Ali R. Chaudhary, PhD

Sociologist - Scholar - Professor - Musician

About Me

Ali R. Chaudhary, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Rutgers University-New Brunswick

Welcome to my site!!

I'm a sociologist, professor, and musician based in the NJ/NYC metro area. I write and teach about immigration, race and ethnicity, nonprofits, and music.

I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Rutgers Center for Security, Race, and Rights, and the Rutgers Program in South Asian Studies.

I am also a Research Fellow at the International Migration Institute (University of Amsterdam) and inaugural director of the Sociology of Music research cluster within the Culture Section of the American Sociological Association.

Before coming to Rutgers in 2017, I was based at the University of Oxford as a Marie Curie ITN Early Career post-doctoral researcher and Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College. I am a proud alumnus of the California Public Education System and earned my M.A. & Ph.D., in sociology from the University of California, Davis, and a B.A. in sociology from Cal Poly Humboldt.

Visit my Rutgers Department Page by clicking here

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Research & Scholarship

My scholarship interrogates the significance of social categories as they mediate the opportunities and constraints experienced by immigrants and ethnoracial minority groups across several domains of social life. I utilize diverse methodologies, data sources, and theoretical perspectives to investigate how ascriptive social categories (race, ethno-nationality, religion, etc.) and their symbolic boundaries are activated, reinforced, and contested within immigrant-led nonprofits and transnational politics, and, more recently, the advertising of musical instruments.

My latest research considers the significance of ascriptive categories and ethnoracial inequality for the production and performance of music in the 20th and 21st centuries. I am developing a critical intersectionality approach to guide historical analyses of race and gendered boundary-making in the production of musical instruments. In addition, I am conducting new research on the uneven impacts and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on working musicians across Greater New York City and New Jersey.

Teaching

My teaching philosophy emphasizes comparative thinking and analytical rigor using active-learning methods that promote inclusive diversity, hands-on research as well as strong oral and written communication. Logics of comparison and analyses of variation are central to sociological inquiry and I strive to deploy comparative perspectives in my undergraduate and doctoral-level courses. My approach to teaching is also informed by students’ feedback, which I integrate throughout the duration of course instruction. I welcome opportunities to mentor students by providing research apprenticeship experience and helping students think through post-graduation plans. I also routinely intertwine my research into my teaching and strive to cultivate intellectual curiosity and interest in sociological research.

Current, Upcoming, and Past Courses

Immigration and Society

Undergraduate

(Spring 2023 )

Sociological Analysis of Inequality

Undergraduate (Spring 2023)

The Production and Consumption Culture

Graduate Seminar

(Fall 2023)

Contemporary Theorizing in Sociology