Michelle Madsen Camacho is Associate Professor of the Sociology Department at the University of San Diego. Her Ph.D. is from the University of California, Irvine in the interdisciplinary fields of Sociology and Cultural Anthropology. She is fluent in both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies and uses theories from interdisciplinary sources including cultural studies, critical race, gender and feminist theories. Her research examines questions of culture, power and inequality through both macro and micro lenses. She has presented and published her research on: the paradox of “modernization” via state-led development projects in Oaxaca Mexico; critical inquiry of material culture and symbolism as they relate to “official” and “popular” religion; narratives of pedagogy and the application of community service learning; inequalities in education, particularly persistence of women and people of color in engineering education. She currently teaches Statistics, Social Research Methods and Internship/Field Experience and is revising her book manuscript titled, The Paradox of Paradise: Tourism as Economic Development in Mexico. She is affiliated faculty with the Ethnic Studies program and also enjoys developing and teaching courses for the Gender Studies and Honors Programs. She is the faculty advisor for the USD chapter of STAND, a student anti-genocide coalition.
