COMMUNITYRESEARCHTEACHING WRITING TALKS EXPERIMENTAL

Kimberly Soriano, PhD.

Hi! I’m Kimberly Soriano (she/they), a queer Oaxacan and Guerrense educator, transdisciplinary researcher, community member, and cultural worker. I was born and raised in the Westlake and Echo Park area of Los Angeles, and I organize with sex workers, people who use substances, and unhoused communities against displacement, policing, and gentrification.

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. I received my PhD in Feminist Studies from UC Santa Barbara and two B.A.s in Chicana/o Studies and African American Studies from UCLA.

My current book project, titled Feminist Fugitivities in Carceral Los Angeles, centers fugitive care webs that are built by communities who navigate gendered and racialized policing and displacement in a globalized city. Future research expands on my organizing work during Super Bowl 2022, focusing on the criminalization of sex workers in the Figueroa Corridor and South Los Angeles for sports development. I translate my research into community-centered information to organize against deadly policy and legislation. You can find my public-facing writing at Los Angeles Press and Metropole.

I organize with the Southern California Library in South Central Los Angeles, The Sidewalk Project in Skid Row, and SWOP-LA, and have served as a fellow, consultant, and advisor to Sex Worker Giving Circle. My work with The Sidewalk Project has been covered here.