Withers, Erik

Erik Withers

Assistant Professor

Start Year: 2019

Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology
Office: 333 Kleinpell Fine Arts
Phone: 715-425-4729

Email: erik.withers@uwrf.edu

Education:

2019 Ph.D. Sociology, University of South Florida, Tampa FL
Dissertation: “Selling White Masculinity: An Analysis of Cultural Intermediaries in the Craft Beverage Industry.”
Committee: Elizabeth Aranda (Chair), Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman, Laurel Graham, David Brunsma (Virginia Tech)

2008 M.A. Sociology, DePaul University, Chicago IL

2003 B.S. Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida, Orlando FL

Areas of Research and Teaching:

Racial and Ethnic Inequalities, Consumer Culture, Gender and Sexualities, Urban Sociology, Identity, Sociology of the Family, Cultural Sociology, Qualitative Research Methods.

Academic Employment:

2019-Present, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology, River Falls WI.

2014-2019, Graduate Associate Instructor, University of South Florida, Department of Sociology, Tampa FL.

2015, Teaching Assistant, University of South Florida, Department of Sociology, Tampa FL.

2012-2014, Adjunct Faculty, Nova Southeastern University, Division of Social and behavioral Sciences, Davie FL.

2012-2014, Adjunct Faculty, Broward College, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Davie FL.

2009-2011, Adjunct Faculty, DePaul University, Department of Sociology, Chicago IL.

Publications:

Special Issues

Withers, Erik T. and Manuel Ramirez. (Forthcoming 2020). Culture and Inequalities. Humanity and Society.

Withers, Erik T. and Rich Wallace. (Forthcoming 2021). New Approaches to Using Visual Media in the Social Science Classroom. Sociological Imagination.

Journal Articles

Brunsma, David L., Nathaniel G. Chapman, Joong Won Kim, J. Slade Lellock, Jennifer Padilla Wyse, Erik T. Withers, and Megan Underhill. (Forthcoming 2020) “The Culture of White Space: On the Racialized Production of Meaning.” American Behavioral Scientist.

Withers, Erik T. and Manuel Ramirez. (Forthcoming 2020). “Keep Culture, Lose the Reductionism: Exploring Contemporary Cultural Spaces as Sites of Power Maintenance and Resistance” Humanity and Society.

Withers, Erik T. 2017. “Whiteness and Culture.” Sociology Compass. 11(4): 1-11.

Book Chapters

Withers, Erik T. 2017. “Brewing Boundaries of White/Middle-Class/Maleness: Reflections From Within the Craft Beer Industry.” Pp 236-260 in: Untapped: Exploring the Cultural Dimensions of the Craft Beer Revolution. Edited by: Nathaniel G. Chapman, J. Slade Lellock, and Cameron Lippard. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press.

Withers, Erik T. 2017. “The Impact and Implications of Craft Beer Research: An Interdisciplinary Literature Review.” Pp 11-24 in: Craft Beverages and Tourism, Volume One: The Rise of Breweries and Distilleries in the United States. Edited by: Carol Kline, Susan L. Slocum and Christina T. Cavaliere. London, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.

Book Reviews

Withers, Erik T. 2020. Review of I Got Something to Say: Gender, Race, and Social Consciousness in Rap Music by Matthew Oware. Sociological Inquiry.

Withers, Erik T. 2019. “Old Jobs, New Vibes: How Distilling Bartending, and Butchering Became Cool.” Review of Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the New Urban Economy by Richard E. Ocejo. Symbolic Interaction.
 
Scholarly Essays

Withers, Erik T. March 2019. Scholars’ Conversations: Joshua Sbicca, Food Justice Now! ASA Section for Consumers and Consumption Website. https://asaconsumers.wordpress.com/2019/03/10/scholars-conversations-joshua-sbicca- food-justice-now/

Withers, Erik T. November 2018. Cultural Intermediaries, Emotion, and the Craft Beverage Industry. Consume This! ASA Section on Consumers and Consumption Blog. https://asaconsumers.wordpress.com/2018/11/03/consume-this-cultural-intermediaries- emotion-and-the-craft-beverage-industry/

Works in Progress
Erik T. Withers. (In Preparation) “Info. Tells, Stories Sell: Cultural Intermediaries and the (Re) Production of White Space in the Market Place.”

Kim, Joong Won and Erik T. Withers. (In Preparation) Hallyu-Wave and Transnational Racial and Gendered Orders: An Analysis of Korean Soju Advertisements on Instagram.

Conference Presentations:

April 2019, Southern Sociological Society Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA. “Why Would You Have a Coconut Rum with a Palm Tree on it Made in Canada? Cultural Intermediaries, Ethnicity, and Value Construction in the Craft Beverage Industry.”

