Dorothy Rau is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and a Graduate Fellow at the Urban Ethnography Lab and the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. Their research looks at the intersections of queerness and state power.
Dorothy Rau is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and a Graduate Fellow at the Urban Ethnography Lab and the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice. Their research looks at the intersections of queerness and state power.
Their dissertation asks how prisons govern the sexual lives of the people they confine. Drawing on interviews with formerly incarcerated people and prison staff, along with observations and archival work, Dorothy investigates how and why the prison priotizies controlling and punishing sexuality. The project also follows how incarcerated people navigate and push back against this control: how they build and protect relationships, manage risk, and make sense of desire within conditions of carceral constraint.
Their dissertation asks how prisons govern the sexual lives of the people they confine. Drawing on interviews with formerly incarcerated people and prison staff, along with observations and archival work, Dorothy investigates how and why the prison priotizies controlling and punishing sexuality. The project also follows how incarcerated people navigate and push back against this control: how they build and protect relationships, manage risk, and make sense of desire within conditions of carceral constraint.
Their work has been recognized with awards including a Fulbright Scholarship and the Best Dissertation Prize from the London School of Economics, where they earned an MSc in Gender Studies.
Their work has been recognized with awards including a Fulbright Scholarship and the Best Dissertation Prize from the London School of Economics, where they earned an MSc in Gender Studies.
Beyond the university, Dorothy runs the Texas Prison Education Initiative (TPEI), a volunteer organization that provides free, credit-bearing UT courses to incarcerated students in Texas.
Beyond the university, Dorothy runs the Texas Prison Education Initiative (TPEI), a volunteer organization that provides free, credit-bearing UT courses to incarcerated students in Texas.