Beverly J. Yuen Thompson

Dr. Thompson earned her Ph.D. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research in New York City. Her main research focus is in the area of gender and subculture. 

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching promotes high levels of student engagement. Discussions form the beginning of our exploration of a social topic. Rather than lecture, I ask questions. In this way, I can pinpoint student understanding of a topic and focus on areas in which they have difficulty understanding and applying sociological insight. In classes, we create technological products aimed for a public audience, such as websites and animated videos, so that students demonstrate an understanding and application of the concepts that we have discussed all semester. My teaching style requires students to be involved in the conversation and be accountable for developing their critical thinking skills.

What I Love About Siena

What I love most about Siena is the ability to have small class sizes where the students and I can have in-depth discussions where we really learn how to analyze and deconstruct the social world around us. I am also very happy to be in Rosetti Hall, where we have access to computers in the classroom so that students can utilize the technology in their projects. By having students engage by creating websites and other online products, they are prepared for jobs that require more technological sophistication.

My Favorite Courses to Teach

 Deviant Behavior 260: I love to teach this course because we get to explore marginalized communities. I also have an assortment of exciting guest speakers to bring to the classroom that makes the topics much more dynamics. 

Visual Sociology 290: I love teaching this course because students get to explore and use their own visual media content to create project and research social problems. 

My Professional Experience

Current Research

tattoos; deviant behavior; subcultures; activism

Articles & Book Reviews

• Broad City: Millennial Women Surviving the Neoliberal Gig Economy in Comedy Television.
  The Journal of Popular Culture
  2022
• Review of David C. Lane's "The Other End of the Needle: Continuity and Change Among Tattoo Workers."
  Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews
  2021
• Academ-Ink: University Fashion and Its Discontents
  Fashion Theory
  2020
• Ethical Implications of Sex Work Practices and Research.
  Sexualities
  2020
• LA Ink: tattooing, gender, and the casual leisure of tattoo television
  Int J Sociol Leis
  2018
• The Digital Nomad Lifestyle: (Remote) Work/Leisure Balance, Privilege, and Constructed Community
  International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure
  2018
• What can Southern Criminology contribute to a post-race agenda?
  Asian Journal of Criminology
  2018
• Women covered in ink: Tattoo collecting as serious leisure
  International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure
  2018
• Good Moral Characters: How Drug Felons Are Impacted Under State Marijuana Laws
  Contemporary Justice Review: Issues in Criminal, Social, and Restorative Justice
  2017
• The Price of 'Community' From Bisexual/Biracial Women's Perspectives
  Journal of Bisexuality
  2012
• Review of Mothers without Citizenship: Asian Immigrant Families and the Consequences of Welfare Reform
  Journal of Asian American Studies, vol. 12
  2009
• The Global Justice Movement's Use of Jail Solidarity as a Response to Police Repression and Arrest: An Ethnographic Study
  Qualitative Inquiry
  2007
• Fence Sitters, Switch Hitters, and Bi-Bi Girls: An Exploration of Hapa and Bisexual Girls
  Frontiers A Journal of Women Studies, vol. xxi
  June, 2000
• Towards a Multiracial/Bisexual Theory
  Thamyris' Mythmaking From Past to Present, vol. 7
  2000
• Digital Nomads: Employment in the Online Gig Economy.
  Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation, vol. 1
  Winter I, 2018
• Working it Off: Welfare Reform, Workfare and Work Experience Programs in New York City
  Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Culture, Politics and Society, vol. 5
  Spring, 2003

