Global and International Studies Building, 1008
Research Summary
My research is united by an interest in how different global regions are connected and divided by structural inequalities, the movement of people and ideas, and the social imaginaries of nation and civilization. As a main focus, I study the cultural encounters, exchanges, and ruptures between "the West" and other(ed) world regions. I have done this mainly by looking at international migration and anti-immigrant sentiment as a case of these connections and divisions.
Among the questions that my published work has tried to answer are: Do more accommodating modes of belonging in a country increase migration? How do constructed racial hierarchies define which outside groups are perceived as assimilable or desirable? How do seemingly discrete social categories (language, religion, gender) become racialized in processes of group boundary making? Findings often speak to the contradictions inherent in immigration regimes, immigrant reception and integration processes, and the norms that define and reinforce liberal democracies. Empirically, much of my recent research has focused on the case of Muslim immigrants in Europe and how Islam is perceived vis-a-vis liberal values and norms in Western European democracies.
Educational Background
Ph.D., Sociology, Indiana University, 2016
J.D., Law, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010
M.A., Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, 2006
B.A., International Studies, University of Miami, 2001
Research Topics
- international migration
- public attitudes
- race and ethnicity
- Islamophobia
Representative Publications
- Ponce, Aaron. 2020. “Affective Solidarities or Group Boundaries? Muslims’ Place in America’s Racial and Religious
” Ethnic & Racial Studies. 43(15):2785-2806. - Ponce, Aaron. 2019. “Histories of Conquest, Diversity, and Social Cohesion in Former Colonial Europe.” Social
Currents. 6(5):440-463. - Ponce, Aaron. 2019. “Is Welfare a Magnet for Migration? Examining Universal Welfare Institutions and Migration
” Social Forces. 98(1):245-278. - Ponce, Aaron. 2019. “Excluding Europe’s Muslims: Symbolic Boundaries and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes Along a
Racial-Ethnic Hierarchy.” Humanity & Society. 43(4):375-402. - Ponce, Aaron. 2017. “Gender and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes in Europe.” Socius. 3:1-17.