Bernadette Ludwig

Bernadette Ludwig is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at The Graduate Center, The City University of New York. She is currently writing her dissertation titled “America is Not the Heaven We Dream Of: Liberian Refugees in Staten Island, New York.” The dissertation which is based on intensive and extensive ethnographic research, explores how Liberian refugees and immigrants—who fled two brutal wars in Liberia—have responded to barriers as well as opportunities in the United States based on race, gender, and legal status as refugees, immigrants, or citizens. Before beginning her doctoral studies, Bernadette Ludwig worked for several years with refugee and immigrant communities in Atlanta, GA, most recently as the co-founder and Executive Director of Culture Connect, Inc. Since 2009 she has been teaching at colleges in New York City—including Queens College, Fordham University, and Hostos Community College. In 2010/11 she was the elected Student Representative of the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association.

Bernadette Ludwig received her joint B.A. and M.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Vienna in Austria. She is also a graduate of the University of Oxford’s International Summer School in Forced Migration.