Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz

Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz is an Ad Hoc Assistant Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University's Department of Sociology since 2016. He holds a PhD from Brown University, an MA from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and a BA from Northeastern Illinois University. He was on leave for the 2022-2023 academic year. His research focuses on the Sociology of Knowledge and Culture, Race and Ethnicity, Political Sociology, and Science and Technology Studies. He is renowned for his award-winning book Figures of the Future: Latino Civil Rights and the Politics of Demographic Change (2021), analyzing how demographic shifts influence Latino civil rights advocacy. His current projects include a collaborative study on race and political trust and a community-based archive project on Chicago's anti-colonial Puerto Rican movements.

Education:

• PhD in Sociology, Brown University
• MA in Sociology, University of Illinois-Chicago
• BA in Sociology, Northeastern Illinois University

Research Interests: Rodríguez-Muñiz explores intersections between race, demography, and political processes. His work bridges STS with racial theory, examining how knowledge systems shape societal structures. Recent projects include analyzing census methodologies, political representation, and the legacies of Puerto Rican activism in Chicago.

Publications: His work spans journals like American Journal of Sociology and Cambridge Handbook of Political Sociology, with articles addressing racial arithmetic, state legibility, and poverty knowledge. His publications emphasize critical approaches to understanding systemic inequities.

Awards: His dissertation received an unspecified major award, forming the basis of his first book.

Teaching and Advising: He teaches courses on race and racial knowledge, ethnographic methods, and Latino identity politics. No specific grants or advising records are listed.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates on a community-based archive project documenting Chicago’s Puerto Rican anti-colonial movements, blending academic rigor with grassroots engagement.