Book Launch: Neda Maghbouleh and Clayton Childress

Description

Please join us to celebrate the publication of Neda Maghbouleh’s book, The Limits of Whiteness, and Clayton Childress’ book, Under the Cover. The authors will attempt a non-traditional format, in which each will present and discuss the other’s book, followed by Q&A. This is not their first attempt at a joint venture: Maghbouleh and Childress are colleagues in the U of T Department of Sociology, spouses, and parents of the very same 3-year-old daughter. The talk will be followed by a reception, and copies of the books will be for sale.

The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race (2017, Stanford University Press) shares the under-theorized and sometimes heartbreaking story of how Iranian American young adults and teenagers move across a white/not-white colour line. By contextualizing ethnographic data with a century’s worth of neglected historical and legal evidence, the book offers new evidence for how a “white” American immigrant group might become “brown,” and what such a transformation says about race in North America today. Born in New York City and raised in Portland, Oregon, Neda Maghbouleh is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her research integrates the study of immigration with the study of race by examining settlement and discrimination-related challenges faced by Middle Eastern-heritage immigrants in North America.

Under the Cover: The Creation, Production, and Reception of a Novel (2017, Princeton University Press) follows the life trajectory of a single work of fiction, going behind the scenes to reveal how a novel is shepherded across three interdependent fields—authoring, publishing, and reading—and how it is transformed by its journey. Drawing on original survey data, in-depth interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork in the U.S., the book reveals how decisions are made, inequalities are reproduced and novels are built to travel in the creation, production, and consumption of culture. Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Clayton Childress is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His research interests are most squarely in the sociology of the culture, with a focus on meaning and decision making as it relates to social organization and cultural objects.