Rebecca Hanson

Rebecca Hanson is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law and the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida, where she is also director of the International Ethnography Lab. Her research focuses on policing, armed violence, and illicit markets in the Global South. 

Hanson is the co-author of Harassed: Gender, Bodies, and Ethnographic Research (University of California Press 2019) and co-editor of The Paradox of Violence in Venezuela: Revolution, Crime, and Policing During Chavismo (University of Pittsburgh Press 2022). Her current book project, under contract with Oxford University Press, looks at how the left-wing political project in Venezuela known as Chavismo altered the security landscape in the country, producing more violence and less coordination among state security forces. 

During her Kellogg fellowship, Hanson will continue her study of contemporary authoritarian states in the Global South. Drawing on ethnographic, interview, and survey data collected over a ten-year period in Venezuela, her project analyzes how relationships between multiple armed groups and the state have evolved over time, shaping both state survival strategies and lived experiences in communities where different armed actors vie for control.

Hanson’s work has been published in Latin American Research Review, Journal of Latin American Politics, Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Forum, and Violence: An International Journal. She has been interviewed about her research by outlets such as the New York Times, PRODAVINCI, the Understanding Latin American Politics podcast, and PolitiFact. 

She holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Georgia.