Mellissa Linton

Dr. Mellissa Linton is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. As a core faculty member of the Women and Gender Studies unit in SST, she also coordinates the undergraduate LGBT Studies Certificate. Her research centers on Central American civil rights, reproductive justice, and ethnic studies, with notable publications on transborder activism along the U.S./Mexico borderlands and fetal personhood laws. She earned her PhD in ethnic studies from UC San Diego and holds a BA in English and American Studies & Ethnicity from USC.

In light of the 2022 federal overturn of Roe v. Wade through Dobbs v. Jackson, Dr. Linton has emerged as a leading voice on reproductive rights legislation. Her scholarly work includes peer-reviewed articles in outlets such as Ms. Magazine, The Chicana/Latina Studies Journal of MALCS, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Refugee Studies, and the Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (GLQ). Central to her approach is reproductive justice, a framework rooted in Black feminist epistemology and praxis. This perspective advocates not only for individual reproductive autonomy but also for the right to raise families in safe, sustainable environments. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of water access, racism, and poverty as critical factors impacting reproductive well-being.

Guided by these principles, Dr. Linton authored her first book, El Salvador Reborn: Abortion, Environment, and the Politics of Survival in a Postwar Nation (University of Arizona Press, 2026). The book explores how reproductive and environmental movements influence contested ideas of "life" in post-1992 Peace Accords El Salvador. Her ethnographic research highlights Salvadorans as active political agents committed to remaining in their homeland, challenging narratives that depict them solely as migrants.

Her second book, tentatively titled Fertility in Flux, is underway. This qualitative study examines the social implications of declining fertility rates, offering insights into the social and political factors behind the lowest U.S. birth rates since World War II.