Sarah Mayorga

Sarah Mayorga is a Professor and Department Chair of Sociology at Brandeis University since 2020. Previously, she taught at the University of Cincinnati and University of Massachusetts Boston. She holds a PhD from Duke University. Her research focuses on racism, power dynamics in multiracial neighborhoods, racial capitalism, and Latinx sociology.

Key works include Behind the White Picket Fence (2014), which won a major sociology award, examining racial inequities in multiracial settings; Urban Specters (2023), analyzing racial capitalism in working-class neighborhoods; and A Good Reputation (2024), co-authored with Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, exploring barrio preservation in Houston. Her current research involves an oral history project on urban flooding in Waltham, MA, supported by MassHumanities.

Research interests span urban sociology, racial capitalism, qualitative methods, and whiteness studies. She teaches courses on race, urban sociology, and Latinx studies. Notable awards include the 2015 ASA Latino/a Sociology Section Book Award.

Mayorga’s work bridges academic research with community engagement, addressing systemic inequalities through ethnographic methods. Ongoing projects explore climate resilience in urban areas and the intersection of racial capitalism with everyday urban life.