Awards & Distinctions

• Diversity Action Committee Pedagogical Fellowship
  Category: Teaching
  DAC & COTFD, 2020
• Summer Scholars Program
  Category: Teaching-Research
  CURCA, 2020
• Diversity Research Fellowship Award
  Category: Research
  Diversity Action Committee, 2019
•  $2,490 for research entitled "Facing Student Loans: Sentenced to Debt" 
  Category: Research
  COTFD at Siena, 2014
•  I was awarded a grant of $300 to buy software for use in the classroom-- GoAnimate.com-- and will present student outcomes at a faculty event during the end of Spring 2014 
  Category: Teaching
  Center for Teaching and Learning, 2014
•  $2,490.00 for research supporting work on the manuscript Covered Women: Navigating the Social Stigma of Ink, by NYU Press, forthcoming 2014 
  Category: Research
  COTFD at Siena College, 2012
•  $5,000.00 
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2010
•  Award for Covered documentary 
  Category: Other
  Nevada Film Festival, 2010
•  $5,000.00
  Category: Research
  Texas Woman's University, 2009
•  $600
  Category: Research
  Texas Woman's University, 2009
•  $10,000.00
  Category: Research
  Florida International University, 2006
• 850 euros
  3 week summer research program in Germany 
  Category: Research
  Viadrina Summer University, 2005
•  $5,000.00 
  Category: Research
  Observatorie Social International, 2001

Books & Book Chapters

• Interdisciplinary migration research with a focus on new technologies and multiple crisis: relating birds of passage to social policies.
  
  2023
• Digital Nomads Living on the Margins: Remote Laptop Entrepreneurs in the Gig Economy
  
  2020
• The Future of Creative Work
  
  2020
• Women's Health: Understanding Issues and Influences
  
  2020
• Tattoo: The Histories and Aesthetics of Embodied Imaging and Writing
  
  2019
• The Geographies of Digital Sexualities
  
  2019
• Alternativity and Marginalisation: Essays on Subcultures, Bodies and Spaces
  
  2018
• Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundation, Theory, Practice, Critique
  The Feminist Press
  2017
• Covered in Ink: Women, Tattoos, and the Politics of the Body
  NYU Press
  2015
• Selves, Symbols, and Sexualties: Contemporary Readings
  SAGE Publishers
  2013
• Embodied Resistance: Challenging the Norms, Breaking the Rules
  Vanderbilt University Press
  2011
• Feminist Activism in the Academy
  McFarland Press
  2010

