Marta-Laura Haynes

Marta-Laura Haynes is a tenure track Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, where she also serves as the Major Coordinator for the Deviance, Crime, and Culture Program. Her academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2018), an M.Phil. in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford (2011), and a B.A. in Philosophy and Culture from the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany (2009).

Dr. Haynes specializes in cultural anthropology with a focus on policing, urban violence, race, gender, inequality, and social justice. Her research particularly examines 'democratic' or 'innovative' policing projects in the Global South, with extensive ethnographic work conducted in Brazil. She is the author of the forthcoming book 'Untrusting: In Pursuit of Democratic Policing in Brazil' (Columbia University Press), which explores the complex relationship between trust, policing, and social hierarchies in contexts of violence and inequality.

Her recent scholarly work examines the racialized and gendered dimensions of trust in policing contexts, with publications appearing in journals such as Feminist Anthropology, City & Society, and The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. Dr. Haynes' research demonstrates how trust operates as a contested concept deeply entangled with local hierarchies of race, gender, and class in Brazilian policing contexts, revealing trust as an active process performed, negotiated, and contested rather than a universal ideal.

Dr. Haynes has received several prestigious awards including:

• CUNY Faculty Fellowship Publication Program (2020)
• Andrew W. Mellon Public Humanities Fellowship (2017)
• SSRC Drugs, Security, and Democracy Fellowship (2014)
• Scott-Kloeck Jenson International Internship Award (2014)
• Tinker & Nave Research Award (2013)

She maintains active involvement with professional organizations including the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA), and American Anthropological Association (AAA). Dr. Haynes teaches courses including Ethnography of Youth & Justice, Culture & Crime, and Ethnographic Research Methods. Fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, German, and English, she brings a multilingual and multicultural perspective to her research on Brazilian policing and social justice issues.