Headshot of Leyla Savloff

Leyla Savloff

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Department: Sociology and Anthropology

Office and address: Lindner Hall - Arts & Sciences, office 212E 2035 Campus Box Elon, NC 27244

Professional Expertise

critical prison studies, gender and sexualities, disability studies, multimodal anthropology, Latin America

Brief Biography

My research investigates how feminist collectives in Latin America contest policing techniques and instead promote community-based initiatives to dismantle institutional violence. My areas of expertise are theories of the state, gender and sexualities, disability studies, multimodal anthropology, and social movements in Latin America. 

    Education

    PhD Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, 2020

    Graduate Certificate in Feminist Studies, University of Washington, 2013

    MA Anthropology, The New School for Social Research, 2009

    BA Liberal Arts, Social and Historical Inquiry, Eugene Lang College, 2006

    Courses Taught

    Anthropology of the Body 

    Disability Justice

    Study Abroad in Argentina: Latin American Social Movements

    Qualitative Research Methods

    Anthropology of Sex and Gender

    Introduction to Cultural Anthropology  

    WGSS Sex and Gender

    Leadership Positions

    Co-Coordinator Women’s, Gender and Sexualities Studies 2023 – 2025

    Co-Director Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies (PERCS) 2022 – 2024        

    Latinx/Hispanic Advisory Council 2023 – 2025       

    Advisory Board Latin American Studies                

    Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society 2022 – 2025

    Fulbright Campus Committee 2023 – 2025 

    SMART Mentoring Program 

    Publications

    Peer-Review Articles 

    “The afterlives of political violence in Argentina: The gendered body and everyday cruelty.” The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 2023;1–11. DOI: 10.1111/jlca.12655

    “Putas y Discas: Sex Work Activism and Disability Justice in Argentina,” Disability Studies Quarterly, Volume 42 (2) Spring 2022  https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v42i2.9111 

    “Deviant Motherhood: House Arrest and Social Belonging in Argentina,” Social Text, Issue 38.1 (142) March 2020. Duke University Press.  https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-7971103 

    Book Chapters 

    “Putes Feministas: Inclusive Language and Social Media Activism.” In: Critical Sexuality Studies, Lavender Languages and Everyday Life. Michelle Marzullo and William Leap, eds. Bloomsbury Press, 2024. ISBN 9781350359956

    “Freedom in Practice: Art and the Politics of Women’s Incarceration in Argentina” Gender, Health, and Society in Contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean. Edited by Shir Lerman and Ronnie Shepard. Lexington Books. ISBN: 978-1-4985-7284-2

    Other publications

    “Feminist Anthropology Today” María Lis Baiocchi and Leyla Savloff. Anthropology News website, November 3, 2024. https://www.anthropology-news.org/articles/feminist-anthropology-today

    “Prison Abolition as Collective Poetry in Latin America” in Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Social Justice in Education. Volume 2: Political and Social Movements. Edited by Nina Mehta, Donna Nevel, and Jason Wozniak. Bloomsbury Press (Forthcoming).

    Awards

    2023  Sylvia Molloy Award – Best Article in the Humanities, Latin American Studies Association

               Latinx/Hispanic Service Award, Elon University