Demetrius Miles Murphy, Ph.D.
@demetriusmurphy.bsky.social
I’m an urban and economic sociologist of race & culture, studying how Black communities cultivate flourishing across the Americas. https://bio.site/DemetriusMurphy
NEW BOOK! I'm very happy to say that my new book, Utopia, co-written with Douglas Mao, has been published on-line academic.oup.com/book/62279
Utopia
Abstract. Ideal societies, better worlds, more just and peaceful ways of living: these have long been the stuff of human beings’ social dreaming. In this c
academic.oup.com
Excited to have a new piece in the Fall 2025 issue of Contexts journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Hearing Colorblindness, Seeing Anti-Blackness in Brazil - Demetrius Miles Murphy, 2025
Demetrius Miles Murphy on political rhetoric versus reality.
journals.sagepub.com
Contexts Magazine@contexts.org · 8mo agoHot off the presses! Contexts co-editors @aminghaziani.bsky.social & @sethabrutyn.bsky.social, along with senior managing editor @lettapage.bsky.social, are signing off with the Fall 2025 issue. Read it here: journals.sagepub.com/toc/ctxa/24/4 @sagepublishing.bsky.social
How did Black families travel during the Jim Crow era? Learn the history, explore the data and contribute. Start local: search your city on the Community Map, and add your story to this living history. greenbookproject.org.ohio-state.edu #GreenBookProject #CommunityMap #EconSky
This will be a long thread on yesterday police massacre in Rio. In nothern Rio de Janeiro city, there is a couple of hills called Complexo da Penha. It's Comando Vermelho("Red Command", a drug gang), or CV, territory. CV is the greatest gang in Rio, second in the whole Brazil. +
yazikus@yazikus.bsky.social · 9mo ago🧵 Awful awful massacre in Brazil
Gente, é o maior massacre no Brasil desde o Araguaia. Entendo quem quer puxar pra Canudos ou Contestado ou etc, mas não podemos livrar a ditadura de 64 só porque ela escondia melhor seus corpos. Morreram 41 guerrilheiros comunistas e mais de 1200 camponeses no Araguaia.
I spent six months walking the Lower Ninth Ward, speaking w/ dozens of neighbors, + combing through 6,000 pages of FOIA docs. My latest reveals what recent documentaries left out. If Katrina’s legacy moved you, don’t miss what’s happening to the community now capitalbnews.org/katrina-anni...
How a $5 Billion Federal Project Could Sink the Lower Ninth Ward For Good
Decades after Betsy and Katrina, the community faces another threat — a canal proposal promising “progress” that could threaten its survival.
capitalbnews.org
Excited about my latest publication in Qualitative Sociology! I explore how Black residents in a resource scarce ”desert” perceive access to groceries, pharmacies, and parks and why their lived realities often diverge from GIS-based assessments of access. doi.org/10.1007/s111... DM me for a link!
In the Eye of the Beholder: Exploring Perceived Access in an Urban Resource Desert - Qualitative Sociology
Neighborhood resource access is a critical determinant of health and well-being, yet traditional measures often overlook the subjective experiences of residents in under-resourced areas. This study ex...
doi.org
I am thrilled to co-organize with @laceesatcher.bsky.social the mini-conference "Black Placemaking and Worldmaking: Space, Power, and Possibility" at the 2026 Eastern Sociological Society (ESS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. If the call resonates with you, please submit your work.
I'm delighted to share my new article in @readdemography.bsky.social!
Demography - the flagship journal of PAA@readdemography.bsky.social · 12mo ago“Female Advantages in Education & Union Formation”: @danielaurbinaj.bsky.social uses DHS & Colombia census data to assess changes in union entry & assortative mating in a middle-income setting where women are, overall, better educated. @uscsociology.bsky.social read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
Ruth Wilson Gilmore said, “No abolitionist who is a true abolitionist wants to save money. What we want is for the money to be spent, to enhance, and support human life so that it can flourish in a way that doesn’t destroy the planet. We’re not about cost-savings.” Save lives, not money.
Justified critiques of the Biden admin abound, but they deserve enormous credit for their stance on the 2022 Brazilian election. Events over last week make absolutely clear that if Trump had been president when Bolsonaro lost, Brazilian democracy would have been mortally wounded
🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️ Trump Pledges 50% Tariffs Against Brazil, Citing ‘Witch Hunt’ Against Bolsonaro www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/w...
