About
DeAnna Y. Smith is a PhD candidate in sociology and a scholar of race, gender, punishment, and the family.
Her dissertation investigates how formerly incarcerated women and their families navigate surveillance and punishment after incarceration. Her previous research explores how Black mothers not commonly viewed as “at risk” for child protective services interventions respond to the threat of child separation. Her work has been supported by the Russell Sage Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG), and the Center for the Education of Women (CEW+). Her researchhas been published in Social Problems, Contexts, Annual Review of Sociology.
She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Northwestern University in 2016. Outside of research, she enjoys yoga, travel, literature, and pottery.
