Karen Okigbo
Biography
Karen Amaka Okigbo is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Broadly speaking, her research is on the areas of immigration, race, ethnicity, and sociology of the family. Her current work focuses on intermarriage and endogamy among second-generation Nigerian Americans and explores their marital decision-making processes.
Area of Expertise
International Migration, Race & Ethnicity, Family, Ethnography, Research Methods
Degrees
PhD, Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center (certificate in Demography)
M.S., Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania
M.S., Sociology, North Dakota State University
B.A., Politics, Princeton University (certificates in African Studies & Near Eastern Studies)
Professional Publications & Contributions
Okigbo, Karen Amaka. 2023. “Nigerian Intermarriage: Making Black Diversity Visible.” Contexts, 22(1):60-62. DOI: 10.1177/15365042221142836
Ju, Daeshin Hayden, Karen Amaka Okigbo, Sejung Sage Yim, and Jessica Halliday Hardie. 2020. “A Portrait of Partnership Patterns among Six Asian Ethnic Groups in the United States.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. DOI: 10.1080
Okigbo, Karen Amaka. 2019. “More to Come: A Profile of Nigerian Immigrants in the United States between 1980 and 2010” in the book Higher Education in Africa and the United States: The Black Experience, eds. Ogechi E. Anyanwu, Timothy Forde, and Iddah Otieno pg. 29-52. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press Inc.
Okigbo, Karen Amaka. 2017. “Americanah and Ghana Must Go: Two Tales of the Assimilation Experiences of African Immigrants.” Sociological Forum 32(2):444-448.
Okigbo, Karen Amaka. 2011. “Identity Formation, Ethnic Conflict, and the Nigeria-Biafra War” in the book Against All Odds: The Igbo Experience in Post-Colonial Nigeria, ed. Apollos O. Nwauwa and Chima J. Korieh, pg. 111-126. Glassboro, NJ: Goldline & Jacobs Publishers.