Michigan Sociological Association
2019 Annual Conference
Wayne State University - October 18-19, 2019
Identity, Place and Power: Interrogating Borders in the 21st Century
Who we are? Who belongs where? The meaning of place and how we interact within these constructs are ongoing areas of sociological inquiry. Today we contend with a world where ethnic, racial, gender, sexual and class identities intersect, overlap and transgress boundaries, where our sense of place seems to increasingly fluid and uncertain and the movements of people across “borders” (broadly defined) is flush with ever-more robust power relations.
Keynote Speaker
Kristine Ajrouch, PhD
Professor Ajrouch’s many research interests include cultural aspects of social relations over the life course. Her research has focused, for over 15 years, on Arab Americans in the U.S. beginning with ethnic identity formation among adolescent children of immigrants and more recently focusing on the experience of aging from the perspective of older adults in the metro-Detroit Arab American community. She recently initiated a program of study concerning the topic of family ties and aging in Beirut, Lebanon following a Fulbright award in 2008. Professor Ajrouch also studies the topics of forgiveness and immigrant integration in comparative perspective. She is currently a Research Fellow with the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding where she is concluding a comparative study on aging Muslim families. Fine dining with her life partner Abraham is what she enjoys to relax, with a special place reserved for viewing meaningful films that offer life lessons with her son Ali and daughter Rachelle. Professor Ajrouch was born and raised in metro-Detroit, where she has lived for most of her life.