Sociologist Cecilia Menjívar has made significant contributions to the studies of international migration, the structural roots of inequalities, state power, gender-based violence against women, and legal regimes. Her work focuses on the way state power manifests through legal regimes, bureaucracies, and formal institutions in the microprocesses of everyday life in various contexts. Menjívar has studied extensively the impacts of immigration laws and multisided violence towards women, particularly in the contexts of gender and family dynamics and religious institutions.
Professional positions
- 2018–present: Professor and Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair, University of California, Los Angeles
- 2015–2018: Foundation Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas
- 2005–2015: Associate (2005–2007) and Cowden Distinguished Professor (2008–2015), School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University
- 1996–2005: Assistant (1996–2001) and associate (2001–2005) professor, School of Justice and Social Inquiry, Arizona State University
Notable publications
- Menjívar, Cecilia. 2022. “Possibilities for sociological research to reduce inequalities: Observations from the immigration scholarship.” Socius 8.
- Menjívar, Cecilia, and Leisy Abrego. “Legal violence: Immigration law and the lives of Central American immigrants.” American Journal of Sociology 117(5): 1380–1421.
- Menjívar, Cecilia. 2006. “Liminal legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants’ lives in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 111(4): 999–1037.
- Menjívar, Cecilia. 2000. Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Degrees
- PhD, sociology, University of California, Davis
- MA, sociology, University of California, Davis
- MS, international education, University of Southern California
- BA, psychology and sociology, University of Southern California
