Caty Taborda-Whitt

Graduate Student in Sociology
University of Minnesota

Anthony Bourdain, Honorary Sociologist

by Caty Taborda-Whitt on June 11, 2018 at Sociological Images
I was absolutely devastated to hear about Anthony Bourdain’s passing. I always saw Bourdain as more than just a celebrity chef or TV host. I saw him as one of us, a sociologist of sorts, someone deeply invested in understanding and teaching about culture and community. He had a gift for teaching us about social […]

Trevor Hoppe on Punishing Disease

by Caty Taborda-Whitt on Dec. 1, 2017 at Office Hours
In this episode, guest host Caty Taborda-Whitt sits down with Trevor Hoppe to discuss his new book, Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness, which looks at the public health response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The conversation focuses on how this infectious disease became a target for criminalization through policies and laws that punished […]

Jogging While Black

by Caty Taborda-Whitt on May 15, 2017 at Discoveries
Rashawn Ray, “Black People Don’t Exercise in My Neighborhood: Perceived Racial Composition and Leisure-time Physical Activity Among Middle Class Blacks and Whites,” Social Science Research, 2017 Research shows that both race and class can influence health, physical activity, and exercise, yet little is known about how multiple identities intersect to influence fitness habits. If middle-class […]

Stephen Ellingson on Religious Environmentalism

by Caty Taborda-Whitt on Jan. 17, 2017 at Office Hours
In his new book, To Care for Creation: the Emergence of the Religious Environmental Movement, Professor Stephen Ellingson explores new — and often localized — environmental activism among mainstream religious groups in the United States. Through interviews with over 60 organizations, he tells the story of how activists overcome the institutional, political, and cultural barriers that […]

Teaching Medical Students To Rethink Race

by Caty Taborda-Whitt on Jan. 12, 2017 at Clippings
Sociology thoroughly embraces the “social construction” of race — that the ways we see, interpret, and act upon people’s “race” are actually created and maintained because of social norms. This line of thinking hasn’t caught on everywhere and medicine — especially since the completion of the Human Genome Project — often treats race as a biological, scientific […]
More TSP with Caty

Caty’s research focuses on the intersections of medicine, law, and the body. She is especially interested in health inequalities and constructions of illness. Her current projects look at innovative health care delivery initiatives, public opinion about genetic testing, and commercial plasma clinics. She earned a B.A. in sociology from Hamilton College and an M.A. in sociology and women’s & gender studies from Brandeis University. She fills her free time with furniture rehabbing, barre classes, and gardening.