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Faculty

Andrew Deener
Assistant Professor of Sociology

 

Office Manchester Hall 223
Telephone 860-486-4611

E-Mail: andrew.deener@uconn.edu

Education:

BA, Pennsylvania State University (Cultural Studies), 1999
MA, New School for Social Research (Sociology and History), 2002
MA, UCLA, 2004 Ph.D., UCLA, 2008

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.  

Selected Publications:

Forthcoming 2010. "The Decline of a Black Community by the Sea: The Impact of Demographic and Political Changes on Local Residents."  In Black Los Angeles: Race, Community, and the American Dream, edited by Darnell Hunt.  New York: New York University Press. 

2009.  "The 'Black Section' of the Neighborhood: Collective Visibility and Collective Invisibility as Sources of Place Identity."  Ethnography 10(2) Forthcoming. 

2008. "Forging Distinct Paths Towards Authentic Identity: Outsider Art, Public Interaction, and Identity Transition in an Informal Market Context.”  Journal of Contemporary Ethnography (Online April 2008; Forthcoming in Print).    

2007. " Commerce as the Structure and Symbol of Neighborhood Life: Reshaping the Meaning of Community in Venice, California."  City and Community, 6:4