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 sexuality, disability studies, multimodal anthropology, Latin America

Brief Biography

As a cultural anthropologist, I investigate community-based initiatives to dismantle institutional violence. My work focuses on feminist collectives in Latin America and their activism to contest policing techniques. My areas of expertise include theories of the state, gender and sexuality, disability studies, multimodal anthropology, and social movements in Latin America. 

News & Notes

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

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology  

Qualitative Research Methods

Anthropology of Sex and Gender

Disability Justice

Study Abroad in Argentina: Latin American Social Movements

Anthropology of the Body 

WGSS Sex and Gender

WGSS Current Controversies in Feminism

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: Gender-Expansive 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