Mimi Sheller

Professor
AFFILIATED DEPARTMENT OR OFFICE
Department of Integrative and Global Studies
EDUCATION
AB History and Literature Harvard University
MA Sociology and Historical Studies New School for Social Research
PhD Sociology and Historical Studies New School for Social Research
Honorary Doctorate, Aalborg University, Denmark (2026); and Roskilde University, Denmark (2015)
Expert Bio

Mimi Sheller is a widely cited expert in the post-colonial context of the Caribbean, with particular expertise on Haiti. Sheller also founded and directed the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, an interdisciplinary field that studies the movement of people, objects, and information, as well as the complex new mobilities (and immobilities) that are afforded by changing technologies and infrastructures. She also is one of five WPI researchers involved in a multi-university, multidisciplinary NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnership, the Caribbean Collaborative Action Network, that seeks to combine research and community engagement to expand regional capacity to adapt to climate impacts. 

Sheller can also provide insight into the following:

  • Caribbean migration
  • Climate adaptation
  • Climate migration
  • Community engagement
  • Lifestyle mobilities
  • Sustainable mobilities
  • Labor migration and nomadic workers
  • Transitions to sustainability
  • Deportation from the United States

She is the author of seven books, eight co-edited books, and 125 refereed journal articles and book chapters as well as the founding co-editor of the journal Mobilities. In addition, she has consulted for international agencies, including the World Bank, and for such companies as Michelin, and has given dozens of keynote talks and invited lectures at leading universities in the United States and Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

The Christian Science Monitor
From kilts to ranch dressing, World Cup fans embrace cultural exchange

Mimi Sheller, dean of The Global School, was interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor about how the World Cup has generated opportunities for cultural exchange between Americans and people from around the Globe, highlighting hospitality and community. Sheller studies the movement of people, information, and ideas.

 

 

Diario de Mallorca (Spain)
Mimi Sheller: "Tourism must prioritize the local population over profit"

The two main newspapers in Mallorca, Spain reported on a lecture delivered by Mimi Sheller, Dean of the Global School, at the University of the Balearic Islands. Sheller spoke of the pressure generated by mass tourism on housing, mobility, and natural resources and advocated moving towards more sustainable models of tourism.

Additional Publications: Última Hora (Spain)

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Colleen B Wamback Associate Director, Public Relations

Colleen B Wamback
Director of Public Relations

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Jon Cain
Senior Public Relations Manager

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