Micol Seigel

Micol Seigel is Professor of American Studies and History at Indiana University Bloomington, where she teaches in the Department of American Studies within the College of Arts & Sciences. Her scholarly work bridges historical analysis with contemporary social justice concerns, focusing particularly on policing, prisons, and race across the Americas.

Seigel's research interests span race in the Americas, racial theory, transnational methodology, popular culture, Brazil, Latin American studies, history, mass incarceration, the cold war, postcolonial and queer theory, and cultural studies. Her work critically examines the nature of police work and the assumptions that underlie its legitimacy in democratic societies. She has developed significant expertise in transnational approaches to studying racial formations and state power, with particular attention to Brazil and the United States.

Her publication record reveals consistent scholarly engagement with the intersections of race, state power, and carceral systems. The trajectory of her work shows increasing focus on contemporary policing and incarceration issues, while maintaining her foundational expertise in transnational racial formations. Her scholarship demonstrates a methodological commitment to crossing disciplinary boundaries and national frameworks.

• Fulbright Distinguished Chair in International Relations at University of São Paulo (2018-19)
• Visiting Scholar, Charles Warren Center for Historical Studies, Harvard University (2017-2018)
• American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)/Oscar Handlin Fellowship (2012)
• Finalist, Lora Romero first book prize of the American Studies Association (2010)
• Fellowship, Society for the Humanities, Cornell University (2006-07)

Professor Seigel is actively engaged in community organizing around prison and policing issues. She is a founding organizer of the Critical Prison Studies Caucus of the American Studies Association, a longtime member of Critical Resistance, a founding member of Decarcerate Monroe County, and an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program instructor. Her current research focuses on charting the flows of finance through the family policing system in Indiana and beyond, while she simultaneously organizes to prevent local jail expansion in Bloomington.