Celia Barabanov
- celiabarabanov2031@u.northwestern.edu
- Field(s): United States
- Specialization: Colonial, Imperial and Diasporic History; Political and Policy History
- Advisor(s): Geraldo L. Cadava
Biography
Celia Barabanov is a doctoral student researching the intersection between immigration, governance, and identity. Celia is especially interested in emerging immigrant destinations and how their varied local responses to demographic change both reflect and fuel national polarization.
Celia earned her BA in History and Global Studies from Middlebury College, where she was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for academic excellence and the Maude Violet Graybar American History Prize. Celia’s undergraduate History thesis explored how federal failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform led to policy experimentation in new, suburban immigrant destinations like Prince William County, Virginia, which experienced rapid demographic change. While local anti-immigrant activists and officials framed Prince William County’s crackdown around law enforcement and legality, her thesis, which analyzed contemporaneous blogs and subsequent oral histories, concluded that the conflict ultimately reflected deeper contests over belonging, community identity, and access to the American Dream.
In her free time, Celia enjoys tutoring English as a second language, hiking, and watching movies.