EDUCATION
2025 Ph.D. Sociology, Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador
M.A. Sociology, California State University, Dominquez Hills, California
B.A. Anthropology, University of California at Irvine, California
B.A. Criminology, University of California at Irvine, California
CURRENT ROLE(S):
2025/27 Visiting Scholar, Centre for Feminist Research, York University, Toronto
*Forthcoming Book: Autonomous Women: Shifting the Conversation Surrounding Childfree and Single Women of Color under contract at Rutgers University Press.
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Phillips, Kimberly Martinez. 2025. “Coloniality, Capitalism, and Patriarchy: Childfree, Never-Married Black Women and Women of Color on the Rise.” Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships 12 (3): 113–44. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2025.a987573.
Martinez Phillips, Kimberly. 2025. “Planning Trips not Weddings: Intersecting Single and Childfree Women of Color.”Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, 28 (2/3): 151-170. https://doi.org/10.5117/TVGN2025.2-3.002.MART
Martinez Phillips, Kimberly and Kris Marsh (2024). “The Love Jones Cohort and singlehood are family law issues.” Family Court Review 62(4): 900-919.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12817
Martinez Phillips, Kimberly. 2024. “The feminization of freedom: An analysis of love, happiness and freedom from the perspective of childfree, never-married single women of color.” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 41(12): 3573-3592. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02654075241269667
Martinez Phillips, Kimberly, Allyson Stokes and Bruna Brita. 2023. “Framing Sexual Misconduct in Hollywood: #MeToo as a Cultural Place Card.” (Under Review).
Martinez Phillips, Kimberly. 2023. “‘We Come Not Here to Talk’—Revisiting the Work of Anna Julia Cooper: An Analysis of Standpoint Theory and Her Placement in the Academic Canon.” Symbolic Interaction 46(3): 311–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.632
Dissertation:
Martinez Phillips, Kimberly. 2025. “Autonomous Women: An Examination of the Lives and Experiences of Childfree, Never-Married Single Women of Color from a Decolonial Feminist Perspective.” Doctoral Dissertation. Memorial University of Newfoundland. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14783/13373
PUBLICATIONS/BLOGS
Martinez Phillips, Kimberly. “Childfree, Carefree, and Self-Care – The Roles Women Can Play.” The Society Pages Council on Contemporary Families. April 16, 2024. https://thesocietypages.org/ccf/
TEACHING APPOINTMENTS
2003 – Long Beach City College
Long Beach, California
Adjunct Sociology Instructor
Courses taught:
Race and Ethnicity (asynchronous)
Introduction to Sociology (asynchronous and on campus)
The Family (asynchronous)
Social Problems (asynchronous and on campus)
2021 - Saint Mary’s University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Part Time Instructor
Courses/terms taught:
Race and Ethnicity - Winter 2025 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Su 2024 (asynchronous)
Advanced Social Thought – Su 2024 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity – Winter 2024 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity – Fall 2023 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity – Su 2023 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Winter 2023 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Fall 2022 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Su 2022 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Winter 2022 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Su 2021 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Spring 2021 (asynchronous)
Race and Ethnicity - Fall 2021 (asynchronous)
Advanced Social Thought - Winter 2021 (asynchronous)
2021 - 2024 Memorial University
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
Per Course Instructor
Courses/terms taught:
Introduction to Criminology – Winter 2025 (asynchronous)
Introduction to Sociology – Fall 2024 (asynchronous)
Introduction to Criminology – Winter 2024 (asynchronous)
Introduction to Criminology – Fall 2023 (asynchronous)
Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice – Fall 2022
Introduction to Sociology – Spring 2022 (asynchronous)
Introduction to Policing - Winter 2022
Introduction to Policing - Fall 2021
2008 – 2019 Santa Monica College
Santa Monica, California
Adjunct Sociology Instructor
Courses taught:
Introduction to Sociology
The Family
Social Problems
2013 – 2016 Golden West College
Huntington Beach, California
Adjunct Sociology Instructor
Courses taught:
Introduction to Sociology
Introduction to Criminology
2004 – 2016 Mt. San Antonio College
Walnut, California
Adjunct Sociology Instructor
Courses taught:
Introduction to Criminology
Introduction to Sociology
Social Problems
Marriage and Family
Race Relations
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS AND AWARDS
2023. Post-Doctoral Fellow, Sociology Department at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax [Offered].
2023. National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) Women of Color Leadership Project (WoCLP) Fellow.
2023. Winner of Dalhousie University’s John Flint Prize for Best Paper “We Come Not Here to Talk”—Revisiting the Work of Anna Julia Cooper: An Analysis of Standpoint Theory and Her Placement in the Academic Canon.”
