About
Violet Lis Okwuazu is a doctoral student in Sociology at the University of Michigan. She received her B.A. in Politics from the University of San Francisco, where her research explored Black immigrant identity, conservatism, and political belonging in the United States.
Her broader research interests center on race, migration, law, criminalization, and state institutions, with a particular focus on how legal and political systems shape processes of racial governance and social exclusion. She is especially interested in the intersections of immigration, policing, legal classification, and institutional power.
Before beginning graduate study, Violet worked in policy and legal settings, including public defense and criminal justice reform spaces, experiences that continue to shape her sociological approach to law, inequality, and state power.
