Marya Mtshali

Educational Background

Ph.D., Sociology, Boston College

B.S., Sociology, Arizona State University

B.S., Marketing, Arizona State University

Research and Teaching Interests

Intersectionality, Sex and Gender, Race and Ethnicity, Sociology of Knowledge, Political Misinformation, Digital Sociology, Political Sociology, Black Political Thought

Courses Typically Offered

SOCI 100: Introduction to Sociology

SOCI 258: Gender, Race, and Poverty in the United States

SOCI 355: Technology, Power, and Politics

Recent Awards

2023-2026 The C. Graydon & Mary E. Rogers Fellowship, Bucknell University

2021-2023 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School

2021 Bok Faculty Fellow, Harvard University

Selected Publications

Mtshali, Marya Thembi. 2023. “‘Racial Heterosexual Habitus’ and Management of Racial Education Discussions within Black Female/White Male Romantic Relationships." Sociological Forum 38 (1).

Mtshali, Marya T. and Breanne Fahs. 2014. “Catherine Breillat’s Romance and Anatomy of Hell: Subjectivity and the Gendering of Sexuality.” Women: A Cultural Review 25 (2): 160-75.

Selected Media and Public Writing

“When mixed-race couples talk about race,” Nikki Rojas, Harvard Gazette, July 11, 2023

“The Unbearable Whiteness of Camping,” Elizabeth Segran, Fast Company, November 5, 2021

“Why Marriage is Still a Sexist Institution – and What We Can Do about It,” Sara M Moniuszko, USA Today, August 4, 2021

“Read the Marshall Project on police use of force against Black girls,” Andy Downing, Columbus Alive, November 3, 2021

Mtshali, Marya T. 2021. “The Great Outdoors was Socially Engineered for White People.” The Nation.

Mtshali, Marya T. 2021. “White People in Interracial Relationships Understand Racism Better, Sure, but at What Cost to Black Partners?” Cosmopolitan.

"Why Asian and Black Americans continue to experience COVID-19-related discrimination — and what you can do about it," Meera Jagannathan, MarketWatch, July 17, 2020

Mtshali, Marya T. 2020. “How Medical Bias against Black People is Shaping Covid-19 Treatment and Care.” Vox.