research overview
- Rachel Rinaldo is a cultural sociologist interested in how globalization and modernity influence sex and gender, especially in developing countries and Muslim societies. Her first book Mobilizing Piety: Islam and Feminism in Indonesia is an ethnographic study of women activists in the country with the world's largest Muslim population. She examines how different groups of activists engage with global discourses of Islam and feminism, and argues that new forms of agency and subjectivity are emerging as activists both draw on and transform these frameworks. She has done research on marriage and divorce in urbanizing Java, the contemporary art scene in Southeast Asia, and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected working mothers in the Boulder/Denver area. In 2022-2023 she was a Fulbright Scholar in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She is currently working on a book about women, work, and family in Indonesia.
