Specialization:
Gender, Social movements, Violence, Criminology, Critical theory, Participatory research
Education:
B.A., Columbia University
M.A., Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Bio:
Melanie Brazzell’s research and organizing focuses on transformative justice alternatives to prison and policing, particularly for sexual and partner violence. Drawing on their involvement in the feminist anti-violence movement for over fifteen years, Melanie’s participatory research and community engagement are housed within the “What Really Makes Us Safe?” Project. As a PhD student and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California Santa Barbara, Melanie studies gender, critical criminology, and social movements. They are currently exploring research as a movement building tool through research collaborations with the Momentum Community, a training institute and movement incubator, and the Ford Foundation’s Realizing Democracy Project. Melanie is also passionate about pedagogy, having worked for eight years in Berlin as a teacher at a democratic co-operative high school for non-traditional adult students that won the Bosch Foundation’s second place prize for best school in Germany in 2016. Melanie received a Bachelor’s from Columbia University and a Master’s from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
Courses:
As Instructor: Social Movements & Networks, Feminism and the State: Carceral Feminisms and Transformative Alternatives, Ethical Foundations of Social Work.
As Teaching Assistant: Social Movements, Introduction to Sociology