Jennifer N. Fish is a social documentarian with a focus on migration, women’s

labor, global activist movements, and human rights. She is Professor and Chair

of the Department of Women’s Studies at Old Dominion University. Her

ethnographic research forms the foundation of four books, a series of

documentary films, numerous journal articles, and commissioned organizational

reports. For the past 20 years, Dr. Fish has worked with migrant domestic

workers’ organizations throughout the world. Her most recent book, Domestic

Workers of the World Unite!: A Global Movement for Dignity and Human

Rights (New York University Press) chronicles the achievement of the first United

Nations policy to protect domestic workers through the accounts of women

activists.

Dr. Fish’s focus on social justice is largely informed by over twenty years of

research and advocacy experience in South Africa, where she worked on human

rights, social justice, and education platforms that inform her first three books. 

She has taken part in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

process, and contributed research to the United Nations University, the

International Labour Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the

Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Grandmothers Against Poverty and

AIDS, and a range of nongovernmental, research, and philanthropic

organizations. Dr. Fish is a member of the Women in Informal

Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) policy-research network,

where she serves as a research consultant. Her work is has been funded by the

Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada,

the Centre for Global Social Policy at the University of Toronto , and the US

Ambassador’s HIV/AIDS Community Grant.

As a public sociologist, Dr. Fish has conducted community-based research with

students and partner organizations in Nepal, South Africa, Rwanda, Haiti,

Senegal, and the United States. Her scholar-activist approach to research and

teaching engages visual documentation of global human rights issues, including

several photo series, the production of a film on the ILO policy victory for

domestic workers, and a teaching series on migrants and climate change. These

studies have informed a range of public dialogues, organizational advocacy

campaigns, and teaching trainings in four continents.