Mia Karisa Dawson

Research Interests
Urban Geography, Race, Housing, Policing and Incarceration, Violence Prevention, Environmental Justice, Social Movements

I study interrelated systems of race, policing, and property ownership in U.S. cities. I do so in collaboration with community organizers who analyze and intervene in these systems as part of their political programs. My dissertation considered how organizers in Sacramento, California identify and challenge hierarchical systems of race, property and state violence that structure urban space and how they build alternative spaces within an often hostile city. Alongside this project, I have worked on collaborative research with the UC Davis Violence Prevention Program and Public Health Advocates to develop community violence intervention programs and alternative first response systems. My research program stems from my background in environmental justice, including research and advocacy concerning racial disparities in health outcomes due to air and water quality in California. As a postdoctoral fellow at UMBC, I am building from my dissertation research to understand the dynamics of race, housing, policing, and community organizing in the DMV as they compare with those of California cities.

Selected Publications

• “The legacy of Black Power, the future of abolition, and the urban land question in the City after Property.” 2024. Book Forum. Urban Geography.
• “Community violence intervention & prevention strategies: Mitigating variations in school and neighborhood violence.” 2024. A. Ivey, M. Dawson, S. Buggs. Special Issue: Black Geographies and Transdisciplinary Abolitionist Education: Lifting Up Interlocking Struggles to Create Radical Possibilities. Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education.
• “Relationships, resources, and political empowerment: community violence intervention strategies that contest the logics of policing and incarceration.” 2023. M. Dawson, A. Ivey, S. Buggs. Special Issue: Intervening in structural determinants: The role of language and narrative in enacting power to define issues and control resource distribution. Frontiers in Public Health.
• “The Kings ain’t playin’ no one tonight: Desanctifying property as an abolitionist practice in Sacramento.” 2022. Special Issue: Racial Regimes of Property. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space.
• “Implementation and Operational Needs and Challenges of Outreach-Based Community Violence Intervention Programs.” 2022. S. Buggs, M. Dawson, A. Ivey. New York, NY: Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
• “Community Engagement in AB 617: An Evaluation of Challenges, Successes, Lessons Learned, and Recommendations for the Future.” 2020. J. London, P. Nguyen, M. Dawson, K. Manrique. Davis, CA: UC Davis Center for Regional Change.
• “Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities, Informality and the Struggle for Water Justice.” 2020. J. London, A. Fencl, S. Watterson, J. Jarin, P. Seaton, M. Dawson, Y. Choueiri, C. Balazs, A. King, A. Aranda, P. Nguyen, C. Pannu, L. Firestone, C. Bailey. Water Alternatives.
• “The Struggle for Water Justice in California’s San Joaquin Valley: A Focus on Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities.” 2018. J. London, A. Fencl, S. Watterson, J. Jarin, A. Aranda, A. King, C. Pannu, P. Seaton, L. Firestone, M. Dawson, P. Nguyen. Davis, CA: UC Davis Center for Regional Change.

Selected Honors and Awards

• Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles, 2023
• Residential Dissertation Workshop Attendee, Visualizing Abolition Initiative, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2022
• Graduate Student Affinity Group Research Award, American Association of Geographers, 2021
• Graduate Research Fellowship, Mellon Research Initiative on Racial Capitalism, University of California, Davis, 2021
• Graduate Summer Research Grant, Women’s Resources and Research Center, 2020
• Graduate Research Mentorship Fellowship, Graduate Studies, University of California, Davis, 2019
• Mellon Public Scholars Summer Research Fellowship, UC Davis Humanities Institute, 2019
• Community Geography Fellowship, Community Mapping Lab, University of Georgia, 2019
• Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, Mellon Research Initiative on Racial Capitalism, University of California, Davis, 2018
• Environmental Leadership Fellowship, Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation, 2017