Presentations

• Nurturing future industries: Issuing visa for digital nomads and cheering reverse remittances
  2022
  Pre-Conference Process for 25th International Metropolis Conference, Berlin, Virtual
• "Academ-Ink: Gender, Tattoos, and the Professoriate"
  2019
  SUNY Oneonta panel Identity Ink: Ethnographic Stories on Gender and Tattoos, Oneonta, New York
• Tattooed Educators: Body Modifications, Visual Self‐Presentation and Employment
  2018
  International Visual Sociology Association, Paris, France
• Digital Nomad Women: Gender, Serious Leisure, and Non-Location Based Employment
  2017
  The Australian Sociological Association, Perth, Australia- WA
• Marijuana Policy Liberalization in the United States and Australia
  2017
  Pacific Sociological Association, Portland, Oregon
• Marijuana Policy in Jamaica.
  2017
  Latin American Studies Association, Lima, Peru
• Mi Familia: Latina Women in the U.S. Negotiate Identity and Social Sanctions through Tattooing
  2017
  Tattoo: The Histories and Aesthetics of Embodied Imaging and Writing, Koln, Germany
• Regulating Tattooing Practices Through State and Industry Governance
  2017
  International Meeting on Law and Society, Mexico, Mexico-Federal District (Mexico City)
• 'Covering' At Work: Dress Code Policies, Tattoos, and the Law
  2016
  BodyHacking Con, Austin, Texas
• Felony Bans in the Legal Cannabis Industry
  2016
  The Justice Studies Association National Conference, ALBANY, New York
• Marijuana Legalization in the United States and Its Impacts
  2016
  International Sociological Association 3rd Forum, Vienna, Austria, Unknown
• Women Covered in Ink
  2016
  Feminisms for the 21st Century: The Valerie J. Hoffman ('75) 2015-2016 Lecture Series, Schenectady, New York
• Covered in Ink: Tattoos, Women and the Politics of the Body
  2015
  International Sociological Association; Research Committee on The Body in the Social Sciences, Rome, Italy, Unknown
• Documentary Film as Sociological Theory
  2014
  International Visual Sociology Association, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Technology and the Profession
  2014
  Eastern Sociological Society Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland
• Documenting Sex Workers
  2012
  International Visual Sociology Association, Brooklyn, New York
• Documenting Sex Workers
  2012
  University Film Video Association, Chicago, Illinois
• Emotions, Subjectivity and Storytelling
  2012
  Emotions and Edges Conference, Buffalo, New York
• Visually Documenting a BDSM Dungeon
  2012
  Eastern Sociological Society, New York, New York
• The Making of Covered
  2011
  International Visual Sociology Association, Vancouver, Canada-British Columbia
• The Making of Covered
  2010
  American Culture Association Conference and Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• The Making of Covered
  2010
  Battleground States 2010: War(s) and Peace, Bowling Green, Ohio
• The Making of Covered
  2010
  Broadcast Education Association, Las Vegas, Nevada
• The Making of Covered
  2010
  Pacific Sociological Association, Oakland, California
• Women of Color, Ethnic Tattoos, and Family Reactions
  2010
  Women & Girls of Color: History, Heritage, Heterogeneity, New Haven, Connecticut
• Centering 'Reproductive Justice': Transitioning from Abortion Rights to Social Justice
  March, 2009
  Gender Studies Symposium, Portland, Oregon
• Ethnographer Behind Bars: Arrested Activists, the General Jail Population, and Social Integration
  2009
  International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Champaign, Illinois
• On Public Skin: The History of Gender Resistance and Narrating Identity Through Tattooing
  2009
  Pacific Sociological Association, San Diego, California
• Defending A Choice for Women: A Feminist Video Ethnography
  April, 2008
  Southeast Women's Studies Association, Charlotte, North Carolina
• Defending A Choice for Women: Creating Feminist Ethnographic Documentaries for the Classroom
  February, 2008
  Sociologists for Women in Society, Las Vegas, Nevada
• The Global Justice Movement and Ethnographic Methodology
  November, 2005
  Oral History Association, Providence, Rhode Island
• Jane WTO: Direct Action, Jail Solidarity, and the Global Justice Movement
  June, 2005
  National Women's Studies Association, Orlando, Florida
• The Politics of Bisexual and Mixed Race Identity within the Feminist Community
  June, 2005
  National Women's Studies Association, Orlando, Florida
• Ethnography and the Global Justice Movement
  2005
  International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Champaign, Illinois
• Jane Doe: Jail Solidarity and the Global Justice Movement
  2004
  Global Studies Association, Waltham, Massachusetts
• Mass Arrest, Jailed Protesters, and the Work of Law Collectives.
  2004
  New England Sociological Association, Beverly, Massachusetts
• The Global Justice Movement and Ethnographic Methodology
  2004
  SUNY Stony Brook Ethnography Conference, Stony Brook, New York
• Alternatives to Western Developmentalism: History and Theory
  2002
  History Matters: Area Studies, Cultural Values, and the History of Uneven Development Conference, New York, New York
• Jane Doe: Jail Solidarity in the Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement
  2002
  Women's History Month Conference, Bronxville, New York
• Legal Workers, Law Students, and Law Collectives
  2002
  National Lawyers Guild Annual Convention, Pasadena, California
• A Box Within A Box: Multiple Heritages in Spoken Word
  2001
  Asian Pacific America: Mixing It Up Month at the Museum, New York, New York
• The Politics of Bisexual/Biracial Identity
  2000
  Women's History Graduate Program Conference, Bronxville, New York
• Transgressing the Socially Constructed Boundaries of Racial and Sexual Identity: Bisexual and Multiracial Asian/Pacific Islander Women in the Monoculture
  1999
  Boundaries in Question: Geographies of Feminism Annual Graduate Student Conference, Berkeley, California
• Transgressing the Socially Constructed Boundaries of Racial and Sexual Identity: Bisexual and Multiracial Asian/Pacific Islander Women in the Monoculture
  1999
  National Women's Studies Association, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Being Bi in a Mono-Culture: Towards a More Inclusive Perspective on Race and Sexuality
  1998
  Annual San Diego State University Crisis Carnival Conference, San Diego, California
• Who Owns the Language of Struggle: Have Lesbians and Gays Appropriated the Language of Civil Rights
  1998
  National Women's Studies Association, Oswego, New York
• The Feminist Debates Around Pornography
  1997
  Women's Studies Lecture Series, Cheney, Washington