Dr. Angela Frederick
Angela Frederick is Associate Professor of Sociology and Undergraduate Program Director in the Sociology & Anthropology Department at UTEP. Dr. Frederick is a medical sociologist with expertise in qualitative research methods. Her work spans the areas of disability, environmental sociology, gender and family, and Hispanic/Latine college students’ paths into health fields. Frederick earned her doctorate in sociology from The University of Texas at Austin in 2012.
Dr. Frederick’s book, Disabled Power: A Storm, A Grid, and Embodied Harm in the Age of Disaster, is now available through NYU Press.
https://nyupress.org/9781479828135/disabled-power/
A call to place disability at the center of climate and disaster responses.
Every disaster is a disability disaster, argues Angela Frederick. Disabled Power tells the stories of Texans with disabilities who endured the 2021 Texas power crisis, which forced millions of Texas residents to endure a dayslong winter storm without heat or water. Based on 58 in-depth interviews with disabled Texans and parents of disabled children, Frederick highlights how disabled people and those with chronic health conditions are uniquely harmed when basic infrastructure such as power and water systems fail. She argues that the vulnerability people with disabilities experienced during this disaster was not an inevitable consequence of individual disabled bodies. Rather, disability vulnerability was “produced” by policies that “disabled” vital infrastructure.
Frederick also emphasizes another meaning of the phrase “disabled power:” the individual and collective resilience and creativity Texans with disabilities exercised to survive the disaster. Despite common perceptions of people with disabilities as passive victims, Frederick shows how many found strategies to survive and to provide and receive care within their communities. Ultimately, the implications of this disaster extend far beyond Texas and underscore our increased vulnerability to infrastructural failures as extreme weather events become more common. Disabled Power offers a blueprint for reimagining vulnerability and resilience to center people with disabilities in disaster research and emergency response.
Dr. Frederick’s prior research projects in the sociology of disability include a study on the experiences of mothers with disabilities, as well as several smaller projects examining social patterns at the intersection of disability and race/ethnicity. Her work has appeared in highly-ranked journals, including Social Science & Medicine, Gender & Society, and Sociology of Race & Ethnicity. In recognition of her scholarly contributions to the discipline of sociology, Dr. Frederick has garnered awards from multiple sections of the American Sociological Association, including the Sex and Gender Section, Race Gender and Class Section, and Disability in Society section.
Selected Publications
* indicates student at time of publication.
In Press. Disabled Power: A Storm, A Grid, and Embodied Harm in the Age of Disaster. New York: NYU Press.
- Angela Frederick, Angelica Monarrez, and Danielle X. Morales. “Strategic Familismo: How Hispanic/Latine College Students Negotiate Family Values and Their STEM Careers.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 38(2):180-196.
- Angela Frederick, Angelica Monarrez, and Danielle X. Morales. “Care Work, Science Brokering, and Career Motivations: How Hispanic/Latinx Young Adults in STEM Express Social Agency During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Women & Minorities in Science & Engineering 30(6):109-128.
- Angela Frederick, Angelica Monarrez, *Heather Daniels, Sara Grineski, Timothy Collins, and Danielle X. Morales. “’Your Family is Always with You:’ Perceptions of Parental Relationships Among Hispanic/Latinx Young Adults Pursuing STEM Careers.” CBE-Life Sciences Education 22(4).
- Angela Frederick. “’You’re Always Fighting to be Recognized’: A Young Blind Man’s Journey of Upward Mobility and Intersectional Activism.” Disability & Society 38(8):1347-1364.
- Angela Frederick and Dara Shifrer. “Race and Disability: From Analogy to Intersectionality.” Sociology of Race & Ethnicity 5(2):200-214.
- 2020 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award. American Sociological Association, Race, Gender and Class Section
- Dara Shifrer and Angela Frederick. “Disability at the Intersections.” Sociology Compass 13(10):1-16.
- Angela Frederick, *Heather Daniels, Sara Grineski, and Timothy Collins. “’I’ve Never Felt Like That Inhibits Anything’: The Gendered Frameworks of Hispanic Women College Students in a STEM Program.” Gender & Education 32(5):646-663.
- Angela Frederick. “Disabling Fields, Enabling Capital: Mothers With Disabilities and the Concerted Cultivation Habitus.” Disability Studies Quarterly 34(4).
- Angela Frederick, *Kylara Leyva, and *Grace Lavin. “The Double Edge of Legitimacy: How Women with Disabilities Interpret Good Mothering.” Social Currents 6(2):163-176.
- Angela Frederick. “Risky Mothers and the Normalcy Project: Women with Disabilities Negotiate Scientific Motherhood.” Gender & Society 31(1):74-95.
- 2018 Distinguished Article Award. American Sociological Association, Sex & Gender Section
- 2018 Honorable Mention, Star-Nelkin Paper Award. American Sociological Association, Science, Knowledge & Technologies Section
- 2017 Outstanding Publication in the Sociology of Disability Award. American Sociological Association, Disability & Society Section
- Angela Frederick. “Visibility, Respectability, and Disengagement: The Everyday Resistance of Mothers with Disabilities.” Social Science & Medicine 181:131-138.
Contact Information
Email: ahfrederick2@utep.edu
Phone: 1-915-747-7320
Fax: 1-915-747-5505
Old Main 315
