Dr. Ryan Parsons is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Southern Studies in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology as well as the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.
Research Interests
In his research, Dr. Parsons explores how questions of space and race intersect to structure mobility opportunities, especially in rural and depopulated communities. His dissertation was a community study of Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta, where he spent three years working with a cohort of young people who aspired to go to college. His teaching draws on these experiences as he helps students think critically about what it means to study a community, and in particular a community they’ve chosen to call home.
Biography
Dr. Ryan Parsons was born in South Carolina and quickly moved to the other side of the Deep South in south Mississippi. He received his B.A. in international studies and Chinese at the University of Mississippi and then moved to the United Kingdom, where he studied for an M.Phil. in development studies at the University of Cambridge (Darwin College). He returned to Mississippi and worked with the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement at UM on a range of community development and community engagement projects. He enrolled in graduate school and received a Ph.D. in sociology and social policy from Princeton University in 2022.
Courses Taught
- S St 101 Intro to Southern Studies I
- Soc 312 Poverty and Society
- Soc 414/S St/G St/AAS Race, Place and Space
- Soc 427 Social Stratification
- S St 401 Southern Studies Seminar
- S St 560 Oral History of Southern Social Movement
Education
Ph.D. Sociology, Princeton University (2022)