DR. ROSLYN FRASER
I am a sociologist curious about the connections between economic development and the worlds of gender, race, and work. My research examines the various consequences of macro level social changes like development, globalization, immigration, and state policies. As a teacher-scholar at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, I get to work with a fantastic set of students who bring their own life experiences into the classroom. I am also the descendent of several generations of migrants, with a family history that spans the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.
RESEARCH UPDATES
I first began field-based interview research in rural Bangladesh in 2010 and am interested in the ambivalent effects of economic change on women and girls. In 2017, I completed two months of fieldwork exploring local discourses around women’s entrance into the formal labor sectors. Though my initial questions focused on how and why women might resist participation in wage labor, I found that a garment factory had recently opened in the area and, among some families, ideas about daughters' filial responsibilities have shifted in response. Support for data collection came from a research grant from the College of Arts & Sciences at my university. Findings have been published and are available here: Women and Rural Industrialization.