Maya Jenkins
Biography
Maya Jenkins is a first-year graduate student in American Politics with a focus on Black and quotidian politics. Her research lies at the nexus of race, gender, and social media. She is curious about the informal physical and digital spaces where Black women and queer people practice politics.
Before Brown, she was an SNF Agora Predoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where she served as a research assistant in Professor Hahrie Han’s P3 Research Lab and the labs run by Professors Meredith Greif and Andrew Perrin. She holds a BA in political science from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA.
Alongside her studies, she was a leader in her college chapter of the NAACP, where she co-authored a research report on police violence and university neglect. This research led to an increase in mental health diversion programming and the creation of more transparency initiatives with university administration and police on campus. Maya also worked for four years at the housing non-profit Housing Opportunities Made Equal in Virginia, Inc., to research evictions and their linkage to gentrification and displacement in Richmond.