Help finding relevant programs/professors

[HMPH]

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to look for relevant programs/professors in the U.S./Canada with little luck. I feel like I'm being too picky in my search. It would be great if I could get any suggestions. I'm broadly interested in migrant negotiations and subjectivities in the context of transnational labor migration - the centrality of gender and other intersecting axes of identity in these processes and the significance of imaginaries of modernity and aspirations. I'm thinking of South Asian male migrant workers in Malaysia. I have an MA in Gender Studies. So far, I just have one Anthropology program. The other two potential programs are in (Human) Geography and Sociology departments. I'm pretty flexible in terms of the discipline as long as I find people who are more into ethnographic/qualitative methods and share some common research interests. 

Edited November 9, 2015 by HMPH

[farflung]

1 hour ago, HMPH said:

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to look for relevant programs/professors with little luck. I feel like I'm being too picky in my search. It would be great if I could get any suggestions. I'm broadly interested in migrant negotiations and subjectivities in the context of transnational labor migration - the centrality of gender and other intersecting axes of identity in these processes and the significance of imaginaries of modernity and aspirations. I'm thinking of South Asian male migrant workers in Malaysia. I have an MA in Gender Studies.

Thanks!

I mean this in the best way possible: yours is not an esoteric (and thus difficult-to-fit-into-grad-school) topic by any means! The intersection between gender, migration, and labor is hugely important in anthropology and I think will appeal to many scholars across regions. Most research universities w/ a big Socio-Cultural Anthro contingency have one or more scholars working in each one of the areas you've descried (gender studies, migration studies, labor studies, South Asian studies). Think broadly about who may take an interest in your project.

Specifically, I would recommend looking into programs at UC Berkeley, Brown, Cornell, Oregon, and Nevada. Many universities have South Asian studies centers and/or Population Studies centers (relevant to the issue of migration), so look for schools with those kinds of opportunities and see which anthropology faculty are affiliated with them. Obviously it will be difficult/impossible to find that one person working on South Asian male migrant workers in Malaysia, but grad school admissions is more about a broad fit into the department than an exact replica of a faculty member's project. You'll be fine! 

[HMPH]

Thanks farflung for your helpful suggestions. I will try to think more in terms of broad fit.