Bernadette Ludwig

Bernadette Ludwig (PhD, Sociology, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York) is a part-time faculty in the Global Studies Department. She is also an associate professor of Sociology at Wagner College in Staten Island. Bernadette Ludwig received her joint B.A. and M.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Vienna in Austria. She is also a graduate of the University of Oxford’s International Summer School in Forced Migration.

Bernadette Ludwig's research focuses on the intersection of immigration, gender, and race, specifically how immigration and refugee resettlement policies affect refugee and immigrant families in U.S. cities, and how migrants assert their agency to respond to imposed racial and gender hierarchies. Her other research interests include urban inequality, applied sociology, service learning, and social policy. She is currently working on a book manuscript about the Liberian refugee and immigrant community in Staten Island’s North Shore, home to one of the largest Liberian populations in the United States.

Her research interests are informed by her experiences as a first generation high school graduate, first generation immigrant, and her work with refugees and immigrants in Atlanta, GA, most recently, as the co-founder and, now board member of Culture Connect, Inc. Bernadette Ludwig is a board member of Napela, Inc., an NGO that serves West African refugee and immigrant families in Staten Island, NY.

Teaching Interests

• Immigration, Race and Ethnicity, Gender, Family, Social Stratification, Civic Engagement, Applied Sociology, Social Policy

Awards & Fellowships

• Project Pericles Up to Us Voting Modules Senior Fellow (2021-22)
• Wagner College Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching (2021)
• Periclean Voter Engagement Fellow (2020, 2021)
• Wagner College Advisor Recognition Award (2021)
• Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility Research Grant (2020-21)
• Wagner College Black Student Faculty Award (2020)
• Honorary Member of the Wagner College Class of 2019 (identified as one of two favorite faculty members by graduating class)
• Wagner College's Martin Luther King Jr. Agent of Change Award (2019)
• Wagner College Faculty Award for Excellence in Service (2019)
• Wagner College's Internationalization Action Council Award (2017)
• Wagner College Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship (2017)
• Wagner College Faculty Award – Civic Engagement Recognition (2017)
• New Educators Award – Distinguished Professor Award (2015)

Representative Publications

Journal Articles

• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2019. It's Tough to Be a Liberian Refugee in Staten Island, NY: The Importance of Context for Second Generation African Immigrant Youth. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal. 12:2, pp. 189-210
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2016. Contesting ‘the’ Immigrant Experience: Diverse Refugee and Immigrant Communities in the U.S. Migration Studies. 5: 3, pp. 457–465.
• Ludwig, Bernadette and Holly Reed. 2016. "When You Are Here You Have High Blood Pressure": Liberian Refugees' Health and Access to Healthcare in Staten Island, NY. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care. 12:1, pp. 26-37.
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2016. A Black Republic: Citizenship and Naturalisation Requirements in Liberia. Migration Letters. 13:1, pp. 84-99.
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2016. "Wiping the Refugee Dust from My Feet." Advantages and Burdens of Refugee Status and the Refugee Label. International Migration. 54:1, pp. 5-18. (first published online in 2013)
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2012. The Role of Culture in Mentoring. Forced Migration Review. 40: p. 32.

Book Chapters

• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2017. Looking for Refuge in the Other New York City: Liberian Refugees in Staten Island. In David Haines, Jayne Howell & Fethi Keles (eds.) Maintaining Refuge: Anthropological Reflections in Uncertain Times. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association. pp. 11-17.
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2016. Thrust Into the Spotlight: Liberian Refugees Dealing with Ebola and Other Stigmas. In Judy Kuriansky (ed.) The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Ebola Has Taught Us about Holistic Healing. Westport, CT: Praeger. pp. 149-163.
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2016. "From ‘Oh My Gosh I’m Going to Get Mugged" To "See[ing] Them as People Who are Just Like Me." In Katia Gonzalez and Rhoda Frumkin(eds.) Handbook of Research on Effective Communication in Culturally Diverse Classrooms. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, pp. 251-268.
• Reed, Holly, Bernadette Ludwig, and Laura Braslow. 2016. Forced Migration In Michael White and Josh DeWind (eds.) Handbook of Migration and Population Distribution. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 605-625.
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2015. The Different Meanings of the Word "Refugee." In Vai Ramanathan and Emily Feuerherm (eds.) Refugee Resettlement: Language, Policies, Pedagogies. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 34-52.
• Ludwig, Bernadette. 2013. Liberians: Struggles for Refugee Families. In Nancy Foner (ed.) One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, pp. 220-222.
• Ludwig, Bernadette and Erwin Ebermann. 2002. Als "Afrikaner" auf der Wohnungssuche (“As ‘African’ on apartment hunt“) In Ebermann, Erwin (ed.) Afrikaner in Wien, (Africans in Vienna). Vienna, Austria: LIT-Verlag, pp. 226-236.