Chelsea King

Research interests: Ethnoracial Formation, Indigeneity, Oceania, Empire.

Bio: Chelsea King is a PhD candidate in Sociology. Chelsea is interested in how indigenous peoples' ethno-racial classifications are defined/measured and how such classifications interact with climate and socioeconomic policy to render unequal outcomes. While pursuing these interests, she aims to contribute to the indigenous data sovereignty movement, in hopes of decolonizing data collection about indigenous peoples and opening pathways that incorporate indigenous knowledge systems for our climate future. Prior to her pursuit for graduate studies, Chelsea received her BA and MA in Sociology at Stanford University and worked as a Data Analyst at an education non-profit.

Research summary: Broadly, my research contributes to the sociology of group-making and how ethnoracial identification contributes to the uneven distribution of symbolic and material resources. Specifically, I study how everyday people from the Mariana Islands, politically split between the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the southernmost U.S. unincorporated territory of Guam, actively make race and nation through the framework of indigeneity. I use qualitative interviews to examine the archipelago’s collective identification as “Chamorro” as well as justifications for land ownership, self-determination, and symbolic and material benefits.    

This information is accurate as of the affiliate year indicated. (last updated 09.01.2026).