Dr John Loewenthal
Thesis title: What do people want to do with their lives and why? An ethnography of graduate aspirations in New York and Los Angeles
Start year: 2015
Contact: 15095153@brookes.ac.uk
Supervisor(s): Professor Patrick Alexander
Research topic
This research consists of an 18-month ethnographic study of the aspirations of graduates from a private university in New York City, many of whom move to Los Angeles. I ask what graduates want to do with their lives, and how such ideas are produced, negotiated, and revised over time. I am currently writing up (2019–20) based at the Department for Educational Research, CINVESTAV, Mexico City.
Keywords
Aspiration, Life Course, Graduate Transitions, Meanings of Work, Student Debt
General research interests
Social Anthropology; Youth Studies; Education; Aspiration and Imagined Futures; The Life Course
Academic school / department
Teaching experience
Modules taught
- U20104 Introduction to Social Anthropology (Associate Lecturer)
- Online Course Tutor in Social Anthropology, Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford
Further details
Academic and professional training
- BA Archaeology and Anthropology – University of Oxford – First Class Honours
- MA Anthropology and Education – Columbia University
Scholarships and prizes
- 150th Anniversary PhD Studentship – Oxford Brookes University
- Margaret Mead Fellowship – Teachers College, Columbia University
- International Scholarship – Teachers College, Columbia University