October 20, 2015

FACULTY IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MARYANN BYLANDER

Maryann Bylander

Maryann Bylander

How did you decide to be a sociologist? I applied to grad school when I was living in Japan. I was doing the JET program so I was teaching English in a little high school in a relatively rural area in Japan. I had only taken one sociology class in college, actually. I took an environmental sociology class my senior year, and had I taken that earlier I’m quite sure I would’ve been a sociology major. My job [in Japan] essentially consisted of me having to show up and teach for maybe an hour a day, and I just read the rest of the time…about Japanese culture, and about gender in Japan. I became interested in Japan as a cultural place and that inspired me to want to learn more about other cultures and other areas of the world.

 It was also the first time I became aware of migration. I was living in a community in Japan with a high proportion of foreigners.  I was the only American, but there were many Brazilians and Peruvians in the area, most of them factory workers. I have dark hair and could pass for South American so many people in the town assumed I was Brazilian or Peruvian. And in Japan, this was a low-status group.   I was in an interesting position because I was actually treated with a great deal of status and respect as an English teacher from America at the school and giving all of these honorifics and people were really excited that I was there. And in the same community where I was perceived to be a factory worker of Brazilian or Peruvian origin, I was actually treated not so kindly. So I became more aware of discrimination, in a personal way. I also became aware of how migration was shaping communities, and the lives of migrants, and I was interested in all of it.

What is the most important book you’ve read relating to your field? I love “Imperial Nature” which is a book by Michael Goldman that talks about the World Bank as an institution, which critically engages with why it [the World Bank] doesn’t always do what it set out to do, which is end poverty, or reduce poverty.  I also love “Waiting for Jose”, a book we read in Intro to Sociology about the Minutemen patrolling the Arizona Border. What these books share is an ability to challenge everyday understandings of why people (or institutions) do what they do. 

 What is the most recent novel you’ve read? I read more nonfiction than novels. The most recent nonfiction book that I’ve read is a book by Eula Biss. She has this book of short stories, one of the most beautiful books that I’ve read recently, called “Notes from No Man’s Land.” It talks about things that a sociologist would be interested in— race, migration, inequality, poverty.  But she just does it really beautifully. To me that book is like candy.

 What are your favorite activities outside of work? I’ve recently taken up climbing, which I’m not very good at but I have a lot of fun doing. I’ve always been really interested in the outdoors, and I’ve always loved to go hiking. In England we’d call it “walking,” just being out in a beautiful space moving from A to B. When I lived in Austin I would go to a lot of music shows.

 Do you have any recommendations for restaurants in Portland? I love Mexican food, so I’ve been trying really hard to find the perfect taco. I haven’t succeeded but I’m pretty satisfied with Que Pasa which is around 12th and Hawthorne.  If anyone has recommendations, feel free to shoot them my way. I haven’t found the perfect taco yet.

 If you weren’t currently working at Lewis & Clark, what would you be doing/where else would you want to be? When I was in grad school I never imagined that I would actually go into academics. I thought I would work as a development researcher or practitioner, and I actually did that for a few years. I still sometimes do some development consulting work. I think working as a researcher for Oxfam would be pretty cool.

 What is your most enjoyable memory from college? Being at Lewis & Clark has made me think about undergrad far more than I have since I graduated. So it’s been fun. I think my most powerful moments as an undergrad were when I was studying abroad. To me, those were the most formative moments of my undergraduate experience.