Vivian Swayne

Vivian Swayne is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a PhD in Sociology (2024) from the same institution, specializing in criminology with certificates in social theory and women, gender, and sexuality studies. Her research focuses on policing, sexuality, cultural studies, and housing insecurity. Notable projects include work on murals analyzing police power, community safety infrastructure critiques, and social media discourses on gender and housing.

Her roles include Project Manager for Abolition Now, a platform showcasing anti-incarceration art, and Sexuality Fellow at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), contributing to the Fluid Homes data project. She also serves as Newsletter Editor for the American Sociological Association’s Sex and Gender Section.

Swayne’s methodological expertise spans NVivo, Dedoose, R, and mixed media analysis. She has collaborated on Southern police call data studies and arts-based research on queer identity. Formerly, she worked as a residential counselor supporting trauma survivors and those involved in the criminal legal system.

Her artistic endeavors include being a sousaphonist in the Knoxville Honkers and Bangers marching band. Research interests intersect abolition theory, visual criminology, and intersectional justice.