SOFYA APTEKAR
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON
Department of Sociology
100 Morrissey Blvd
Boston, MA 02125-3393
Email: sofya.aptekar@umb.edu
Site: www.sofyaaptekar.com
Phone: 718-433-6682
EMPLOYMENT
2014-
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts
Boston
2011-2014
Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic
Diversity
Visiting Research Scholar, City University of New York, Graduate Center
2010-2011
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Office of Population Research, Princeton
EDUCATION
2010
Ph.D. Princeton University Sociology
Dissertation: Immigrant Naturalization and Nation-Building in North America
2005
M.A. Princeton University Sociology
General exams in Culture (Honors), Immigration (Honors), and Demography
2001
B.A. Yale University
Sociology
Magna Cum Laude, Honors
INTERESTS
Race and ethnicity, immigration, urban sociology, sociology of culture, inequality
BOOK
2015. The Road to Citizenship: What Naturalization Means for Immigrants and the United
States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
REFEREED ARTICLES
2015. “Visions of Public Space: Reproducing and Resisting Social Hierarchies in a Diverse
Community Garden.” Sociological Forum 30(1): 209-227.
2014. “Citizenship Status and Patterns of Inequality in the United States and Canada.” Social
Science Quarterly 95(2): 343-359.
2012. “Naturalization Ceremonies and the Role of Immigrants in the American Nation.”
Citizenship Studies. 16(7): 937-952.
Sofya Aptekar - CV
2009. “Contexts of Exit in the Migration of Russian Speakers from the Baltic Countries to
Ireland.” Ethnicities 9(4):507-526.
2009. “Organizational Life and Political Incorporation of Two Asian Immigrant Groups: A Case
Study.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 32(9):1511-1533.
BOOK CHAPTERS
Forthcoming. “The State and Identity Politics in North America.” In Citizenship, Identity and
Nation-States in the 21st Century, edited by Nicole Stokes-DuPass and Ramona Fruja. Under
contract with Pagrave-Macmillan.
Forthcoming. “Immigration, Gentrification, and Neighborhood Change in Astoria.” In Immigrant
Crossroads: Globalization, Incorporation, and Place-Making in Queens, NY, edited by Ron
Hayduk and Francois Pierre Louis.
2015. “Class and Race in Gentrifying Public Space.” In Diversities Old and New: Socio-spatial
Patterns in New York, Singapore, and Johannesburg, edited by Steven Vertovec. New York:
Palgrave-Macmillan.
2015. “Layers of Diversity and Immigrant Trajectories in Astoria, New York.” In Diversities Old
and New: Socio-spatial Patterns in New York, Singapore, and Johannesburg, edited by Steven
Vertovec. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan. (with Anna Cieslik)
2008. “Highly-Skilled but Unwelcome in Politics: Asian Indians and Chinese in a New Jersey
Suburb.” In Civic Hopes and Political Realities: Immigrants, Community Organizations, and
Political Engagement, edited by S. Karthick Ramakrishnan and Irene Bloemraad. New York:
Russell Sage Foundation Press.
2007. “Sticking Around: Delayed Departure from the Parental Nest in Western Europe and
Japan.” In The Price of Independence: The Economics of the Transition to Adulthood, edited
by Sheldon Danziger and Cecilia Rouse. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press. (with
Katherine Newman)
REVISE AND RESUBMIT
“Gifts Among Strangers: The Moral Order of the Freecycle Network.”
UNDER REVIEW
“Crossing into Citizenship in Canada and the United States.”
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Sofya Aptekar - CV
IN PROGRESS
“Coping with Loss and Change in an Urban Community Garden”
“Looking Forward, Looking Back: Neighborhood Change, Symbolic Ethnicity, and Public
Space”
“Negotiating Diversity in Motion: Breakdowns and Emergent Affinities on Public
Transportation”
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
2012. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” The Making of Modern Immigration: An
Encyclopedia of People and Ideas. Patrick J. Hayes, editor. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
REVIEW ESSAY
2014. “Immigration in Diverse Cities: Review of One in Three and New York and Amsterdam
edited by Nancy Foner”. Sociological Forum 29(4):1029-1032.
