Dunahay Pereyra

Entry Cohort: Fall 2020 | She/Her/Hers

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EDUCATION:

M.A., University of Connecticut, Sociology
B.A., Franklin and Marshall College, Sociology

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Medical Sociology, Gender, Disability, Reproduction, Knowledge, Qualitative Methods

 

CURRENT RESEARCH:

My research focuses on the ways that medical knowledge is produced in light of the uncertainty that chronic illnesses can introduce for both patients and providers. My past research explored the social experience of chronic illness for young women as they navigate their social and medical lives post-diagnosis. Other research focuses on knowledge seeking and production in online support groups for chronic illness patients.

In my dissertation, Managing (Un)Feminine Bodies: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Patients’ Conceptions of Self and Illness, I ask what are the social implications and medical narratives surrounding an under-diagnosed and under-studied reproductive chronic illness like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), newly renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS)? In this dissertation I draw on narrative interviews with PCOS/PMOS patients to understand the ways that social and medical knowledge and meaning is constructed for chronic illness patients, the role that gendered norms play in constructing knowledge and illness management for PCOS/PMOS patients, and how their social and reproductive futures are shaped by illness. This work contributes to a dearth in sociological and medical knowledge about the social dimensions of reproductive disease/reproductive chronic illness, which increasingly shape the reproductive landscape, complicating narratives about reproduction, reproductive responsibility, desire, and value.

I have received recognition and funding for my teaching, research, and the intersection of the two through the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute Dissertation Fellowship, the Wood/Raith Gender Identity Living Trust Summer Graduate Student Fellowship, the 2025-2026 Outstanding Graduate Student Award (University of Connecticut Teaching Awards through the Center for Excellence in Teaching), and the American Sociological Association’s Carla B. Howery Teaching Enhancement Fund (Turning Theories into Action: A Proposal for a Feminist Graduate-Student Led Teacher Training), among others.

 

MAJOR ADVISOR:

Dr. Nancy Naples

 

COMMITTEE:

Dr. Laura Mauldin, Dr. Christin Munsch, Dr. Jane Pryma, Dr. Fumi Showers, Dr. Ryan Talbert

 

I am currently on the job market for the 2027-2028 academic year.