes to include theoretical, perceptual, numerical, statistical, and qualitative representations? The issue contains 11 original articles that reflect the dynamism and diversity of our subfield in terms of substantive topics and methodological approaches. We hope you will enjoy it and find it useful.
New Book Trailer on YouTube
June – July 2014
Click here to check out my new book trailer
This video is a teaser for my new book, There Goes the Gayborhood?. Princeton University Press is publishing it, and they will release it in August. Click on the “Books” link above to learn more about it, to read endorsements (from Doug Massey, Gary Gates, Eric Klinenberg, Robert Wuthnow, Jasbir Puar, Judith Stacey, and others) and reviews.