Urban Inequalities Workshop

Each semester, the Boston University Initiative on Cities hosts a doctoral workshop led by Professor of Sociology and Urban Faculty Fellow Japonica Brown-Saracino that invites faculty, graduate students, and postdocs to explore the issues of urban inequality.

This workshop approaches the topic of urban inequalities from different disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical angles. The workshop explores themes that include, but are not limited to, cities and race, economics, health, politics and governance, education, youth, climate change, resiliency, sexualities and gender, marketing, and neighborhoods.

Open to doctoral students and faculty from across the university and the broader Boston area, the workshop brings together students and faculty whose work addresses theoretical and policy concerns. Workshops include two types of meetings:

• presentations of work in progress by regular participants
• presentations of work in progress by scholars from outside of Boston University

Before each meeting, a working paper is circulated for participants to read. At the workshop, the author will offer a short presentation providing background information about their work, while the rest is devoted to feedback and conversation.

In Fall 2024, the workshop will be held at the Initiative on Cities (75 Bay State Road) on the following Mondays from 12 to 1:30 PM. Lunch will be provided.

• September 30, 2024: Dr. Ekédi Mpondo-Dika, UC Berkeley (hybrid) co-sponsored by BU’s Precarity Lab
  • “The Push and Pull of Poverty: Cyclical Ties in a Truly Disadvantaged Network”
• October 28, 2024: Dr. Jonathan Wynn, UMass Amherst (in person) and Dr Andrew Deener, UC Santa Barbara (via zoom)
  • “The Urban Way: Divisions”
• November 25, 2024: Dr. Louise Seamster, University of Iowa
  • “The Flint Water Coup: Debt at the End of Democracy?”

If you are interested in presenting at the workshop, please contact graduate student coordinator Andrew Ward (amward@bu.edu).