Micah English
Bio:
Micah is a fifth year PhD candidate at Yale University studying American politics. Micah researches Black politics, social movement mobilization, and the politics of gender and sexuality. Micah is also working on a project that locates hip-hop music and culture as a site for conservative politics.
My dissertation investigates how social movement organizations (SMOs) navigate institutional and contentious forms of political engagement, and what this reveals about their strategic orientations, internal norms, and relationships to the state. Many people assume that when grassroots organizations don’t participate in elections or policy advocacy, it’s because they lack resources or don’t care. My research challenges that assumption by showing how some groups, especially those led by marginalized communities, consciously choose to reject political institutions they see as untrustworthy or harmful. I call this phenomenon institutional pessimism: a strategic stance shaped by generations of disillusionment with political systems that fail to deliver justice. Through interviews, fieldwork, and a national survey, I explore how these organizations build power outside traditional channels, offering new insight into what real democratic participation looks like for communities historically pushed to the margins.
Micah currently serves as the graduate student representative on the APSA Sexuality & Politics research section. Prior to starting graduate school, Micah served as a non-profit consultant, a film publicist, and conducted research in the Sociology department at Georgetown University. Micah received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Duke University.
Contact:
Interests:
- American Politics