BOOK REVIEWS
2015. “Asian America: Sociological and Interdisciplinary Perspectives” by Pawan Dhingra and
Robyn Magalit Rodriguez. Ethnic and Racial Studies DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2015.1005652.
2015. “Paradise Transplanted: Migration and the Making of California Gardens” by Pierrette
Hondagneu- Sotelo. Gender & Society DOI:10.1177/0891243215570734.
2014. Forthcoming. “Civic Engagements: The Citizenship Practices of Indian & Vietnamese
Immigrants by Caroline B. Brettell and Deborah Reed-Danahay.” Journal of American
Studies 48(2):63.
2014. “Disenchanting Citizenship: Mexican Migrants and the Boundaries of Belonging
by Luis Plascencia.” Political and Legal Anthropology Review 37(1): 187-189.
2014. “Regions Apart: The Four Societies of Canada and the United States by Edward Grabb and
James Curtis.” Social Forces. 93(1): 16.
2011. “Asian Immigration to the United States by Philip Q. Yang.” Ethnic and Racial Studies.
34(12):2216-2217.
2011. “Partly Colored: Asian Americans and Racial Anomaly in the Segregated South by Leslie
Bow.” Ethnic and Racial Studies. 34(2): 380-381.
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Sofya Aptekar - CV
2011. “Chains of Babylon: The Rise of Asian America by Daryl J. Maeda.” Ethnic and Racial
Studies. 34(1):175-176.
2008. “Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America by
Dowel Myers.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 31(8):1504-1506.
MEDIA APPEARANCES
Quoted on gentrification and displacement in Queens: NPR, Morning Edition, “In New York’s
Multinational Astoria, Diversity is Key to Harmony”, March 30, 2015.
http://www.wnyc.org/story/in-new-yorks-multinational-astoria-diversity-is-key-to-harmony/
Quoted on Asian Indian Americans in New Jersey in “Indian New Jersey: More than Oak Tree
Road”, The Star Ledger, November 6, 2011.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/11/indian_new_jersey_more_than_oa.html
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
2015 Aptekar, Sofya. “Negotiating Diversity in Motion: Breakdowns and Emergent Affinities
on Public Transportation.” Paper presentation at Eastern Sociological Society Annual
Meeting, New York, NY.
2015 Aptekar, Sofya. “Experiencing Loss and Change through Urban Public Space” Paper
presentation at Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY.
2014 Aptekar, Sofya. “Visions of Public Space: Reproducing and Resisting Social Hierarchies
in a Diverse Community Garden.” Paper presentation at American Sociological
Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA
2013 Aptekar, Sofya. “Growing Diversity: Imagining Public Space in a Community Garden.”
Department of Sociology and the Immigration Studies Working Group, Queens College,
CUNY
2012 Aptekar, Sofya. “Conviviality, Contestation, and Exclusion in Diverse Public Spaces.”
Paper presentation at American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO
2011 Aptekar, Sofya. “Crossing into Citizenship in Canada and the United States.” Paper
presentation at American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, NV
2010 Aptekar, Sofya. “Gifts among Strangers: Competing Models of Fairness in a Local
Freecycle Network.” Paper presentation at Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting,
Philadelphia, PA
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Sofya Aptekar - CV
2009 Aptekar, Sofya. “Naturalization Ceremonies and Immigrant Citizenship: From Liability
to Supercitizen.” Paper presentation at American Sociological Association Annual
Meeting, San Francisco, CA
2008
Aptekar, Sofya. “Determinants of Naturalization in Canada and the United States:
The Changing Role of Education.” Paper presentation at American Sociological
Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
06/15-
Joseph P. Healey Grant Award ($7,500)
9/09-8/10
University Center for Human Values Graduate Prize Fellowship ($30,000)
9/09-6/10
Quin Morton Graduate Teaching Fellowship ($25,450) declined
6/09-8/09
Program in American Studies, dissertation writing support ($5,000)
1/09-12/09
CUNY Graduate Center Doctoral Student Research Grant (co-PI, $925)
6/08-8/08
Center for Canadian Studies, summer research support ($4,000)
Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, summer research
support ($1,000)
Center for Migration and Development, summer research support ($1,500)
1/08-12/08
Department of Sociology, Princeton University. Dissertation support grant.
