Laurie Kain Hart

Laurie Kain Hart is a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA, also serving as Co-Director of the Center for European and Russian Studies. Her research focuses on ethnopolitical conflict, urban anthropology, spatial theory, and medical anthropology. She holds degrees including a Ph.D. from Harvard University and an M.Arch. from UC Berkeley.

Her work bridges sociocultural anthropology with architectural theory, examining how spatial and environmental forces shape social inequality. Current projects include a co-authored book on US inner-city health risk environments, analyzing carceral systems and neoliberalism's impact on marginalized communities. She has conducted long-term fieldwork in Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican ghettos and Greece, addressing issues like post-civil war spatial orders and refugee experiences.

Key research themes include structural violence, urban segregation, and the interplay between macro-political forces and individual subjectivity. Her interdisciplinary affiliations span the UCLA Semel Institute’s Center for Social Medicine and the International Institute (Global Studies).

Publications highlight urban violence dynamics, border studies, and the political economy of narcotics markets. Ongoing work explores mental health and incarceration in Los Angeles, as well as the Aegean refugee crisis in the context of global inequality.