Andrea Román Alfaro

Andrea Román Alfaro is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of New Mexico. Her work bridges sociology, criminology, feminist theory, and Latin American studies to analyze violence, policing, and social regulation across the Americas, focusing on marginalized women’s lived experiences. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Toronto (2024) and an M.A. in Sociology from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2016).

• Education:
  • Ph.D., Sociology, University of Toronto (2024)
  • M.A., Sociology, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (2016)

Her research examines violence’s horizontal and vertical dimensions, exploring how marginalized women navigate insecurity shaped by structural inequalities, state abandonment, and punitive interventions. Her first book, At the Crosslines of Violence: Women, Meaning-making, and Power in Peru’s Urban Margins, challenges dominant frameworks by centering women’s encounters with violence across domestic, community, and state contexts.

Recent publications in Gender & Society, Social Justice, and Curriculum Inquiry reflect her focus on feminist ethnography, Indigenous rights, liberatory pedagogy, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Her awards include grants from the American Sociological Association and the Peruvian Ministry of Culture.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Community Action Research Initiative Grant (ASA, 2023)
  • Social Actions Initiative Award (Sociologists for Women in Society, 2023)
  • Proyectos de Arte para la Transformación e Innovación Social (Ministerio de Cultura del Perú, 2022)

As a scholar-activist, she collaborates with communities to address social justice issues, including a participatory photography project in Peru and volunteer work with the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center. Her teaching emphasizes qualitative methodologies and transformative approaches to education.