Sonya Chen is a Ph.D. candidate in Politics and Social Policy at Princeton University. Her research and teaching interests include race and ethnicity, Asian American politics, social movements and organizations, and intergroup relations.

Sonya’s dissertation project, titled “Asian Americans and the Politics of Racial Justice” examines how Asian Americans position themselves in the American racial order and engage in racial politics. Using the contemporary movement against anti-Asian violence as a starting point, the project explores how Asian Americans are making political demands, constructing the political meaning of anti-Asian violence, and (dis)engaging with state institutions meant to address violence. The project draws upon mixed methods including interviews, discourse analysis, and surveys.

Her other academic research explores the challenges and possibilities of building interracial solidarity in a diverse society. Sonya’s work has been published in Politics, Groups, and Identities. She is the recipient of the American Political Science Association Diversity Fellowship and the George Kateb Preceptor Award for excellent teaching at Princeton. 

Sonya co-created and co-facilitated the Asian American Studies Faculty-Graduate Reading Group at Princeton. Her public engagement has included co-organizing the Asian American Studies Multi-Media Reading Group in Central New Jersey, which eventually became a launching pad for organizing for Asian American studies in K-12 public schools in the state; building mutual aid infrastructure with Princeton Mutual Aid; and conducting community-led research on racial violence and healing with Asian Health Services.

Sonya received her B.A. with high honors in Political Science and minors in Sociology and Statistics from Swarthmore College.

Sonya will be a Panda Express Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania for the 2024-25 academic year. In July 2025, she will join the Department of Political Science at Barnard College as an Assistant Professor.