Raquel Delerme is a doctoral candidate in Sociology with research and teaching expertise in race-gender-class, law & society, and labor. She uses qualitative methods to investigate the mechanisms underlying the reproduction of inequality for women with criminal legal system contact. Her dissertation and book project examines how race, gender, and environmental consciousness are constituted through women’s penal labor in California’s fire camps. Raquel’s work has been published in Gender & Society and The Conversation and has received awards from the American Sociological Association, the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and the Eastern Sociological Society. Her work has been generously supported by external and internal grants and fellowships including the Haynes Lindley Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and the USC Mentored Teaching Fellowship. She is deeply committed to the cultivation of analytic and critical thinking skills in a diverse student population and has taught high school students, undergraduate students, and incarcerated students. Raquel will receive her PhD from the University of Southern California in May 2027.