November 2018, Association for Humanist Sociology, Detroit, MI. “Kegs and Costumes: Gendered Labor Experiences Within the Craft Beer and Cosplay Cultures.” (co- presentation with Manuel Ramirez, UCON).

August 2018, American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA. “Breaking out of the Consumer vs. Producer Binary: Cultural Intermediaries, Whiteness, and Consumer Culture.”

August 2018, Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA. “Info Tells, Stories Sell: Cultural Intermediaries, Family, History, and the Construction of White Space Within the Craft Alcohol Industry.”

April 2018, Southern Sociological Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA. “Legitimizing Tastes: How Cultural Intermediaries Draw on Race, Class, and Gender to Construct Value in the Craft Beer Industry.”

August 2017, American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada. “Accomplishing Whiteness through Culture: Future Directions for the Study of Whiteness and Racial Oppression.”
April 2017, Southern Sociological Society Annual Conference, Greenville, SC. “Consuming Selves.”

August 2016, Society for the Study of Social Problems Annual Conference, Seattle, WA. “‘Keeping it Real,” Media, Moscato, and the (Re)Production of the Hip Hop Consumer: A Narrative Analysis.”

March 2016, Southern Sociological Society Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA. “Brewing the American Dream: A Narrative Analysis of the Stories told by Craft Beer Producers.”

August 2015, Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactionism Annual Conference, Chicago, IL. “‘Crafting” White/Middle-Class/Maleness Through Cultural Forms: Reflections from Within the Craft Beer Industry.”

January 2015, Research that Matters: Sustainable Food Conference, Tampa, FL. “‘Crafting” a Revolution: Beer and the Unintended Outcomes of Social Movements.”

Invited Conference Presentations

April 2018, Southern Sociological Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA. “Academia and Activism: An Intersectional Conversation.” (Discussant)

March 2017, Southern Sociological Society Annual Conference, Greenville, SC. Author Meets Critic. “Styling Masculinity: Gender, Class, and Inequality in the Men’s Grooming Industry.” (2016). Author: Kristen Barber.

March 2015, Southern Sociological Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA. “Products of Social Movements and Unintentional Inequality: The “Case” of Craft Beer.”

Conference Activities

August 2017, American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada. “Interracial Contacts and Attitudes.” Session Presider.

August 2017, American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada. “Diffusion, Consecration, and Legitimization.” Session Presider.

April 2017, Southern Sociological Society Annual Meeting, Greenville, SC. “Health and Social Psychology.” Session Presider.

Undergraduate Courses Taught:

Introduction to Sociology, Research Methods, Contemporary Social Problems, Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations, Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity, Sociology of Diversity, Consumer Culture, Gender, Sexuality, and the Family, Family Relationships, Sociology of Human Sexuality, Multiculturalism in Film and Literature.

Undergraduate Courses Designed and Taught Online

Introduction to Sociology, Social Problems, Sociology of Sexuality, Sociology of Diversity

Courses Served as a Teaching Assistant

Medical Sociology

Awards:

2017, PhD Distinguished Teaching Award, USF Department of Sociology. 2016, PhD Distinguished Teaching Award, USF Department of Sociology.
Internal Grants

2018, USF Sociology PhD Student Research Support Grant ($400). 2017, USF International Studies Grant ($1020)

2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, USF Student Government Conference Presentation Travel Grant ($500 each).

Professional Service:

2018-2019, Membership Committee Member; ASA section on consumers and consumption.

2017-2019, Graduate Student Editor, The Southern Sociologist.
Reviewer for: Oxford University Press, Sociology Compass, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Sociological Inquiry, and SAGE.

University Service:
 

2020, UWRF Representative; UW System Caregivers Task Force.

2019-Present, Affiliated Faculty; UW-River Falls Women’s, Gender, and Sexualities Studies Program.

Department Service

2018-2019, Graduate Student Representative; USF Department of Sociology Community Engagement Committee.

2017-2018, Graduate Student Representative; USF Department of Sociology Communications Committee and Postdoctoral Search Committee.

2016-2017, Graduate Student Representative; USF Department of Sociology Graduate Committee.

2015-2016, Graduate Student Representative; USF Department of Sociology Colloquium Committee.

2015-2016, President, USF Sociology Graduate Student Association.

Professional Affiliations:

American Sociological Association (Sections: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Consumption and Consumers), Southern Sociological Society, Society for the Study of Social Problems. Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

References:

•  Dr. Elizabeth Aranda: (813) 974-7690, earanda@usf.edu
•  Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman: (813) 974-5944, hordgefreema@usf.edu
•  Dr. Laurel Graham: (813) 974-2634, lgraham2@usf.edu
•  Dr. David Brunsma: (540) 231-8723, brunsmad@vt.edu
•  Dr. Maralee Mayberry (813) 974-1956, mayberry@usf.edu