Sociology Alumna Spotlight

Lida V. Nedilsky

Lida V. Nedilsky is an Associate Professor of Sociology at North Park University in Chicago. With an M.A. in Chinese Studies from the University of California, Berkeley (1994), and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego (2002), she enjoys teaching and research around issues of cultural formation and transformation, more particularly, how religious people become political agents in post-1997 Hong Kong. In summer 2007 she was a Visiting Scholar at Hong Kong Shue Yan University. This June, in collaboration with colleagues Joseph Tse-Hei Lee and Siu-Keung Cheung, Lida published Marginalization in China (Palgrave Macmillan 2009), a volume illustrating the formation of marginal groups in historical and contemporary China, and the politics of recognition by which they make claims for justice. Past publications include the article “The Anticult Initiative and Hong Kong Christianity’s Turn from Religious Privilege,” in China Information (November 2008). Currently she is working on her next book, Converts to Civil Society.

 

  • On my favorite aspects of the sociology department at UCSD...

"I benefited from and value tremendously the breadth of my experience at UCSD. The diverse background of our sociology department faculty (in terms of country of origin as well as discipline), along with the department’s links to various other units on campus (ex: IRPS and History where I took classes on China and helped organize a graduate student conference in conjunction with Harvard U, as well as the Urban Studies and Planning Program where I TA’ed several years) fed my interdisciplinary tendencies. These options sustained me and enhanced my flexibility. They also made it more apparent that specialization doesn’t mean narrowness of thought or experience. I need to and am able to be engaged in the world, whether as a researcher, teacher, citizen or parent."

  • On my path to my current position...

"I was very glad that I had options in this respect as well. Before my dissertation defense I’d received 3 very different job offers: 1) a small Asian Studies program at a large public university in California, 2) a large sociology program at a national university in Asia, and 3) my current post at a liberal arts university in Chicago. Any of these institutions would have stretched me in interesting ways, but I chose the small, liberal arts university so that I could on the one hand continue to be master of my education, and on the other hand could support my family in the broadest sense. At North Park University I can give equal attention to research and teaching, to sociology and Asian Studies, to in-class development and out-of-class experience, to academics and community service."