Expertise
Transnational families, Parenting, Intergenerational relationships, Childhood and youth studies, Education.
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) - Sociology, Syracuse University
- Dissertation: Cultivating a New Transnational Elite: Parenting, Schooling, and Belonging in the Age of Global IT
- Master of Arts (M.A.) - Sociology, Syracuse University
- M.A. - Media Studies, Syracuse University
- Thesis: Nationalism on the Net: Exploring the Ideology of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party
- Certificate of Advanced Study (South Asia), Syracuse University
- Bachelor of Science (B.S.) - Economics, University of Pittsburgh, Summa Cum Laude
- Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) - English Literature, University of Pittsburgh, Summa Cum Laude
Biosketch
Adrienne Lee Atterberry's research expertise centers on middle- and upper-class transnationally mobile families. Through her work, she explores how class and ethnic identity shape parenting practices and intergenerational relationships. She also investigates how children and youth work with their parents to secure access to scarce resources, such as elite schools, enriching extracurricular activities, and competitive colleges. Additionally, she interrogates how international mobility affects children and youths’ understanding of and relationship to their ethnic identity.
Her work has appeared in Current Sociology; Families, Relationships and Societies; and Contemporary Education Dialogue. She has also published book chapters in numerous edited volumes. Additionally, she co-edited the book Children and Youths’ Migration in a Global Landscape (Emerald), which is part of the Sociological Studies of Children and Youth (SSCY) series. This book features case studies about internationally mobile children and youth from Asia, Europe, North America, and Central America. Currently, she is completing a book manuscript based on her research on return migrant families living in India.
Adrienne Lee Atterberry is also actively engaged in public scholarship. She wrote a blog for the International Sociological Association's Sociology of the Family (RC06) blog series titled, Partners in Privilege: Exploring Adolescents’ Impact on Parenting Strategies. This blog urges readers to consider adolescents’ role in the overall success of their parents’ childrearing strategies. Additionally, she co-edited the Childhood and Migration blog series, which was jointly published by the Childhood, Law and Policy Network (CLPN) and the Critical Childhoods and Youth Studies Collective (CCYSC). This series considers how migration shapes the lives of the relatively young. It features stories of children and youth in India, North America, Europe, and Central America. It explores issues such as citizenship, belonging, food scarcity, and schooling. Currently, she is co-developing a podcast series, “Childhood and Migration,” that builds on the themes of the blog series.
Selected Awards and Honors
- Eastern Sociological Society
- Co-Chair for the Committee on the Status of Ethnicity, Race, and Racism (2025-2028)
- Chair of the Candace Rogers Award (2025-2026)
- Sociologist of the Month, Current Sociology, October 2022
- All-University Doctoral Prize for Sociology, Syracuse University, 2022
Selected Publications
Edited Volume
- Atterberry, A. L., McCallum, D. G., Tu, S., & Lutz, A (Eds.). 2022. Children and Youths’ Migration in a Global Landscape: Sociological Studies of Children and Youth (Vol. 29). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
Journal Articles
- Lee, Y. and Adrienne Atterberry. 2025. “Grandparents doing care work: Unpacking the contributions and experiences of Korean grandparent caregivers in the US” Families, Relationships and Societies: 1-20.
- Atterberry, Adrienne. 2025. “Migration as a social mobility project: The case of return migrant families in India” Families, Relationships and Societies: 14(1): 59-74.
- Atterberry, Adrienne. 2022. “Intensive teaching: Examining teachers’ professional pressures and pedagogical practices at an elite school,” Contemporary Education Dialogue 19(1): 107-131.
- Earlier version of paper titled, “Intensive teaching: Teaching within a neoliberal context,” selected as a finalist in the International Sociological Association Worldwide Competition for Junior Sociologists (2021)
Book Chapters
- Atterberry, Adrienne. 2023. “Return migration, parenting, and the subcontinent: Parents and youths’ perspectives of life in India.” Pp. 121-135 in Emerald Handbook of Childhood and Youth in Asian Societies, edited by Doris Bühler-Niederberger, Xiaorong Gu, Jessica Schwittek, and Elena Kim. Emerald.
- Atterberry, Adrienne. 2022. “Transnational migration, ethnic identity, and blurred boundaries: Indian American youth redefine being a second-generation immigrant.” Pp. 51-72 in Children and Youths’ Migration in a Global Landscape, edited by Adrienne Atterberry, Derrace McCallum, Siqi Tu, and Amy Lutz. Emerald.
Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research
- Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Grant, University of Massachusetts Lowell