Kayla Thomas

My research centers urban communities in the contemporary United States, the people who inhabit and shape them, and the relationships that sustain them. While my dissertation focuses on residents of Crown Heights, a central neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, my interests are not limited to a single metropolis. Rather, my research and teaching are connected to larger national and global trends of migration, displacement, and discrimination, with a particular interest in racial and ethnic identity formation.

I earned a PhD in Sociology from Yale University in May of 2025. I also hold a Masters of Arts and a Masters of Philosophy in Sociology, both en route degrees from Yale University. Prior to my graduate studies I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and History (with a focus on the Middle East) from Brown University.