The Department of Sociology is now accepting nominations for the 2027 Sociology Undergraduate Excellent Teaching Awards (SUETA), which recognizes outstanding teaching in sociology at an undergraduate level.  

Presented annually, the three awards celebrate instructors who demonstrate innovation, dedication and a commitment to enhancing the student experience in sociology classrooms. Students and alumni may submit nominations individually or as a group. 

Award recipients receive a framed certificate and are invited to participate in the department's Teaching Workshop Series. Information on eligibility, award criteria and the nomination process is available in the SUETA Awards Guide. 

Nominations close May 28, 2027.��More information, including how to submit a nomination, is available on the department's awards webpage.��

Renowned scholar and writer V. Geetha will present Democracy, Anti-Caste Movements and India's New Left Agenda, an exploration of one of the most significant social justice movements in modern India. Drawing on the legacy of the anti-caste movement that gained momentum in the 1970s, Geetha will examine how grassroots activism continues to shape contemporary democratic struggles. 

Focusing on the work of a Communist Party of India (Marxist)-affiliated Front in southern India, the lecture will explore efforts to confront violence and discrimination against India's historically marginalized Dalit communities (also known as the untouchables). Moving beyond questions of labour and the workplace, Geetha will offer an exploration into the evolving relationship between caste, democracy and left politics. 

Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 5 - 7 p.m. 

Ross Building, S802 

V. Geetha is an independent scholar, translator and playwright. She writes in English and Tamil on caste, labour, gender and education and civil rights. Her published work includes Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and the Question of Socialism in India (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and Undoing Impunity: Speech after Sexual Violence (New Delhi: Zubaan, 2016). 

The Department of Sociology invites the 91��ɫ community to attend its 2026 Indigenous Lecture on Wednesday, October 7 from 2:30 - 5 p.m. The lecture, The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Understanding American Law Through an Indigenous Lens, will be delivered by Keith Richotte Jr. He will examine how the U.S. doctrine of plenary power—granting sweeping authority over Native American nations—came to be understood as constitutional, despite its origins in deeply flawed and outdated assumptions.  

Keith Richotte, Jr. is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians where he has served as an Associate Justice on the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court of Appeals since 2009. He is also the Director of the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program and Professor of Law at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. 

Register for the event online.

The Department of Sociology invites the 91��ɫ community to attend its 2026 Annual Lecture on Thursday, September 24 from 4-6 p.m. The lecture, titled Pre-Determined Purchasing Power: Governing Algorithmic Price and Wage Discrimination, will be delivered by Professor Veena Dubal of Irvine School of Law, University of California. Dubal will discuss how data-driven systems increasingly determine wages and prices and how workers and consumers are governed by the same underlying data infrastructures—narrowing opportunities for negotiation and embedding inequality into everyday exchanges.  

Professor Dubal holds a B.A. from Stanford University and J.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. A professor of Law at UC Irvine, with a courtesy appointment in Anthropology, her widely cited scholarship has influenced courts and policymakers internationally. A former public interest attorney, she currently serves as General Counsel of the American Association of University Professors. 

Register  for the event online.��

This fall, the Department of Sociology will continue its new lecture series, Celebrating the Book, showcasing the work of its faculty members and their recent publications.��Each author will discuss the key themes, questions and contributions of their latest book, showcasing a variety of research happening in the department.��The book series is open to the 91��ɫ community with events running throughout the fall and winter.�� 

Upcoming lectures include: 

September 9: The Reality of Knowledge: Towards a Critical Realist Sociology of Knowledge  

Speaker: Philip D. Walsh (91��ɫ) 

October 20: Anti-Asian Racism and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada  

Speakers: Guida C. Man (91��ɫ), Chandrima Chakraborty (McMaster University), Sibo Chen (Toronto Metropolitan University), Muyang Li (91��ɫ), X. Alvin Yang (Max Planck Institute) and Henry Yu (University of British Columbia) 

November 4: Pandemic Urbanism: Infectious Disease on a Planet of Cities 

Speakers: S. Harris Ali (91��ɫ) and Roger Keil (91��ɫ) 

November 11: On Being Human: The Voice of Scholar, Poet and Activist Emma LaRocque 

Speaker: Elaine Coburn (91��ɫ) 

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn about the thought-provoking and timely work happening in the Department of Sociology.  

