Chicago Ethnography Incubator

Dr. Sergio Chávez is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Rice University. He received his B.A. in sociology from the University of California Davis and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. Dr. Chávez has conducted field research in Tijuana and Guanajuato, Mexico and North Carolina on internal and international migration, labor markets, social networks, and the border. His book “Border Lives” (Oxford University Press, 2016) examines the dynamic migration and working strategies border migrants employ on a daily basis as immigration policies, border enforcement, economic restructuring, and social resources evolve in the cross-border urban environment of Tijuana.

Dr. Amada Armenta is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Amada Armenta’s research examines the connections between the immigration enforcement system and the criminal justice system, and the implications of this connection for immigrants, bureaucracies, and cities. Her award-winning book, “Protect Serve and Deport: The Rise of Policing as Immigration Enforcement” (University of California Press, 2017), analyzes the role of local law enforcement agencies in immigration enforcement in Nashville, Tennessee. Currently, she is working on her second book project, an examination of the legal attitudes of unauthorized Mexican immigrants in Philadelphia.

Dr. Tarini Bedi is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She is an urban and political anthropologist who conducts research in South Asia and more recently in Southeast Asia. Her first book, “The Dashing Ladies of Shiv Sena: Political Matronage in Urbanizing India (SUNY Press, 2016) develops a feminist theory of brokerage politics. She is currently working on two new book manuscripts, one looking at the social, material, political, labor and manufacturing histories of road transport and automobility through the lens of the taxi trade in Bombay/Mumbai; and another looking at the connections between masculine embodiment, bodily debilitation, technology and driving in India and Singapore.

Dr. David Grazian is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Communication and Faculty Director of the Urban Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania. In his research he employs a variety of ethnographic and other qualitative methods to study the production and consumption of commercial entertainment in the urban milieu. He is the author of four books: Blue Chicago: The Search for Authenticity in Urban Blues Clubs (Univ. Chicago Press, 2003), On the Make: The Hustle of Urban Nightlife (Univ. Chicago Press, 2008), Mix It Up: Popular Culture, Mass Media, and Society (W.W. Norton, 2010; 2017), and American Zoo: A Sociological Safari (Princeton Univ. Press, 2015). He is currently writing a book on nonstandard urban workspaces in the new economy for the University of Chicago Press.