Rate My Professor Amy McDowell

Amy McDowell is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Chair in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Mississippi. She earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh and joined the University of Mississippi in 2014 as an Assistant Professor, later being promoted to Associate Professor. McDowell's research centers on the sociology of religion, race, gender, and sexuality, with a particular focus on how religion shapes gender and sexual hierarchies and norms. She conducted nearly three years of ethnographic fieldwork studying a local Protestant evangelical church congregation in Oxford, Mississippi, exploring mechanisms of uniformity such as small talk and silence that constrain expressions of doubt or progressive views on topics including politics, sexuality, and race.

McDowell's first book, Whispers in the Pews: Evangelical Uniformity in a Divided America (New York University Press, 2026), details how everyday interactions in evangelical churches maintain consensus and isolate dissenting members. She directs the Queer Mississippi Histories Project, an oral history initiative that documents and preserves LGBTQ+ hardship and resilience in Mississippi; the project has received Achieving Equity Grants and Isom Fellowships. Her peer-reviewed publications include "Aggressive and Loving Men: Gender Hegemony in Christian Hardcore Punk" (Gender & Society, 2017), "‘This for the Brown Kids!’: Racialization and the Formation of ‘Muslim’ Punk Rock" (2016), "‘Christian But Not Religious’: Being Church as Christian Hardcore Punk" (2018), "Enemies, Allies, and the Struggle for Self-definition in ‘Muslim Punk’ Rock" (2018), and "White Women Who Lead: God, Girlfriends, and Diversity Projects in a National Evangelical Ministry" (2020, co-authored). McDowell has presented her work through public lectures and book events, including signings at Off Square Books.