Race & Ethnicity Studies

Our Faculty

    • NAME

      Melissa Johnson

    • TITLE

      Professor of Anthropology and Chair

    • Specialty

      Topical: Nature, the non-human and the human; Race and Racism; Environment; Conservation; Development Social Theory; Environmental History; Tourism; Gender. Area: Belize; Caribbean; U.S.-Mexico Borderlands; Central Texas

    • NAME

      Alison Kafer

    • TITLE

      Professor of Feminist Studies

    • Specialty

      Disability Studies, Feminist and Queer Theory, Activism

    • NAME

      Maria Lowe

    • TITLE

      Professor of Sociology

    • Specialty

      Race relations and racism, gender construction and performance, surveillance studies, campus climate research (race, gender, and sexual orientation), the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, social movements and activism

    • NAME

      Angeles Rodriguez Cadena

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Spanish

    • Specialty

      Contemporary Mexican and Latin American Literature and Culture.

    • NAME

      David Asbury

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Music

    • Specialty

      Guitar, Music Theory, Music Technology

    • NAME

      Michael Bray

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Philosophy

    • Specialty

      Political Philosophy; Critical Theory

    • NAME

      Melissa Byrnes

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of History

    • Specialty

      Modern European History, France and the French Empire, Migration, Muslims and the Islamic World, Human Rights, Humanitarianism

    • NAME

      Carlos De Oro

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Spanish

    • Specialty

      Contemporary Latin American Literature and Culture

    • NAME

      Abby Dings

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Spanish

    • Specialty

      Second Language Acquisition, Hispanic Linguistics, Interactional Competence

    • NAME

      Patrick Hajovsky

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Art History

    • Specialty

      Pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin America

    • NAME

      Jethro Hernandez Berrones

    • TITLE

      Assistant Professor of History

    • Specialty

      Geographic: Mexico, Latin America. Thematic: Medicine, Public Health, and Science

    • NAME

      Joseph Hower

    • TITLE

      Visiting Assistant Professor of History

    • Specialty

      U.S. History, Labor and Politics in Modern America, Social Movements, Urban History, Policy History

    • NAME

      Kathleen Juhl

    • TITLE

      Professor of Theatre

    • Specialty

      Voice, Alexander Technique, Acting, Theatre for Social Change

    • NAME

      Jim Kilfoyle

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of English

    • Specialty

      Eighteenth-century British literature, postcolonial literature, literary theory

    • NAME

      Kenneth Mello

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Religion

    • Specialty

      Native American traditions, Folklore, Contemporary Native Identity, Sacred Space, Gender and Sexuality, Myth and Narrative, and other non-textual religious traditions.

    • NAME

      Helene Meyers

    • TITLE

      Professor of English and Holder of McManis University Chair

    • Specialty

      Jewish American Literature and Film, Feminist Theory, Gothic Studies, Interdisciplinarity and the Liberal Arts in the 21st Century

    • NAME

      Allison Miller

    • TITLE

      Assistant Professor of Art History

    • Specialty

      East Asian Art History; Art and Archaeology of Early China

    • NAME

      Alicia Moore

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Education

    • Specialty

      Multiculturalism/Culturally Responsive Teaching; Differentiated Instruction for diverse populations; Early Childhood Best Practices

    • NAME

      Sandi Nenga

    • TITLE

      Professor of Sociology

    • Specialty

      Children and youth; social class; volunteer work and civic engagement; qualitative methods

    • NAME

      Valerie Renegar

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Communication Studies

    • Specialty

      Rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist movements, third wave feminism, environmental rhetoric, Kenneth Burke.

    • NAME

      Omar Rivera

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Philosophy

    • Specialty

      Latin American Philosophy, Decolonial Philosophy, Race and Ethnicity, Political Philosophy, Aesthetics, 19th and 20th Century Continental Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy

    • NAME

      Catherine Bourland Ross

    • TITLE

      Professor of Spanish

    • Specialty

      ”

      I fell in love with the Spanish language at an early age, and I have studied it ever since. In college, I spent time in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in Madrid, Spain. During my graduate studies, I discovered post-Franco Spanish literature, and that became the focus of my academic career. Teaching Spanish language classes helps me remember those moments when another language starts to make sense, when you really start to gain proficiency. It is exciting to see my students go through that process. In my upper level courses, I focus on twentieth and twenty-first century peninsular Spanish literature and film, especially focusing on issues of race and gender. Most of my students start out unfamiliar with these topics, or at least unfamiliar with the topics from a Spanish perspective. Together we discover how literature and film can represent –and misrepresent–culture.

    • NAME

      Eric Selbin

    • TITLE

      Professor of Political Science

    • Specialty

      Comparative Politics (Comparative Revolutions; Contentious Politics; Latin American and Caribbean Politics; Ideologies); International Politics (Peace and Conflict; IR Theory); Political Sociology.

    • NAME

      Brenda Sendejo

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Anthropology

    • Specialty

      Anthropology of religion, Mexican American spiritualities and indigenous heritage, gender and racialization, and Chicana feminisms. Geographic specialization: U.S. - Mexico Borderlands, Central and South Texas.

    • NAME

      Emily Sydnor

    • TITLE

      Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science

    • Specialty

      political communication, political psychology, political behavior, public opinion

    • NAME

      Johnson, Melissa

    • DEPARTMENT

      Sociology & Anthropology

    • TITLE

      Professor of Anthropology

    • PHONE

      (512) 863-1406

    • E-MAIL

      meljohn@southwestern.edu

    • LOCATION

      Mood-Bridwell 310