Dr. Carter M. Koppelman

Background

Carter Koppelman is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California-Berkeley. His research examines how states use development and social policies to manage the urban poor, and how those policies are used and contested by individuals, community organizations, and social movements to claim dignity and inclusion in unequal societies. His doctoral dissertation examines how the rise of market-oriented housing policies in Latin America has shaped poor city-dwellers’ struggles for urban inclusion. Using a comparative ethnography of grassroots organizations in Santiago, Chile, and São Paulo, Brazil, it explores how local political contexts affect possibilities for claiming citizen participation and dignified living conditions in Latin American cities. Professor Koppelman has recently published research in Latin American Perspectives and City & Community, and is currently working on multiple manuscripts on gender, the politics of participation, and the political economy of affordable housing programs in Brazil and Chile.

In the classroom, Professor Koppelman teaches in the areas of development & globalization, social theory, social movements, and various aspects of cities and urban life. His teaching is guided by a commitment to help students develop critical and global perspectives on the social forces that shape their everyday lives, and provide tools for analyzing and acting on the challenges and opportunities faced by their communities and the world at large.

Recent Publications

Koppelman, Carter. 2018. “‘For Now, We Are in Waiting’: Negotiating Time in Chile’s Social Housing System.” City & Community 17(2).

Koppelman, Carter. 2017. “Deepening Demobilization: The State’s Transformation of Civil Society in the Poblaciones of Santiago, Chile.” Latin American Perspectives 44(3): 46-63.