Tracy Perkins will be an Assistant Professor at Howard University beginning in the fall of 2015, after completing her PhD in Sociology at UC Santa Cruz. She specializes in environmental sociology and social movements. Her current work analyzes the evolution of environmental justice activism in California over the last three decades. Her prior research in California’s San Joaquin Valley questioned common narratives of motherhood as the most important factor drawing women into environmental justice activism. That research also led to the creation of Voices from the Valley, which uses photography, theater, oral history, the news media and teaching resources to educate the public about environmental justice problems and advocacy.
Tracy has published in Organization & Environment and Boom: A Journal of California, and has a chapter in the edited book Sociologists in Action on Inequalities: Race, Class and Gender. Tracy holds a BA in Development Studies from UC Berkeley and a MS in Community Development from UC Davis. See more of her work at tracyperkins.org.