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Brianne Painia (she/her) is an Assistant Instructional Professor of Sociology in MAPSS. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Louisiana State University, a MA in Sociology from The George Washington University, and a B.S. in Business Administration from The University of Southern Mississippi.  

Professor Painia's research interests include black gender performance, black social theory, and the intersection of religion and feminism in religious communities with her most recent works focusing on religious women’s attitudes regarding feminism and religious gender roles. Her ongoing book project examines the religious gendered expectations and gender role performance of Black women in a Southern Baptist church in Southeastern Louisiana.  

Related to her interest in black masculinity, Professor Painia has also conducted research on the attitudes of black men involved in a volunteer community initiative. In this project she examines how respondents’ perception of shared experience with the men they are helping impacts their willingness to participate in volunteerism. She has published work in critical criminology on the demographic impact of carceral migration as formerly incarcerated men reintegrate into their home communities.  

As such she welcomes students interested in the critical intersectional study of race, gender, religion, and sexuality and/or qualitative methodologies.  

As an AIP in MAPSS, Professor Painia teaches “American Religion, Gender and Race”, “Qualitative Methods: Coding and Thematic Analysis,” and “Black Social Thought” at the graduate level. She has taught introductory, undergraduate, and upper-level courses in African & African American Studies, presented her research at academic conferences, and guest lectured on the topics of race, critical theory, and qualitative methodology. She is also an affiliate faculty member of The Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. 

Prior to joining MAPSS in 2021, Professor Painia served as an ACLS Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University, a director of a living-learning undergraduate community, and managed a non-profit initiative aimed at improving the mental, educational, and physical health outcomes of black boys and men in Baton Rouge, LA. She is from New Orleans, Louisiana.