Jessie Luna is an assistant professor of sociology at Colorado State University. Her work examines how inequalities are reproduced and justified in ways that many people may not notice.  

Most of her research focuses on agricultural change in West Africa, and particularly the debates over whether technology and capitalism help or hurt farmers in this region. Luna has also studied genetically modified cotton and pesticides, with a focus on questions of inequality, social change and the legacies of colonialism and racism.  

Some of Luna’s local research has delved into the body image of runners in Boulder and racialized representations of Africa at the Denver Zoo.   

She earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder and conducted research as a Fulbright scholar in Burkina Faso.  

Luna’s research has been published in Agriculture and Human Values, Geoforum, Qualitative Sociology, World Development and more.