Xavier Alexander Durham

Pictured: PhD Student Xavier Alexander Durham smiling against a background of roses. He has long curly hair that goes up into an afro, glasses, and a light beard. He is wearing a dark blue shirt overlaid by a black jacket and has on a red backpack.

Xavier Alexander Durham

Curriculum Vitae
Research Interests
Urban Sociology, Race and Inequality, Policing, Surveillance Technology, and Privatization, Poverty Governance, Non-profits

I'm a seventh-year PhD Student in the Department with a love for all things horror, musical, and vegan! Before coming to Berkeley back in 2018, I was an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin where I got my BA in Sociology. Currently, my research focuses on reentry and policing in the United States with additional interests in anti-blackness, surveillance, and the criminal legal system more broadly. Following my PhD, I intend to go to law school and then enter legal academia as a Professor of Law, running clinics and teaching courses on criminal procedure, police misconduct, legal writing, and empirical legal research.

If you have any questions about Berkeley Sociology, please feel free to contact me. I am well-equipped to help with anything from applications to actually deciding on the program that is best for you. I myself am a first-generation college student (both undergrad and graduate) so I know the struggle of sorting through all of this stuff. You don't have to do this alone!

Dissertation Title
Policing While Policed: Negotiating Security Work in California
Dissertation Committee
David J. Harding (Chair; Sociology)
Armando Lara-Millán (Sociology)
Osagie K. Obasogie (Public Health/Law)