Kosta

Ervin KostaChair, Urban StudiesAssociate Professor of Sociology

Joined faculty in 2013

2012, Ph.D. in Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY.

2001, B.A. in Sociology, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, TR.

2001, B.A. in Political Science and International Relations, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, TR.

2001, Certificate (minor) in American Studies, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, TR.

Contact Information

Stern HallPhone (315) 781-4623

Scholarly Interest

Ervin's research interests broadly focus on:

  • urban sociology
  • race and ethnicity
  • immigration studies
  • globalization theory
  • qualitative methods

Teaching Experience

2013-Present: Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Associate Professor of Sociology

2009-2012: Pace University, Adjunct Lecturer

2006-2012: Fordham University, Adjunct Lecturer

Research

Ervin conducts research on the remapping of the neighborhood structure of American urban areas as consumption, gentrification, and immigration replace Fordist dynamics of city building. He is currently working on two main projects. The first involves a book manuscript on ethnic identity in Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, which explores the making of immigrant group boundaries and remaking of ethnic neighborhoods in gateway metropolitcan centers. The second invovles the study of the commercial transformation of urban areas in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, a multi-stage comparative project that incorporates student research conducted inside and outside the classroom. Check out the piece Ervin wrote about downtown Geneva for Happenings, the monthly newsletter of the Finger Lakes Institute's, here.

Courses Taught

  • Globalizing Cities
  • Urban Sociology
  • Urban Ethnography
  • Gentrification
  • The Making of Immigrant America
  • Race and Ethnicity
  • Classical Sociological Theory
  • Introduction to Scoiology
  • Urbanism and Modernism
  • Dynamics of Social Change
  • Social Change and Social Development
  • Social Problems
  • Cars R Us: From Fordism to Electrification

Publications

“Small Cities.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology. Ed. Lynette Spillman. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

"Centering Small Cities for Urban Sociology in the 21st Century," with Richard Ocejo and Alexis Mann. City & Community, 19(1): 3-15, March 2020.

"Commercial Gentrification Indexes: Using Business Directories to Map Urban Change at the Street Level." City & Community, 18(4): 1101-1122, December 2019. 

"Becoming Italian, Becoming American: Ethnic Affinity as a Strategy of Boundary Making." Ethnic and Racial Studies,  42(5): 801-819, 2019/4/4. [See a short write-up in The Society Pages, an open-access social science project headquartered in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota]. 

“The Immigrant Enclave as Theme Park: Culture, Capital, and Urban Change in New York’s Little Italies,” in Making Italian America: Consumer Culture and the Production of Ethnic Identities, ed. Simone Cinotto (New York: Fordham University Press, 2014). The volume won the 2015 John G. Cawelti Award for the Best Primer of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association.

Jan Lin 2011: The Power of Urban Ethnic Places: Cultural Heritage and Community Life. New York: Routledge.: Book Reviews International Journal for Urban and Regional Research 37, no 4 (July 2013): 1486-98.

"Bourdieu Off-Broadway: Managing Distinction on a Shopping Block in the East Village," Sharon Zukin and Ervin Kosta, City and Community, vol. 3 [2], 2004.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Ervin maintains an affiliation with the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS) and American Sociological Association (ASA), where he is also a member of the Community and Urban Sociology Section (CUSS). He is also a member of the Urban Affairs Association (UAA) as well as an occasional attendee at Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference.

Starting January 2021, Ervin is serving as City & Community's Book Review Co-Editor, alongisde Sofya Aptekar. City & Community is the journal fo the Community and Urban Sociology Section [CUSS] of American Sociological Association. Here is a conversation with CUSS Newsletter editors about a new initiative on non-English book reviews. 

SERVICE PROJECTS

Since Fall 2018, Ervin has been serving as a member of the Geneva City Planning Board.

Related projects:

Professor Kosta leads a 2023 Spark! Project on downtown Geneva

Professor Kosta and his advisee Clare O’Connell got featured on HWS Social Media on mentorship

Professor Kosta's Soc of the City visits the Cracker Factory

Chloe Sudduth's Honors Project "Upscaling Downtown" gets published

Six Members of the HWS Faculty Earn Tenure

HWS Sociology Students present at NYSSA

Summer 2023 OFFICE HOURS:

By appointment.