The Honorable Dr. Debra Rodman is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies and former Director of Women's Studies at Randolph-Macon College. Her areas of expertise are transnational migration, gender and ethnic relations, gender-based violence, and women’s rights. As an anthropology and gender/women’s studies professor, she teaches courses on race, class, and gender, gender and economic development, immigration and refugees, and teaches community-based courses with local refugee resettlement organizations In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Rodman serves as an expert witness in federal immigration court for families fleeing violence and persecution with a focus on women, children, and LGBT individuals.
Debra Rodman has a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Miami, an M.A. in Marine Affairs and Policy from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida. Dr. Rodman is a former Fulbright scholar and received additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. A fluent Spanish speaker, she has over 20 years’ experience working in Central America and with refugee and immigrant communities in the United States.
Dr. Rodman served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018-2020.
Addiction/drugs/drug policy, Caste discrimination or persecution, Climate-related issues, Deportees/criminal deportees, Ethnic discrimination or persecution, Forced conscription, Forced marriage, Gang-related violence/non-state actors, Gender-based violence/domestic violence, Healthcare access/health systems capacity, HIV/AIDS, Land tenure disputes, LGBTQ, Likelihood of destitution or homelessness, Military/police service, Political persecution, Religious discrimination or persecution, Government/state actor persecution, Risk of retaliation, Safe internal relocation, Sexual abuse/assault, Sufficiency of protection, Torture, Trafficking, Tribal discrimination or persecution, Violence against children/child abuse, gender relations, race relations, bridenapping and kidnapping (form of gender-based violence in Central America), informal adoption (regalados)
over 100 affidavits written, over 30 oral testimony
Rodman, Debra H., Carmen Monico, Karen Rotabi-Casares. Under Review Transgender Experiences in the Northern Triangle Countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras: Impunity and Patterns of Abuse for Asylum Seekers. Advances in Social Work.
Rodman, Debra H. Under Review Sanford, Greasing Guatemala’s Military Machine in Eastern Guatemala. in Genocide, Political Violence and Human Rights. Victoria and Wolf Gruner, eds. Rutgers University Press.
Rodman, Debra H. 2019 Anthropology in Practice. In Cultural Anthropology: Contemporary, Public and Critical Readings, 2 nd ed. Keri Vacanti Brondo, editor. Oxford University Press.
Costantino, Roselyn, Karen Smith Rotabi, and Debra H. Rodman. 2012 Violence Against Women and Asylum Seeking: Global Problems and Local Practices Applied to Guatemalan Women Immigrating for Safety. Advances in Social Work 13, no. 2 (2012): 431-450.
Patricia Foxen and Debra H. Rodman. 2012 Guatemalans in New England: Transnational Communities Over Time and Space. Practicing Anthropology 34 (1) (17-21).
Rodman, Debra H.2010 Retelling Virginia’s Migration History, Southern Spaces, http://southernspaces.org/2010/retelling-virginias-migration-history
Rodman, Debra 2009 Forgotten Guatemala: Genocide, Truth and Denial in Guatemala’s Oriente. In Genocide: Truth, Memory, and Representation. Alexander Laban Hinton and Kevin O'Neill, eds. Pp. 192-215. Durham: Duke University Press.
Taylor, Matthew J, Moran-Taylor, Michelle J. and Debra Rodman Ruiz. 2009 Land, Gender, and Ethnic Change: Transnational Migration and its Effects on Guatemalan Lives and Landscapes. In Anthology on Migrant Remittances and Development: Research Perspectives, edited by R.H. Adams, Jr., H. de Haas, and U. Osili. New York: Social Science Research Council.
Taylor, Matthew J, Moran-Taylor, Michelle J. and Debra Rodman Ruiz. 2006 Land, Gender, and Ethnic Change: Transnational Migration and its Effects on Guatemalan Lives and Landscapes. Geoforum 37 (1), 41-61.
Rodman, Debra 2004 Maya Migration North: Transnational Indigenous Identities. Cultural Survival Voices, 3 (1).
Rodman, Debra 1998 Island Biogeography and Metapopulation Theory: Jumping on the Conservation Bandwagon. Florida Scientist. 61:67.
Teaching Publications/Textbooks
2009 Treasure Hunt: Searching for Ourselves. The Southern Sociologist. Fall issue.
Documentary Film
2010 Rodman, Debra and Ed Talavera, producers and directors. “Americanized”, Video documentary on Guatemalan Transnational Migration. 23 minutes. Spanish with English subtitles https://vimeo.com/37439057