Congratulations to Yale Sociology PhD ‘25 Anne Taylor who has accepted an Assistant Professor (TT) position in the Sociology & Anthropology department at Mount Holyoke College.
Anne tells us, “My research explores the ways in which people find joy and belonging in life, including how they overcome structural and symbolic obstacles to do so. I am particularly interested in theorizing the interpretive agency of audiences in social performance to capture the lived realities of people whose political, religious, or cultural lives do not fit within existing sociological constructs. Currently, I am writing about how performance theory illuminates the increasingly blurry boundaries between traditional religion and so-called secular culture via case studies in media, sport, and travel, including American travel writer Rick Steves, famous for his guidebook series on European travel and his nearly four decade-long travel show on PBS, “Travel with Rick Steves.” I’ve published peer-reviewed articles in Cultural Sociology, the American Journal of Cultural Sociology, Sociologica, and Material Religion, and in 2023, I won the British Sociological Association’s SAGE Prize for Innovation and Excellence for my article “Audience Agency in Social Performance.” I look forward to joining the historic Mount Holyoke Sociology Department, where I will be teaching Introduction to Sociology and undergraduate courses on culture, secularism, and religion.”