Student Information
Graduate Student
Sociology
The College of Lib Arts & Sci
Long Bio
Amina Melendez-Mayfield (she/her) is a PhD student in the Sociology program of the Standford School of Social and Family Dynamics. Her research focuses on Black, Afro-Latina, and Black queers engagement in space making in educational and noneducational spaces and how specific combinations of identity shape their experience. She plans to use her research to theorize how educational institutions have created spaces of insecurity, and othering, in efforts of altering educational institutions that do not recognize or provide safe spaces for queerness or people of color. Additionally, she plans to further explore Black gatekeeping and its role in Black queers engagement in space making.
Education
B.A . in Sociology; Criminal Justice, Central Michigan University, 2020
M.A. in Justice Studies, Arizona State University, 2022
Research Interests
Queer Studies
Critical Race Theory
Intersectionality
Black Masculinity
Whiteness
Education
Youth Studies
Qualitative Methods
Presentations
" We Are Not Them"; Youth Attitudes & Experiences with Familial Incarceration, Teacher Educators of Children with Behavioral Disorders Conference, Tempe, AZ, November 2022 ( with Vera Lopez, Heather Griller Clark, Hayley Worrell, Annee Grayson, Erin Clancy, Marcella Alexander, and Haleigh Branstetter)
“We Are Not Them”; Youth Attitudes & Experiences with Familial Incarceration, National Children of Incarcerated Parents Conference, Virtual, April 2023 (with Vera Lopez, Heather Griller Clark, Erin Clancy, Marcella Alexander, and Haleigh Branstetter)
Black Queer Experiences in Lower and Higher Educational Settings, 53rd Annual Conference of The Association of Black Sociologists, Philadelphia, PA, August 2023
Unpacking Social Realities: Experiences with Discrimination Among LGBTQ+ Individuals, 95th Annual Pacific Sociological Association Conference, San Diego, California, March 2024
Resilience and Renewal: Latina Graduate Voices on Healing in Academia, LatinX Studies Association Conference, Tempe, AZ, April 2024
Professional Associations
American Sociological Association