External links
- Faculty Homepage at Victoria University, Melbourne
- Christopher Sonn publications indexed by Google Scholar
Christopher Sonn | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Professor of Psychology |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Chisholm Institute of Technology; Victoria College; Victoria University of Technology |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Victoria University,Melbourne |
Christopher Conrad Sonn (born 1967) is an Australian social psychologist whose work in the area of community and liberation psychology focuses on intergroup relations,racism,White privilege,and non-dominant group responses to oppression. [1] Sonn is Professor of Psychology at the College of Health and Biomedicine of the Victoria University,Melbourne (VU). [2]
Sonn is a lead researcher in the VU Community Identity and Displacement Research Network,which studies issues related to indigenous peoples,social justice,racism,refugees,social inclusion,transnationalism and xenophobia. Sonn is the co-author of the textbook Social Psychology of Everyday Life [3] and co-editor of the volumes Psychology of Liberation:Theory and Applications, [4] and Psychological Sense of Community:Research,Applications,and Implications. [5]
Sonn attended the Chisholm Institute of Technology,where he received his Bachelor of Arts. He later obtained a Graduate Diploma of Education from Victoria College and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Psychology from the Victoria University of Technology in Melbourne,Australia. Sonn completed his PhD in Psychology at Victoria University of Technology in 1995. [6] His dissertation titled "The role of psychological sense of community in the adjustment of 'coloured' South African immigrants" was conducted under the guidance of Adrian Fisher,Professor Emeritus at Victoria University. [7]
He is a lead researcher on the international Apartheid Archive Project. [8] [9]
Sonn's research uses qualitative methods to understand and elevate the voices of individuals and groups who are marginalized through forms of racism and sexism. [2] Sonn and his colleagues' work has explored the idea of community resilience and how different communities or people of varying in race and/or gender respond to conditions of adversity and cope with stress and other issues. [10] The researchers argued that oppressed,minority communities are often represented as lacking in resilience and competence,which makes it easy for people in these groups to be underemphasized and misunderstood in society. [10] Sonn's research team uses the concept of whiteness and its associated privileges as a context for thinking about race relations and developing effective forms of anti-racist action. [11]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)