Sharon Quinsaat

Associate Professor

Offices, Departments, or Centers: Education Studies , Sociology , American Studies , Film and Media Studies , Peace and Conflict Studies ,

Sharon Quinsaat is a scholar of social movements and migration and currently Associate Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College. She has conducted research using both qualitative and quantitative methods and published on a wide range of topics, including migrant conservatism, diaspora formation, transnational repression, news frames and discourses on immigration, women’s international nongovernment organizations, coalition-building in the World Trade Organization, and movement against free trade. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association of University Women, the American Philosophical Society, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Midwest Sociological Society, and the Association for Asian Studies and has been recognized by the American Sociological Association, the Association of Asian American Studies, and the International Studies Association through research paper awards. She has published her research in in edited volumes and peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Mobilization, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Mass Communication and Society, Sociology Compass, and Asian Survey. Her first Insurgent Communities: How Protests Create a Filipino Diaspora (The University of Chicago Press, 2024) shows how diasporas emerge through political activism. For more information about Sharon and her work, visit http://www.sharonquinsaat.com.

Education and Degrees

2016 Ph.D., Sociology (with Certificate in Cultural Studies), University of Pittsburgh

2009 M.A., Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine

1999 B.A., Communication Research, University of the Philippines, Diliman

Selected Publications

Sharon's most recent publications include:

Quinsaat, Sharon M. 2024. Insurgent Communities: How Protests Create a Filipino Diaspora. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- 2025 Best Book Award, Section on Global and Transnational Sociology American Sociology Association2025 Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements, American Sociological Association
- Honorable Mention, 2025 Outstanding Book Award, Global Division, Society for the Study of Social Problems
- Honorable Mention, 2025 Distinguished Book Award, Midwest Sociological Society
- Honorable Mention, 2025 Lee Ann Fujii Book Award, International Studies Association
- Reviewed in Mobilization: An International Quarterly and Jacobin Magazine
- Featured in the podcasts of New Books in Sociology (a division of New Books Network), P*I* (Political Insights), Sociology Annex, and Southeast Asia Crossroads
Quinsaat, Sharon M. 2024. “U.S.-Philippines Relations and the Transnational Repression of Filipino American Activists during the Marcos Dictatorship.” Pp. 187-208 in Transnational Repression in the Age of Globalization, edited by Dana Moss and Saipira Furstenberg. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
Quinsaat, Sharon M. 2024. “Understanding the Immigrant Swing Toward Trump,” Jacobin, November 21.
Quinsaat, Sharon M. 2023. “The Nexus of Assimilation and Transnationalism Among Filipino Migrants.” Pp. 400-424 in Plural Entanglements: Philippine Studies, edited by Dada Docot, Stephen B. Acabado, and Clement C. Camposano. Quezon City, Philippines: Bughaw (an imprint of Ateneo de Manila University Press).
Quinsaat, Sharon M. 2023. “Diaspora Mobilization.” In The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, edited by David Snow, Donatella della Porta, Bert Klandermans, and Doug McAdam. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Quinsaat, Sharon M. 2022. “Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino [Union of Democratic Filipinos].” Pp. 580-581 in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Filipina/x/o American Studies, edited by K. Nadal, A. Tintiangco-Cubales, and E.J.R. David. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Quinsaat, Sharon Madriaga. 2019. “Linkages and Strategies in Filipino Diaspora Mobilization for Regime Change.” Mobilization 24(2): 221-239.
Quinsaat, Sharon Madriaga. 2019. “Transnational Contention, Domestic Integration: Assimilating into the Hostland Polity through Homeland Activism.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45(3): 419-436.

In the News

“Grinnell Professor Explains Appeal of Trump’s Message to Working Class Asian Immigrants,” WORT 89.9 FM, December 16, 2024.
Ashley Mizuo, “Here’s Why Republicans Won Big in West O’ahu,” Hawaii Public Radio, November 14, 2024.
Neia Balao, “Many Filipinos Claim to Have Spanish Ancestry. These TikTokers Say it Makes their Culture Seem ‘Less Worthy’,” Yahoo! News, February 14, 2024.
Cortlynn Stark and Katie Moore, “Stop Asian Hate Leans into Legacy of Civil Rights to Spark Movement, Dismantle Racism,” Kansas City Star, May 16, 2021.
“Conspiracy Theory Casualties: Personal Consequences of False Information (Part 3),” We Are Iowa Local 5, January 28, 2021.