Jennifer Bickham Mendez
Professor and Chair
Office:
Boswell Hall 217
Email:
[[jbmend]]
Phone:
757-221-2603
Research Areas:
Immigration, Latino/a Studies, Border Studies, Citizenship and Belonging, Race/Class/Gender, Social Movements
Office Hours:
Tuesday 2-3:15 p.m., Wednesday 3:00-4:30 p.m., or by appointment.
Areas of Specialization
Latino/a (im)migration, gender and globalization, citizenship, border studies, labor, and social movements
Education
B.A., Oberlin College
M.A. and Ph.D., the University of California, Davis
Honors and Awards
- Inaugural Award for Excellence in Teaching, Political Economy of the World System Section, American Sociological Association, 2018
- Diversity Recognition Award. Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, William & Mary, 2013
- Outstanding Article Award. Sex and Gender Section of the American Sociological Association. “Enforcing Borders in the Nuevo South: Gender and Migration in Williamsburg, Virginia and the Research Triangle, North Carolina (co-authored with Natalia Deeb-Sossa), 2010
- Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence, William & Mary, 2010
- Annual Book Award. The Political Economy of the World System Section of the American Sociological Association. From the Revolution to the Maquiladoras: Gender, Labor and Globalization in Nicaragua, 2008.
- President’s Award for Service to the Community, William & Mary, 2004
Background
Jennifer Bickham Mendez is Professor and Chair of Sociology at William & Mary where she has conducted research and taught courses for close to 25 years. She is the author of From the Revolution to the Maquiladoras: Gender, Labor and Globalization in Nicaragua (Duke University Press 2005), and the co-editor (with Natalia Deeb-Sossa) of Latinx Belonging: Community-Building and Resilience in the United States (University of Arizona Press, 2022) and Border Politics: Social Movements, Collective Identity, and Globalization (with Nancy Naples, New York University Press 2015). Her scholarship has appeared in a variety of academic journals, including Ethnic and Racial Studies, Gender & Society, Mobilization and Social Problems as well as several anthologies. Her most recent work investigates the struggles of marginalized groups in Williamsburg, Virginia—including immigrant mothers from Latin America, English learner high schoolers, and a community organization dedicated to racial justice—as they contend with global and local forces of exclusion and seek belonging, justice and inclusion.
Research
Professor Bickham Mendez' published work has appeared in a variety of academic journals, including Social Problems, Gender and Society, Mobilization, and Ethnic and Racial Studies as well as in numerous edited volumes. She is the author of From the Revolution to the Maquiladoras: Gender, Labor and Globalization in Nicaragua (2005 Duke University Press) and the co-editor of two anthologies: Border Politics: Social Movements, Collective Identity, and Globalization (with Nancy Naples, 2015, NYU Press) and Latinx Belonging: Community-Building and Resilience in the United States (with Natalia Deeb-Sossa, 2022, University of Arizona Press).
