Katherine L. Pendakis, PhD Sociology (York University), MA Sociology (Western University)
Assistant Profressor
Phone: 709-639-2384
Email: kpendakis@mun.ca
Office: AS390
Website: Link
Research interests/expertise
I am a cultural sociologist with a keen interest in how people make sense of, and remember, moments of significant social change and conflict. My research has examined transnational political movements, diasporic memory practices, state surveillance, and the intersection of class and gender in the everyday lives of migrant workers. I’ve explored these themes in Canada, Greece, and Vietnam.
My expertise is in qualitative research, especially ethnography, interviewing and archival analysis. I also teach a course in quantitative research, focusing on community needs assessment, program evaluation, and surveys.
Teaching
- Introduction to Sociology (SOCI 1000)
- Quantitative Research Methods (SOC 3040)
- Community (ANTH/SOCI 2200)
- War & Aggression
- Economy & Society
- Social Movements
Representative scholarly contributions
- Pendakis, Katherine L. (2020), ‘Migrant Advocacy Under Austerity: Transforming Solidarity in the Greek Refugee Regime.’ Journal of Refugee Studies 34 (2): 1516–1539
- Pendakis, Katherine L. (2018), ‘Migration, Morals and Memory: Political Genealogies of a Transnational Greek Left.’ Citizenship Studies 25(6): 419-432.
- Pendakis, Katherine L. (2018), ‘The Ethics of Failing and Keeping a Distance: Narrating Returns in Post-Dictatorship Greece.’ Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 25(6): 687-704.
Current research projects and grants
I am currently working on three projects:
- ‘Towards a Sociology of Failure’: The goal of this collaborative project (with Dr. E Rondinelli) is to provide sociologists with novel methodological and conceptual tools for making sense of evocations of collective failure – a topic that has been undeveloped in the discipline.
- ‘Collective Memory & Anti-Communism in Canada’: The goal of this collaborative project (with Dr. K Lawless) is to contribute to our theoretical and empirical understanding of how ‘distant suffering’ and political violence is recuperated, remembered, and disputed in Canada – a country that has no history of state-led communism.
- ‘The Politics of Innovation in Small Communities’: This is a multi-sited project (Western Newfoundland, Eastern Aegean, Northern Ontario) that explores the everyday challenges, conflicts, and disputes at the heart of small-community efforts to ‘pilot’ and ‘model’ innovative energy, climate mitigation, and immigration initiatives. Collaborative research in Northern Ontario (with Dr. K. Lawless) received SSHRC-IDG funding in 2021.