University of Connecticut |
FacultyAndrew Deener
Personal Statement I joined the sociology department at UConn in 2008 after receiving my PhD in Sociology from UCLA. I am currently working on several projects that tie together my interests in urban, cultural, and political sociology. The first is a book based on the results of six years of ethnographic and historical research about neighborhood formation, continuity of local culture, and demographic and political changes in Venice, California, an economically and racially-ethnically diverse community in Los Angeles. A second project deconstructs the recurring pattern of political conflict between groups in a neighborhood organization by focusing on the fluctuating relationships between individuals and political factions through the lens of pathways of participation. This study locates patterns in how and why people initiate participation, nurture political ties, and face contingencies along the way, such that some sustain commitments to political conflict between groups and others give them up in favor of alternative pathways. I am also beginning a new project with Claudio Benzecry. We are studying trend-forecasting agencies, second-rate clothing companies, and urban retail districts as a way to understand the micro-dynamics of trendsetting, specifically at how fashions are produced and reproduced in cities across the globe. We will start the research in Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, and New York, and in the future we plan to expand beyond these cities.
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