Register to attend on the Celebrating the Book website. 

Marcello Musto, a professor in the Department of Sociology, is the 2026 recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Section on Marxist Sociology of the American Sociological Association, recognizing his extensive contributions to the study and global dissemination of Marxist thought. 

According to the award committee, Musto has “published extensively in English and other languages, for both academic and non-academic audiences.” He has published his work in thirty languages and “has helped make Marxist perspectives available and accessible to non-English-speaking audiences.” Through the book series and collections he has edited, Musto has provided important platforms for a new generation of Marxist researchers and has played a key role in supporting emerging scholars. Among his most influential works, Another Marx: Early Manuscripts to the International and The Last Years of Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography were cited as major contributions to contemporary Marx studies.  

Musto’s recognition is particularly notable given the distinction’s history: past recipients include some of the most prominent figures in critical sociology, such as Immanuel Wallerstein, Erik Olin Wright and Michael Burawoy. With this honour, Musto also becomes the youngest scholar to receive the award, marking a significant milestone in his already distinguished career. 

Musto is a professor of sociological theory at 91��ɫ and the founding director of the Laboratory for Alternative Theories. His research interests include socialist thought, the history of labour movement and alternative socio-economic systems. 

More information about Musto’s work can be found on his , which details his publications, academic appointments and ongoing research initiatives.��

On Monday, May 4, the Department of Sociology will host a lecture by Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, titled The Japanese Left Today and the Return to Marx’s Capital. Shii will discuss why dominant social and economic systems require profound transformation and why Karl Marx’s Capital remains relevant in the contemporary world.

Shii has served as chairman of the Japanese Communist Party and was its secretary-general for more than 20 years. A member of Japan’s parliament from 1993 to 2026, he has been a prominent figure in Japanese left politics for decades. He is the author of numerous books, including Communism and Freedom (2024), Das Kapital is Interesting Now (2025), and Free Time and “The Capital” (2026).

The 91��ɫ Community is invited to attend. Please online.

Event details:

Date: Monday, May 4
Time: 3:30 – 5 p.m.
Location: South Ross Building, Room 802 (Keele Campus)

Refreshments will be served at 5 p.m.

The event is hosted by Professor Marcello Musto. For further information, please email marcello.musto@gmail.com.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, 91��ɫ launched a new research cluster titled Overcoming Epidemics in Transnational Black Communities – Response, Recovery and Resilience. The cluster is made up of Black scholars from five 91��ɫ faculties who have been working to understand how structural inequalities influence the way that Black communities experience, respond to and recover from epidemics.

Sylvia Bawa, associate professor of sociology, and Jeffrey Squire, an instructor in the Department of Social Science, are co-principal investigators on the study. Their work centres the voices of Black communities by engaging directly with organizations and community members in Toronto and internationally to ensure their work is addressing real-life concerns. Their findings will now be shared in a way that encourages dialogue and helps members of the community devise practical recommendations to support one another during future epidemics.

Read the full story in YFile.

Philip Walsh, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, has written a new book titled The Reality of Knowledge (Routledge, 2026). The book proposes new approaches to the sociology of knowledge and the theories that influence the field by looking at the history of the discipline its key themes and social meaning. Furthermore, it looks at critical realism and the work of scholar Norbert Elias.��

Walsh’s research focuses mostly on the theoretical foundations of the social sciences. His earlier work was oriented to epistemology in the critical theory tradition of the Frankfurt School. More recently, he has written on the significance of the work of the political theorist, Hannah Arendt, for sociology and sociological theory. His current research explores the significance of Critical Realism in the fields of the sociology of knowledge and of emotions. His books include Skepticism, Modernity and Critical Theory (Palgrave, 2008), Arendt Contra Sociology (Routledge, 2015) and co-edited with Peter Baehr, The Anthem Companion to Hannah Arendt (Anthem, 2017).

Learn more about the book on .