Carolyn Steinle

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Political Science Department at the University of California, Los Angeles.  My area of focus is comparative ethnicity: the study of structural conditions, such as group size and segregation, that influence the expression and salience of ethnicity across cultures. Social scientists have long referred to dense social networks as a key mechanism through which ethnicity affects politics, but the role of different types of network structures is undertheorized. I contribute to this gap in the literature by focusing on kinship norms and other social binding customs, such as age-sets. I argue that these features of social networks establish norms for interpersonal and familial ties and shape groups’ overarching network structures, altering political outcomes across many settings.

I am also a San Francisco native with research and professional experience in northern Nigeria, Somalia, and northern Mozambique.