Through this work, Lewis challenges dominant narratives of migration by centering Black Americans as global actors and highlighting the transformative power of placemaking and mobility.

Lewis Miles is a PhD candidate in sociology whose research examines immigration through a unique lens. Lewis previously earned his bachelor’s in sociology, summa cum laude, from Morehouse College. His scholarship has been supported by the Social Science Research Council and the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Lewis’s doctoral research spans race, gender, and class; international migration; and Black political and social thought. His current work focuses particularly on Black American expatriates in Mexico. His dissertation, titled Black to Mexico: A Study of Black U.S. Americans, Mobility, and the Pursuit of Freedom, explores how Black migrants reimagine and enact freedom across the U.S.-Mexico border. Through this work, Lewis challenges dominant narratives of migration by centering Black Americans as global actors and highlighting the transformative power of placemaking and mobility.

Lewis’s Riecker fellowship will support a project entitled “Women Who Leave,” focusing specifically on the migration of Black women from the U.S. to Mexico during the recent “Blaxit” movement, a social movement encouraging Black Americans to leave the U.S. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic observation, Lewis examines how middle-class Black women immigrate as a strategy for self-care, financial stability, and lifestyle change, while also grappling with the contradictions of privilege and exploitation in a transnational context. Lewis is producing a short documentary film as part of this work, blending visual storytelling and ethnography to make his research more accessible to both academic and public audiences.

Lewis is also an accomplished visual artist. His artwork features papier-mâché, vibrant colors, and repurposed materials, provoking viewers to consider malleability, construction and deconstruction, and movement.

CEW+ celebrates Lewis’s powerful creative vision and names him a Riecker Graduate Research Fellow.