Trump Pledges 50% Tariffs Against Brazil, Citing ‘Witch Hunt’ Against Bolsonaro
nytimes.com
Good morning to those commemorating the struggle for freedom, fervently defending freedom's possibilities for our descendants, and having a good time doing it. #HappyJuneteenth
I’m so happy to boost this amazing news! Please share your stories about successful defenses and such on the #Blackademics feed using #wemadeit because it takes a village!!
Demetrius Miles Murphy, Ph.D.@demetriusmurphy.bsky.social · last yr.I’m excited to share that I defended my Ph.D. and will join Boston College this fall as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and African and African Diaspora Studies. Thank you to my committee, academic community, and family for their unwavering support and love.
I’m excited to share that I defended my Ph.D. and will join Boston College this fall as an Assistant Professor of Sociology and African and African Diaspora Studies. Thank you to my committee, academic community, and family for their unwavering support and love.
TLP invites proposals for “Aesthetics of Joy and Refuge in Contemporary Culture” an interdisciplinary, open call conference to be held on October 10, 2025 at NYU. We are interested in original contributions that examine contemporary visual and expressive culture across disciplines. Learn more in 🔗
Y'all see Tressie getting it. This brought me joy. Add a little joy to your timelines, too.
Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · last yr.Okay so Jake’s pictures made me emotional. 😭😭 #followme
Truly appreciating meeting & conversing w/ dope scholars this academic yr before sabbatical. Thank you again @k-till.bsky.social @dmmurphy.bsky.social for our convos, laughter, & pushing students @ Pitzer to think through complex matters & showcasing young scholars changing things in sociology.
I had a great time delivering a talk for the Racial Justice Initative at Pitzer College. HUGE s/o and thank you to Dr. Alicia Bonaparte for the invite, coordination, and being a guiding light in academia. S/o to the soon-to-be Dr. Demetrius Murphy for pulling up. Amazing discussion! #SocAF
Every word of this piece from @cmgreer.bsky.social is on point. READ and share it. We’re sick of it. Wake up! www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/o...
Opinion | Black Americans Are Not Surprised by What Trump’s Doing (Gift Article)
Many Black Americans are not surprised by the way Trump is running roughshod over the rule of law, because they have seen it happen throughout American history.
nytimes.com
The deadline is fast approaching for the #UrbanHealth Equity call for papers! Visit our website for details: buff.ly/QM69ZnY
Keen sociological analysis on loyalty vs dominance regimes.
Nicole Bedera@nbedera.bsky.social · last yr.I’ve seen a lot of assumptions in the media that Trump (and Musk) are targeting institutions with loyalty tests. But that’s not quite right. They’re using dominance tests. And the difference between these two things matter. 🧵
I’ve seen a lot of assumptions in the media that Trump (and Musk) are targeting institutions with loyalty tests. But that’s not quite right. They’re using dominance tests. And the difference between these two things matter. 🧵
I sincerely think that universities should suspend their productivity standards for scientists and ask them instead to hold town halls in schools, public libraries, museums, shopping malls, and anywhere else and communicate what is being lost with the collapse of the research ecosystem.
James Sims@simsjames.bsky.social · last yr.“The ecosystem of research and the creation of new knowledge in universities has been so powerful for American prosperity, American freedom, American ingenuity. To have that disrupted by government overreach is a disaster for this country.” —Wesleyan University President Michael Roth on @msnbc.com
One columnist, a professional pundit, is living in a paranoid delusion. The other, a sociologist, is living in America.
1/ I am seeing a lot of comments on the slashing of NIH support along the lines of “universities should just spend their huge endowments.” I’m the last person to cheer on the institutional stratification rising endowments have contributed to. But let me explain why this is not a solution.
Two days after Michael was killed, I wrote this short piece about what he meant to me – and more importantly, what he meant to us. It was the hardest thing I've ever written. Thanks to @versobooks.bsky.social for running it.
The Sociologist and the Critic: Remembering Michael Burawoy
It is often said that no one loved sociology as much as Michael Burawoy. In the wake of his tragic killing on Monday, at least, we’ve seen a comparable claim in many of the tributes from those who kne...
versobooks.com
