Migration and borders, humanitarianism, securitization, kinship and family, East Africa, the Horn of Africa, North America
Sophia Balakian is a sociocultural anthropologist and a scholar of forced migration. Prior to and during her time at George Mason, she was an Academy Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International & Area Studies. She also taught in the African Studies Program at Penn State University.
Balakian’s current research focuses on the intersections of migration and kinship, and humanitarianism and securitization both globally and as they pertain to U.S. policy. Her forthcoming book, “The Right Refugees: Resettlement & the Politics of Kinship,” examines the post-9/11 securitization of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and the ways in which people from Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo navigate bureaucratic systems and security technologies that structure humanitarian programs today. The book highlights the role of kinship and family in humanitarian and government refugee resettlement programs, and for those who are rebuilding families in the aftermath of displacement. The book is based on long-term ethnographic research between Nairobi, Kenya and Columbus, Ohio.
Balakian’s new research project investigates the ways in which people originally from east Africa navigate U.S. policies and practices around caregiving, especially childcare. How do people re-imagine what constitutes good care in new social and economic environments?
Balakian has published in the journals Ethnic and Racial Studies, Anthropologica, and African Studies Review, and in the edited volume, Global Perspectives on the United States.
Balakian, S. 2020 “Navigating Patchwork Governance: Somalis in Kenya, National Security, and Refugee Resettlement.” African Studies Review 63(1):43-64.
Balakian, S. and V. Dominguez. 2019 “The Promise and The Lost City of Z: Diasporas, Cinematic Imperialism, and Commercial Films.” Anthropologica 61(1):150-61.
Balakian, S. 2016 “‘Money Is Your Government’: Refugees, Mobility, and Unstable Documents in Kenya’s Operation Usalama Watch.” African Studies Review 59(2):87-111.
2022-23 Academy Scholar
Harvard Academy for International & Area Studies
2019-20 Academy Scholar
Harvard Academy for International & Area Studies
2016 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship,
American Council of Learned Societies
2016 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (declined),
Woodrow Wilson Foundation
2013 Dissertation Fieldwork Grant,
The Wenner-Gren Foundation
2013 International Dissertation Research Fellowship,
Social Science Research Council
PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Anthropology
BA, Cornell University, Anthropology, summa cum laude
2020 “Refugee Families in the Era of Global Securitization.” Interview with Chris Gratien. Ottoman History Podcast. July 29. https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2020/07/family-reunification.html
2017 “What Does Refugee Vetting Look Like on the Ground?” Expert Viewpoints. March 21. https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/476962
2016 “Risk, Refugees, and the Politics of Blame: the U.S. After the Paris Attacks.” Unstratified. January 25. https://unstratifiedarchaeology.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/risk-refugees-and-the-politics-of-blame-the-us-after-the-paris-attacks/