Taylor Maudlin
Master's Student
Degrees: | A.S. Interdisciplinary Studies (College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick, Georgia, U.S.); B.S. Integrative Studies conc. Communications (Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, U.S.); Graduate Diploma in Work & Labour in progress (Institute of Political Economy). |
Thesis title: “Serving Consumer Expectations: Women Servers’ Interpretations of Job Requirements“
Description: My research looks at the deployment of aesthetic labour in the food service industry, utilizing an intersectional lens to analyze the way that certain traits and attributes are commodified for corporate gain. The food service industry is one with a history of gendered and racialized divisions, and I conducted qualitative interviews with servers from Ottawa to explore this in a Canadian context. Through women servers’ perspectives, my thesis looks at the way that recruiting, hiring, training, and job requirements contribute to these gendered and racialized divisions.
Supervisor: Megan Rivers-Moore
“My main research interest is the intersection of sexism and racism and their roles in precarity in the food-service industry, but I am also interested in the role of consumerism in maintaining capitalism in the Americas, as well as the use of social media as a method of organizing political movements.
What I like about the program is how inclusive it is. Everyone I have met in the department/program has been warm and welcoming, and I have found a great community with my cohort. This has made all the difference in my experience so far.”