I am a faculty member in sociology at Vanderbilt University, and manage David Zald's Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Vanderbilt.  

I've been recognized as an expert on militias and other Constitutionalist groups in the United States as a result of my research with them. Unlike the vast majority of militia researchers, I interviewed self-identified active and inactive militia members across the United States, focusing primarily on groups in Michigan, and attended many of their meetings and training events to understand why they do and believe what they do.

I graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in sociology and psychology from Vanderbilt, and completed my Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Michigan. My extensive fieldwork for my dissertation would have been impossible without funding from the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship.

My teaching and research interests include Race & Ethnicity, Masculinity, Nationalism, and Crime & Deviance. 

You may contact me at:

Amy Cooter

amy.cooter@vanderbilt.edu

or 

Department of Sociology
Vanderbilt University
PMB 351811
Nashville, TN 37235-1811

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