Mahala Stewart

Mahala Dyer Stewart’s research and teaching explore connections between gender, race, and class inequalities in families and schools. Her current book project compares the schooling decisions of black and white class-advantaged families. 

Her other projects include an interview study examining interracial couples’ residential decisions and research with child-free adults.

Stewart earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Maine. At the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she earned her master’s and doctorate in sociology and the graduate certificate in advanced feminist studies through Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. 

Recent Courses Taught

Sociology of the Family
Gender, Sexuality & Society
Social Problems
Data Collection & Analysis

Research Interests

Gender, Race, and Class Inequalities; Family; Education; Feminist Theory; Qualitative Methods

Select Publications

• Misra, Joya, Mahala Dyer Stewart and Marni Brown, editors. Gendered Lives, Sexual Beings: A Feminist Anthology. SAGE Publishing, 2017.
• “There’s More Thinking to Decide: How the Childfree Decide Not to Parent.” Blackstone, Amy and Mahala Dyer Stewart. The Family Journal 24(3):296-303, 2016.
• “Family Care Policies.” Stewart, Mahala Dyer and Naomi Gerstel. The Encyclopedia of Adulthood and Aging, edited by Susan Krauss Whitbourne, 2016.
• “Choosing to Be Childfree: Research on the Decision not to Parent.” Blackstone, Amy and Mahala Dyer Stewart. Sociology Compass 6:718-727, 2012.

Appointed to the Faculty

2019

Educational Background

Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
M.A., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
B.A., University of Maine, Orono