Delaney JoLynn Glass
Assistant Professor of Biocultural Medical Anthropology, University of Toronto St. George
I am a mixed-methods, biocultural anthropologist and human biologist working primarily with Arab communities in North America and Jordan. I examine biocultural drivers and population health consequences of early life adversity and social inequalities on child and adolescent linear growth/body size, pubertal development, mental health, and wellbeing. I use frameworks and methods from medical anthropology, evolutionary biology, and qualitative health research. I am an Assistant Professor of Biocultural Medical Anthropology at The University of Toronto.
CURRENT RESEARCH AREAS
Psychosocial and energetic drivers of adolescent growth and development
Much of my prior research, including my dissertation, has been focused on cultural and ecological contributions to the timing and pace of human growth, development, and puberty. This area of my research is concerned with the ways early life adversities (psychosocial, nutritional, energetic) shape puberty and adolescent development, especially in global contexts of forced displacement, migration, and social inequality. Current directions in this area are focused on maximizing longitudinal observational data from Vietnam, The United States and Argentina, data science techniques, and anthropological knowledge to understand drivers of puberty. I welcome students who are interested in these broad topics and related topics (e.g., philosophical / history of science approaches about the social consequences of early puberty).
Pictured on the right: Prof Glass in the Biodemography Laboratory at The University of Washington preparing the lab space for analysis of urinary cortisol.
SAWA (سوا) : Social safety, Agency, and Well-being among Adolescents
An emerging area of my research group is considering how prosocial behavior and being safe/secure in social and familial relationships can foster empowerment and better health. SAWA is an Arabic word meaning "together" which broadly represents several related projects that think laterally about experiences of sociality, agency, and wellbeing among teenagers (and within families). I draw from Social Safety Theory (Slavich et. al. 2020, 2023), strengths-based approaches, and theories of biosocial embodiment to understand how social experience of adolescents potentially confers positive biological, developmental, neuroendocrine, and psychosocial outcomes.
I am currently working with large observational and cohort data from adolescents (refugee and host teens) living in Jordan and women exposed to violence and conflict at the Thai Myanamar border to advance an understanding of infrastructural inequality, social safety, and health outcomes. I am in the planning phases for ethnographic, mixed-methods fieldwork on these topics among Arab adolescents ages 10-18 in Amman, Jordan and Toronto, Canada that will eventually incorporate downstream biomarkers of cardiovascular health and stress. Students and potential post-doctoral scholars should contact me about fieldwork and data analysis opportunities.
Pictured on the right: Skyline of Amman, Jordan. Taken by Delaney from the neighborhood Jabal al-Weibdeh which is home to many youth and arts focused community spaces.
Meanings of Adolescence Within Multigenerational Contexts
The main projects in this area include revisiting the very notion of adolescence and what it means across contexts (e.g., Jordan and Canada). Specifically, projects in this theme ask how ideas, expectations, and coming-of-age practices are dynamic and changing across generations but also influenced by local and global culture and ecology. While this work is largely aiming to be qualitative in nature, it forms necessary foundations for fundamental questions about mental health, parent offspring congruence and conflict, and adolescent well-being. Forthcoming projects will take place in Amman, Jordan and Toronto, Ontario, Canada within the context of multigenerational families. I anticipate piloting data collection in Jordan and Canada in mid to late 2025.
Book an appointment with Delaney
Do you want to meet to talk or are you an interested student or collaborator? Schedule an appointment with me. Current University of Toronto students who are in my classes, please utilize office hours first, before making an appointment here.
Department of Anthropology
University of Toronto, St. George