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Myself with mentor Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernández and other beloved UC President’s & Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellows

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I’m Mia Karisa Dawson, an urban human geographer and community organizer. Since recieving my doctorate in Geography in 2023 from the University of California, Davis, I’ve been awarded a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at the University of California, Los Angeles and a Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity in the Department of Geography at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I study racial relationships of policing, property, and protest that shape U.S. cities with a focus in Sacramento. I work in advocacy to develop approaches to housing and violence prevention by and for people. I have a background in environmental justice, and I’ve participated in research and advocacy surrounding racial disparities in air and water quality in California.

My work has been published in journals including Urban Geography, EPD: Society and Space, Frontiers in Public Health, ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, and Water Alternatives.

I am inspired and motivated by many beautiful friends and organizers including but not limited to those pictured above.