Jessica Vasquez Tokos

Jessica Vasquez Tokos is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oregon within the College of Arts and Sciences. Joining the faculty in 2012 after a 5-year tenure at the University of Kansas, her work explores race/ethnicity, Mexican Americans/Latinos, family dynamics, gender, and intermarriage using qualitative methods.

• Education: B.A. in English (Princeton, 1998), PhD in Sociology (UC Berkeley, 2007)

Research Interests center on racial identity formation, life course sociology, family sociology, and intersectional analysis of race, gender, and class in Latino/x communities. Her recent work examines how racism manifests in family interactions, privacy, and identity negotiation.

Publication Trends show a focus on Latino/x middle-class experiences (2024), couple identity work (2024), racialization of privacy (2021), and life-course responses to racial stereotypes (2017-2020). Her 2025 book Burdens of Belonging expands these themes through chapters like White Comfort and Non-White Discomfort and Embodied Burdens.

Scientific Awards
• 2021 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award (ASA)
• 2017 University of Oregon Fund for Faculty Excellence Award
• 2012 Choice Outstanding Academic Title (American Library Association)
• 2010 Best Article Award (ASA Latino/a Sociology Section)

She has no listed advisees but has held prestigious fellowships including the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar appointment.