Monica Ramsy
Biography
Monica (she/they) is a sociology PhD student at the University of California, Los Angeles and Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Scholar. Her research interests focus on the sociology of law, gender, and carcerality. Through qualitative research methods, she seeks to examine how the implementation of U.S. restorative and transformative justice practices — especially in response to gender-based violence — intersect with race, gender, and disability.
Prior to matriculating to UCLA, Monica received their J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. In law school, Monica worked at the California Asylum Representation Clinic, the East Bay Community Law Center, the UC Berkeley Center for Race & Gender, the ACLU of Southern California, and Public Counsel. Monica received her B.A. in Gender Studies from the University of Southern California and, after graduating, worked as a sexual health educator for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles.
Following law school, Monica served as a two-year legal fellow in the immigrants’ rights program at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, focusing on cases challenging the detention and deportation of Southeast Asian and other immigrant communities targeted for policing and immigration enforcement.
Outside of their doctoral work, Monica enjoys spending time with their cats, exploring LA’s foodscapes, hiking, and tending to their plants.
Degrees
- J.D. – University of California, Berkeley, 2019 (Thelton E. Henderson Center Public Interest and Social Justice Certificate)
- B.A., Gender Studies – University of Southern California, 2014 (summa cum laude)
Fields of Study
Sociology of law; gender and sexuality; social movements; ethnography; carcerality; race and ethnicity
Publications
- Monica Ramsy, Heroizing Restorative Justice: Steven Universe and Rewriting Justice Narratives through Superhero Cartoons, 11 Calif. L. Rev. Online 417 (Oct. 2020), http://www.californialawreview.org/heroizingrestorative-justice-steven-universe.
- Monica Ramsy, Beyond the U-Visa and Carceral Feminist “Crimmigration”: Transforming the VAWA Self-Petition to Remedy Sexual Violence in Immigration Detention, 45 N.Y.U. Review of Law and Social Change (2021), https://socialchangenyu.com/review/beyond-the-u-visa-and-carceral-femini….
- Monica Ramsy et al., Testimony of Berkeley Law Delegation to Tijuana, Mexico, December 2018-January 2019, 29 Berkeley La Raza Law Journal 2109 (2019), https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38W37KW27.
- Smith, Stacy, Marc Choueiti and Katherine Pieper. 2014. Race/Ethnicity in 600 Popular Films: Examining On Screen Portrayals and Behind the Camera Diversity. Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative. Los Angeles, CA.
- Smith, Stacy, Marc Choueiti and Katherine Pieper. 2014. Gender Inequality in Film: Examining On-Screen Portrayals and Behind-the-Scenes Employment Patterns in Motion Pictures Released between 2007-2013. Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative. Los Angeles, CA.
Awards & Grants
- Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Scholars Program Fellow, 2022 – 2026
- UCLA Center for the Study of Women Paula Stone Legal Research Fellowship, 2022
- Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship, 2021 – 2025
- Susan Kellogg in the Sociology of Gender Award, 2021 – 2022
- Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California Law Foundation Fellowship, 2020 – 2021
- Berkeley Law Public Interest Fellowship, 2019 – 2020
- Francine Diaz Memorial Award, 2019 – 2020
- Equal Justice America Legal Services Fellowship, 2018
- American Jurisprudence Award (Race, Sexuality and the Law with Professor Russell Robinson), 2018
- Prosser Prize (Crimmigration with Professor Leti Volpp), 2018
- Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Fran Kandel Public Interest Grant, 2017
- University of Southern California Dean’s List, 2011 – 2014
- Undergraduate Research Associates Program Scholar, 2014
- University of Southern California Renaissance Honors Award, 2014
- Harnisch Foundation Scholar, 2014
Conference Presentations
- Panelist, Eighth Annual Graduate Student Conference in Public Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law (October 2022, forthcoming).
- Panelist, New Directions in Law and Society Conference, University of Massachusetts Amherst (October 2022, declined invitation due to scheduling conflicts).
- Panelist, “Rage and Refuge: SCOTUS, Bodily Autonomy, and the War on Terror,” virtual event hosted by Vigilant Love, HEART, Palestinian Youth Movement, Palestinian Feminist Collective, and For the Binat (July 2022). Available at: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/dXxl6ZxXF5UxO92NBIC-515lfH8BQnGvvVwh0j2YR556baNQlv4ImUAdjXb2Z2k.pmR2jsTX_91eZOpp (please email directly for zoom recording passcode).
- Panelist, “CRITICAL DIALOGUE: (Mis) Trust and Institutional Change in a Time of Racial Reckoning,” The Society for the Study of Social Problems 72ndAnnual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA (August 2022).
- Panelist, “Unsettling the Law, Unsettling Ourselves: A Roundtable Discussion,” 24th Conference of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, Emory University School of Law (June 2022).
- Invited podcast interviewee, The Anti-Girlboss Socialist Club, “Pinkwashing Zionism: Why Palestine is a Feminist Issue (w/ the Palestinian Feminist Collective)” (January 2022). Available at https://open.spotify.com/episode/3qnaWEbqUTkeG3H8tHCj9m?si=6ff42ac90e3046c6.
- Invited Peer Editor, “A queer space rock of color punches out a racist pig” Revising the Paradox of Fiction and Reshaping Narrative Empathy and Activism Through the Case of Children’s TV Show Steven Universe,” by Julia Zielke, Intersect: The Stanford Journal of Science, Technology, and Society 15:1 (December 2021).
- Invited Panelist, Immigration Law Panel – Student Immigration Relief Clinic, UC Berkeley (March 2021).
- Invited Panelist, Demystifying the United States’ Role at the Border, UC Berkeley Law (February 2019).
- Conference Organizer, #MeToo: One Year Later with Roxane Gay (January 2019).
- Invited Panelist, #MeToo? Questioning the Legal Community’s Response to the Movement, UC Berkeley Law (April 2018).
- Invited Panelist, Dis-Oriented: A Critical Screening and Panel Discussion, UC Berkeley Law (February 2018).
- Moderator, Reproductive Justice Without Borders, UC Berkeley Law (October 2017).
