Monica Heilman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Sociology program at Indiana University (IU). She received her M.A. in Sociology from Indiana University in 2020 and her B.A. in Sociology and Art from the University of Denver. Prior to arriving at IU, Monica was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in South Korea. Her research areas include race and ethnicity, identity, and qualitative methods. Overall, Monica’s research investigates how micro-level identity choices reflect and reproduce broader racial structures and hierarchies in the United States. Specifically, her dissertation examines how multiracial young adults experience and engage with whiteness, both in their own identities and society at large. To engage with these topics, Monica uses qualitative interviewing and arts-based research methods.
Monica’s research has been published in the Journal of Asian American Studies, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, and Visual Studies. She has been supported by the P.E.O. Sisterhood, the Center for Research on Race & Ethnicity in Society (CRRES), the Graduate and Professional Student Government, the University Graduate School, and the Sociology department at Indiana University.
The College of Arts