Lawrenzo Howell

I am a Chicagoan and a PhD student in Sociology at Brown University. My work as a former high school Humanities and Black Studies educator continues to shape my research and teaching. Broadly, I study how institutions organize knowledge, belonging, and intellectual life. My current work focuses on youth-led organizations and the ways young people create spaces for rigorous thinking, political education, and community engagement outside traditional school settings. I approach this work through community-engaged and collaborative research practices, working alongside young people and community organizations as partners in the research process. My work is guided by a liberatory approach to research that centers reciprocity, shared knowledge production, and accountability to the communities involved.

Outside of my research, I enjoy music, reading, politics, fashion, reality television, and baking.

Areas of Interest: Race and Ethnicity; Gender and Sexuality; Sociology of Education; Black Studies; Youth Organizing and Civic Engagement.

• Certificate of completion: Learning Intensive on Community-Engaged from Brown University.
• Teaching Credentials in Social Sciences and English in California and Indiana.