Phone
(608) 265-4239Office Location
340B Agricultural Hall
1450 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Office Schedule
Office Hours: By appointment
More Information
Sarah Rios’ research agenda focuses on advancing the study of race, health, and the environment. Rios is interested in the health implications of industrial agriculture and carceral expansion, and community-based resilience through environmental justice activism. Currently, Rios is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Rios’ ongoing research about an environmental illness known as Valley Fever that is endemic in the Central Valley of California, places the apex of the medical conversation in a discussion about the racialized social determinants of health and community-based knowledge. Rios analyzes how farm workers and former prisoners’ contract and recover from Valley Fever while mitigating poverty, pollution, and the threats of incarceration or deportation. Rios also works closely with environmental justice activists and prison abolitionist to discuss alternative perspectives about environmental health and justice. She is an alumnus of California State University Fresno, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women’s Studies and in Communication Disorders and Deaf Studies. In 2018, Sarah earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Among her distinctions for academic achievement are the Anna Julia Cooper Postdoctoral Fellowship at UW Madison, the UC President Dissertation Year Fellowship, the UC California Studies Consortium Grant, the Center for Poverty Research and the Stanford Center for Poverty and Inequality visiting scholar at UC Davis, and the Chicano/a Institute Studies Fellowship. Her areas of specialization include Environmental Justice; Race and Health; Qualitative Research Methods; and Latino/a Sociology. Sarah is originally from the Salinas Valley of California.
(Book Manuscript in Progress)
My book project “Diseases Have No Eyes: Valley Fever and the Pursuit for Racial Health Justice,” provides an original study of environmental racism and health justice. It explores the experiences of farmworkers and formerly incarcerated men and women who have suffered from Valley Fever, an illness caused by a fungus spore that can lead to long-term pulmonary, brain, and spinal infections, and in some cases, death. I expand the analysis of how these seemingly separate groups residing in Kern County, California acquire and recover from the disease, how cumulative vulnerabilities similarly shape their everyday lives and their recovery. As an assistant professor of environmental health, I see this book applicable across foundational courses. Readers in the arts and humanities and the social sciences will draw from this book to teach about health, environmental sociology, medical anthropology, ethnic studies, ethnography, and social movements. Community advocates, abolitionists, and policy makers facing cumulative environmental health threats will surely connect with these stories.
(2022) Rios, Sarah M.“Movement as a Methodology: Finding the Right Tools for Doing Equity-Oriented Research.” Latino Studies Journal.
(2022) Ramirez, Marla and Sarah Rios.“Research Movidas: Intersectional Methodological Approaches to Center the Voices of People.” Special Issue Introduction in Latino Studies Journal.
(2020) Rios, Sarah M. “Poverty, Prisons, Pollution, and Valley Fever.” Lessons in Environmental Racism: From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter and Idle No More.
(2018) Rios, Sarah M.“Valley Fever: Environmental Racism and Health Justice.” Doctoral Thesis
Research Specializations
Race, Health and Environmental Justice, Community-Based Participatory Action Research, Ethnography, and Latino/a Sociology
Wildfire Project. (Principle Investigator).
My recent work includes studying wildfires near the agriculture workplace. Increasing exposure to wildfire smoke has sparked international conversations about how to secure production and workers’ health in extreme weather-related conditions. This research focuses on wildfire smoke impacts on immigrant Latinx workers’ health laboring the vineyards of the fire-prone and agriculture-rich region of Sonoma and Napa Valley. In collaboration with the farmworker advocacy group, Líderes Campesinas and graduate research assistant Danielle Schmidt, we surveyed 97 farm workers about 1) Air Quality and Personal Protective Equipment, 2) Evacuated Zones and the AG Pass System, and 3) Improving Workplace Safety. USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, HATCH Grant. $100K.
Climate-smart Agriculture Project. (Co-PI).
Through conservation practices such as continuous ground cover, minimal soil disturbance, and crop diversification, climate-smart agriculture reduces greenhouse gas emissions and increases resilience to climate impacts. Yet, climate-smart strategies must also enhance community well-being and address critical needs of farm producers and laborers. This project will facilitate broad and diverse conversations about social justice, labor patterns, and sovereignty, within food systems with Tribal leaders, farmers, and farm employees in Wisconsin. Natural Resource Conservation Service, USDA Grant. $628K.
Sol y Tierra: Environmental Knowledge and Leadership, Chican@/Latin@ Studies Program.
Environmental Sociology, Graduate Seminar. Joint Sociology Graduate Program.
Environmental Health and Justice, Community and Environmental Sociology.
Introduction to Community and Environmental Sociology.