Journeying into Academia via Immersion into Qualitative Research: Professor Shaffir as a Master Guide

Efa E. Etoroma

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.16.2.05

Authors

Efa E. Etoroma Concordia University of Edmonton, Canada https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5402-8883

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.16.2.05

Keywords:

Academia, Immersion, Validity, Research, Shaffir

Abstract

The choice of a work career is one of the most important events in a person’s life course and typically involves secondary socialization and identification with role models. This paper is concerned with the crucial role of my PhD dissertation supervisor at McMaster University, Dr. Billy Shaffir, in my choice of an academic career. I highlight and celebrate how, through the guidance of Dr. Shaffir, I experienced “immersive socialization” into field research and happily converted from an intended business career to an academic career.

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Author Biography

Efa E. Etoroma, Concordia University of Edmonton, Canada

Efa E. Etoroma holds a PhD degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Concordia University of Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Nigerian born, Efa moved to Canada in 1978 and has lived in the provinces of Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta. Efa has published on aspects of Black life in Canada and his current research interests include autoethnography, Black community building in Canada, and the social psychology of identity transformation among Blacks in Canada.

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