2019. Vice President Research – School of Graduate Studies Pilot Program Fellowship, Amount: $40,000.
INVITED PANELIST
Panelist for the Special Session Intersectional Solidarities. American Sociological Association (ASA) 2024 Conference. August 12, 2024.
Panelist for Author Meets Reader session for Dr. Kris Marsh's book The Love Jones Cohort: Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class. Work-Family Researchers Network (WFRN) Biennial Conference. June 22, 2024.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Coloniality, capitalism, and patriarchy: childfree, never-married Black women and women of color on the rise.” Single Women and Gender Panel. 5th Annual International Singles Studies Conference (ISSA). July 8, 2026.
“The Emotional Toll Tax: A Decolonial Feminist Study Examining How Single, Childfree Women of Color Navigate Work, Health and Success.” Intersectional Singlehood Panel. International Singles Studies Conference (ISSA). July 30, 2025.
“The Feminization of Freedom: An Analysis of Love, Happiness and Freedom from the Perspective of Childfree, Never-Married Single Women of Color.” Intersectional Singlehood Panel. International Singles Studies Conference (ISSA). July 5, 2024.
“The Feminization of Freedom: An Analysis of Love, Happiness and Freedom from the Perspective of Childfree, Never-Married Single Women of Color.” Women’s Economic Decision-Making Panel. Work-Family Researchers Network (WFRN). June 20, 2024.
“We Come Not Here to Talk”—Revisiting the Work of Anna Julia Cooper: An Analysis of Standpoint Theory and Her Placement in the Academic Canon.” Dalhousie’s History Across the Disciplines Conference. Colonialism and Intellectual Wealth Panel. March 25, 2023.
“Film and the Single Girl: A Content Analysis of Transnational Representations of Single Women in Film.” National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) 2022 Annual Conference. Feminist Imaginaries Across Transnational Media Panel. November 12, 2022.
“Unmuffled, Unabashed, and Undeterred: Recentering the Work of Anna Julia Cooper.” The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) 2022 Annual Meeting Session. Movers and Shakers: Activism, Resistance, and Social Progress among Women of Color Panel. August 7, 2022.
“Women Unpartnered: A Decolonial Feminist Study of the Lives and Perceptions of Never-married, Childfree Women of Color” The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) 2022 Annual Meeting Session. Regulating Sexuality and Gender Identity over the Life Course Panel. August 5, 2022.
“Singleness is Not a Disorder: Destructive Depictions of Single Women in Film.” The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting Session. Shame, Stigma and Society Panel. August 6, 2021.
“Skipping the Main Course: Depictions of Single Women in Film.” Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction 2021 (Virtual). Meaning Making through Media Representations Panel. August 5, 2021.
“Cat Ladies or Feline Feminists: Representations of Single Women in Film.” Qualitative Analysis Conference 2021, Brescia University College Online. Gender and Feminist Studies Panel. June 22, 2021.
“Film and the Single Girl: Depictions of Single Women in Film.” Sociologist for Women in Society (SWS) 20th Semi-Annual Virtual Winter Meeting. Gender in Film, Marketing and Social Media Panel. January 2021.
“A Reimagining of the Cat Lady: A Feminist Perspective of Single Women in Film.” 37th Annual Qualitative Analysis Conference to be held at in London, Ontario, Canada, June 24 to 26, 2020 [conference canceled due to COVID19].
Tools for Teaching Introduction to Sociology, Pacific Sociological Association Conference. San Diego, California. March 24, 2012.
SERVICE TO DISCIPLINE
2026 Co-Chair of Conference Committee for ISSA (International Singles Studies Association) 5th Annual Conference, 2026
2025 Reviewer
Personal Relationships
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
Sex Roles
2025 Sessional Chair
“Media, Culture and Motivations for Singlehood” panel. International Singles
Studies Conference (ISSA). July 30, 2025.
2023 Reviewer
Cross Cultural Research
2022 Committee Member
Kimberlé Crenshaw Award Committee for the Division on Ethnic and Racial
Minorities section of SSSP.
2021 - 2022 Reviewer
Canadian Journal of Aging
2018 Facilitator, Santa Monica College
Implemented the student retention program in the Sociology Department at Santa Monica College. Tutored students, proctored exams, compiled retention data.
ACADEMIC ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
The American Sociological Association (ASA)
International Single Studies Association (ISSA)
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