Preeti Sharma

Dr. Preeti Sharma is Associate Professor of American Studies at CSULB. Her work makes intellectual and activist interventions in our understandings of a globalized Los Angeles, gender, immigration, and labor. 

Dr. Sharma is also one of the editors of the book, The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice (University of California Press, 2021). Hercurrent research project, “The Thread Between Them: Affective and Intimate Labor in Los Angeles’ South Asian Threading Salons,” examines the transnational beauty practice of threading in salons across Los Angeles County through their emergence, labor, regulation, and contestation in the neoliberal immigrant service sector.

Dr. Sharma’s work makes intellectual and activist interventions in our understandings of a globalized Los Angeles, gender, immigration, and labor. Professor Sharma connects research and teaching to action through her service on the board of Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) and through her research with the UCLA Labor Center, where she has trained students to develop reports about issues such as wage theft while empowering them to build networks that promote social and economic justice. At the UCLA Labor Center she supported numerous research justice efforts, including the animated short video, I am a #YoungWorker and the national report, Nail Files: A Study of Nail Salon Workers and Industry in the U.S.

Education

• Ph.D., Gender Studies, UCLA
• M.A., Asian American Studies, UCLA
• B.A., Women’s Studies, University of Florida

Courses Taught

• AMST 300: Introduction to American Studies
• AMST 325: Beauty Matters: Culture, Politics, Labor
• AMST 495: Labor and Social Justice in Los Angeles
• AMST 498: Senior Seminar in American Studies

Select Publications 

• Hong, Mai-Linh, Chrissy Yee Lau, and Preeti Sharma, eds. The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice. University of California Press. 2021.
• Baik, C., Wong, D., Truong, V., Bae, M., Sharma, P., Sze, L., … Yoon, M.H. (2022). To Write in Unwellness: Documenting A/P/A Voices. Journal of Asian American Studies 25(3), 493-515.
• Sharma, P., Stepick, L., Shadduck-Hernández, J., Waheed, S., (2021). Time Theft in the Los Angeles Retail Sector: The Need for New Labor Standards and a Fair Workweek. Labor Studies Journal. 47(1), 28-55.
• Sharma, P. (2020). Irresponsible State Care and the Virality of Nail Salons: Asian American Women’s Service Work, Vulnerbility, and Mutuality. Journal of Asian American Studies 23(23)3, 491-509.

Reports

• Sharma, P. Areza J. Gonzalez-Vasques, A. L., Fu, L., Herrera, L., Lopez, M., Waheed, S., Nguyen, J. (2023). Nailing New Labor Models: Exploring Sectoral Boards and High Road Training Partnerships in the Nail Salon Sector. UCLA Labor Center and CA Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative.
• Sharma, P., Gonzalez, L., Herrera, L., Waheed, S., Fu, L., Nguyen, D., Nguyen, T., Gurung, P., Dash, P., Nguyen, N., Tran, E. (2022). Working Under COVID-19: Experiences of Nail Salon Workers in California, New York, Pennsylvania, & New Jersey. Adhikaar for Human Rights & Social Justice, CA Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, UCLA Labor Center, & VietLead.
• Ángeles, S. L., Chen, M., Galvez, J., Shadduck-Hernández, J., Sharma, P., Thomas, D., Waheed S., Wong, M. (2020). Unseen Costs: The Experiences of Workers and Learners in Los Angeles County. UCLA Labor Center.
• Sharma, P., Waheed, S., Nguyen, V., Stepick L., Orellana, R., Katz, L., Kim, S. Lapira, K. (2018). Nail Files: A Study of Nail Salon Workers and Industry in the United States. UCLA Labor Center and California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative.
• Shadduck-Hernández, J., Waheed, S., Sharma, P., Stepick L., Nguyen, V., Macias, M., Orellana, R. (2018). Hour Crisis: Unstable Schedules in the Los Angeles Retail Sector. UCLA Labor Center.

Curriculum

• Teaching Guide to The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice.

Films

• Golden, D.L., Sharma, P., Valenzuela, D., Waheed, S., Shadduck-Hernández, J., Ritoper, S., Higbie, T. (2016). I am a #YoungWorker. UCLA Labor Center.

Book Reviews

• Sharma, P. (2020). “Responding to Gay Inc.” Society & Space.