($1,000)
6/07-8/07
Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, summer research
support ($1,000)
9/04-5/06
Center for Migration and Development, Princeton University. Fellowship support
($5,000)
5/06-8/06
Global Network on Inequality Fellowship, Princeton University. Award to study
labor migration from the former Soviet Union to Ireland. ($7,000)
TEACHING
Fall 2015
Fall 2015
Spring 2015
Spring 2015
Fall 2014
Fall 2014
Spring 2014
Introduction to Sociology
Graduate Classical Theory
Introduction to Sociology
Graduate Research Methods
Race and Ethnic Relations
Introduction to Sociology
Peopling of New York
University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Boston
Hunter College, Macaulay, CUNY
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Sofya Aptekar - CV
Summer 2013
Fall 2012
Spring 2012
Fall 2010
Introduction to Sociology
Social Statistics
Social Statistics
Sociology of the Third World
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Queens College, CUNY
Queens College, CUNY
Rutgers University
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS
Spring 2007 Modern Mexican Society
Fall 2006
Introduction to Urban Studies
Fall 2005
Sociology of Immigration
TEACHING HONORS
Spring 2007
Douglas Massey
Douglas Massey
Margarita Mooney
Nominated by the Department of Sociology for the Association of Princeton
Graduate Alumni Graduate Teaching Prize
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
03/12-12/12
Department of Sociology, Queens College, CUNY
Project: Greek Immigration. Nicholas Alexiou
04/10-05/11
Department of Sociology, Princeton University
Project: Race, Gender, and Class and the Big Test. Howard Taylor
10/04-05/07
Department of Sociology, Princeton University.
Project: Transition to Adulthood in Europe and Japan. Katherine Newman
10/05-09/07
Russell Sage Foundation, New York
Project: Immigrant Civic Engagement Project. S. Karthick Ramakrishnan and
Irene Bloemraad
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Sociological Association
Eastern Sociological Society
Association for Humanist Sociology
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Reviewer, American Sociological Review, International Migration Review, American Journal of
Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Ethnography, Sociological Forum,
Sociological Spectrum, Laboratorium, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development,
American Behavioral Scientist, Geoforum.
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Sofya Aptekar - CV
Organizer, Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting. 2015. NYC Spotlight Session:
Gentrification in the City of Extremes.
Organizer, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, 2014. Section on Racial and
Ethnic Minorities Paper Session. Race and Ethnicity in Everyday Encounters
Member of Selection Committee. 2014. James E. Blackwell Distinguished Graduate Student
Paper Award. Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities. American Sociological Association
Annual Meeting
Organizer, Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting, 2014. Themed Paper Session. The
Invisible Work of Getting Along: Everyday Interactions Across and Through Difference.
Member of Steering Committee, Making Connections: 2013 International Migration Section’s
Mini-Conference, New York, August 2013
Discussant, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, 2011. Section on International
Migration Paper Session. Place Matters: Local Dynamics of Immigration in the United States
and Beyond
Member of Organizing Committee, Making Connections: 2009 International Migration
Section’s Mini-Conference, San Francisco, August 2009
Consultant on immigration, StoryCorps
Advisory Board, Minor Miracles Foundation
OTHER SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES
Instructor, English as Second Language, Catholic Charities of Trenton, Catholic Charities of
Brooklyn and Queens
Instructor, English, Albert Wagner Youth Correctional Facility
Safety Boater, Brooklyn Bridge Boathouse
Languages: Russian (native), Spanish (intermediate)
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