Michaela Simmons

Michaela’s research addresses the enduring consequences of racial inequality in the American welfare state through an examination of social citizenship, family, and childhood. Her dissertation is a study of the racial politics of foster care development in the early twentieth century. Specifically, the dissertation accounts for the vast demographic changes in foster care during the post-WWII decades, and examines how private and public child welfare services struggled to define the contours of racial responsibility during this era. At Stanford, she will be teaching a course entitled Race, Family, and the State that surveys how important state systems such as criminal justice, immigration, and welfare have shaped the legal possibilities for family life in America. Prior to coming to Stanford, Michaela has worked as a writing assistant at the Graduate Writing Center at UC Berkeley. She holds a BA from UC San Diego and a PhD in Sociology from UC Berkeley.