Brandon Folse is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oregon. He has broad research and teaching interests which include migration, disasters and climate change, rural sociology, sociology of culture, sociology of work, health inequalities, teaching sociology, and qualitative methods. Brandon has taught courses on consumption (SOC 399) and work and occupations (SOC 346). 

With a background in area studies, Brandon's earliest research focused on global citizenship hierarchies and the value of US citizenship outside of America’s borders. His M.A. project sought to understand how Chinese families who acquire US citizenship via "birth tourism" utilize and make sense of their children's foreign citizenship upon return home in China's domestic hukou system.

During the pandemic, Brandon’s research has shifted closer to home. His current dissertation project seeks to understand migration decisions in coastal Louisiana and how individuals from the area collectively envision the future of their rapidly changing communities.

Brandon has over 15 years of teaching experience. Prior to his time at the UO, he taught American literature and EFL at several educational institutions in China, including Shanxi University of Finance and Economics, Mercan English School, and The International High School Attached to Capital Normal University. 

Prior to entering the sociology program, Brandon earned an M.A. in Asian Studies at the University of Oregon (2017), and B.A. degrees in literature and history at Nicholls State University (2006).

Brandon's work has been published in Social Problems, Socius, and Teaching Sociology. For his work on birth tourism, he has been interviewed by the New York Times and featured in the Global Citizenship Observatory. His research has been funded by the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies and the Global Studies Institute. He was a 2015-2016 FLAS recipient. 

Brandon is currently working on a project translating children’s language learning apps into Mandarin.