Welcome Zhifan Luo, Assistant Professor for the Department of Sociology

On January 1^st, the Faculty of Social Sciences welcomed Zhifan Luo as the newest member of the faculty. Luo joins the department of Sociology and Wilson College as an assistant professor.

We caught up with Luo to talk about her research interests, her academic journey, and what she does outside work.

Tell us a little about your academic and professional background.

I trained as a sociologist, obtaining my bachelor’s degree at Fudan University, China, and my doctoral degree from the State University of New York at Albany in the U.S. Prior to my appointment at McMaster, I was an assistant professor of sociology at Concordia University, Montreal.

My research investigates the intricate interplay among digital technologies, political power, and civil society. Two questions propel this investigation. In the authoritarian context, how do the rulers adapt to the digital age, and how does the adaptation affect civic life and discourses? In the democratic context, how does digital technology reshape civil relationships and civic engagement?

What research projects are you currently working on?

I am currently working on two research projects. The first one is built upon a self-compiled dataset of public discourse on domestic violence from the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, spanning the years 2009 to 2019. In this project, my research team is analyzing how the state, media, feminist activists, and the public contested and shaped the narratives on this issue.

The second project is based on another self-compiled dataset comprising all publicly available tweets about censorship from 2006 to 2022. This project will examine the weaponization of the term “censorship” within democratic contexts, aiming to illuminate the transformation of the public sphere in the digital age.

What courses will you be teaching?

In the Department of Sociology, I will be teaching two undergraduate courses. In SOC 2VV3 – Media & Power, students will learn the sociological perspectives for understanding mediated life and explore the complex interactions between individuals, media, technology, and society. In SOC 2Z03 – Introduction to Sociological Research, students will be introduced to the fundamental elements of designing and conducting empirical research in sociology. At the graduate level, I will be teaching SOC 701 – Special Topics on Digital Text as Data. This course will equip students with the skills to use R programming language to collect, clean, and analyze digital text data (e.g., social media posts), and no prior coding experience is required.

Outside of academia, what do you like to do?

In my spare time, I enjoy honing my skills as a novice potter—and occasionally forcing my friends and family to accept my creations as holiday gifts. My other hobbies include birdwatching, scuba diving, and hanging out with my two cats.