Dr. Ranita Ray is Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico, where she holds an endowed chair. Her latest book, Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom (St. Martin's Press/Macmillan, 2025), is an untold story of what happens behind closed classroom doors inside American public schools. Slow Violence was shortlisted for the 2024 Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize and received a 2026 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. You can purchase the book here. 

Ray's previous book The Making of a Teenage Service Class, won four prizes including the C. Wright Mills Award. Here is a TED talk based on the book that outlines a different way to think about racialized poverty and social mobility. 

For 15 years, her award-winning research program has centered on children & youth, education, and gender and racial injustice. Ray is a 2019 National Academy of Education/Spencer fellow, as well as a 2018 Racial Democracy and Criminal Justice Network fellow. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation several times. Slate, The Atlantic, The New York Times, TEACHmag, Red Pepper, the Las Vegas Review Journal, Las Vegas Sun, and the Las Vegas Weekly have featured Ray’s research and original writing.  

If you want to get in touch with Ranita, please email at ranitaray AT unm DOT edu