About

Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Education

Ph.D. Sociology University of Toronto – In Progress

MA (Master of Arts) McMaster University 2019

BA Honours – Valedictorian, University of Winnipeg 2018

Jillian Sunderland -Ph.D. Candidate

Greetings!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Toronto and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Doctoral Scholar. My research examines how masculinities are produced, circulated, and governed across media and state settings and has been published in leading journals, including Sociology Compass, Men and Masculinities, Social Politics, and Journal of Marriage and Family. I extend this analytic focus in my ongoing dissertation, which examines how organizations respond to and manage gender-based harm. My dissertation analyzes the RCMP sexual harassment scandal through a multi-method approach combining freedom of information requests, interviews with policymakers and state actors, and 30 years of governmental reports and media spanning to examine how responses to harm are constructed and how federal organizations sustain legitimacy in the face of crisis and public scrutiny.

Alongside this work, I believe in the importance of public scholarship. My work has appeared in The Conversation, where my recent article on the rise of the ‘performative male’ reached over 100,000 readers, and I have also worked as a freelance contributor for The Tyee and CBC. I have been featured across major media platforms, including CTV, Global News, and the Toronto Star. I appear as an expert in The CBC Ideas investigation, ‘Man Up!’: Examining the push to bring back traditional masculinity, Harder Better Faster Stronger documentary and in a forthcoming TVO docuseries on contemporary masculinity and digital culture.

Alongside my academic work, I engage in visual sociology and research-creation. I am a visual artist whose work has been exhibited internationally in both New York and Paris, and I have a forthcoming visual sociological essay based on my work as a house photographer at New York Fashion Week, theorizing how masculinity is constructed through the production of visual culture, labour, and visibility within the global fashion industry.

I am a member of both the Scholar Strategy Network and the Canadian Defence and Security Network, where I contribute research-informed analysis to policy audiences.