Five Star White Trash

Georgiann Davis is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of Contesting Intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis.

"Rarely has a memoir about growing up poor and white looked at the categories 'poor' and 'white' so incisively. Georgiann Davis gives the reader an intimate account of a life of hardship, but this is not your average story of triumph over adversity. Rather, it is an unflinching but compassionate look at growing up in a family besieged by problems, and the advantages that whiteness confers in an otherwise underprivileged life. With a keen sociological eye, Davis also explores the ways in which seemingly extraordinary experiences – from the medical harm of making fat or intersex bodies socially acceptable to identity theft at the hands of a family member – are the historical outcomes of institutional power." - Grace M. Cho, author of Tastes Like War: A Memoir "Brave and unflinching... Georgiann's story is moving and unforgettable, one that can help us understand ourselves, and just maybe, each other." - C.J. Pascoe, author of Nice is Not Enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High "Five Star White Trash is a memoir born of the sociological imagination…a sociology that is uncensored (often crass) but confronting in its honesty about class, gender, and race in America. Davis shows that behind each personal tragedy, trauma and memory is an array of social forces that shape our most personal reflections of who we are and what we can become." - Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, author of Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court "Davis has written a gripping sociological memoir, which explores key contradictions in American family life, including sex and gender, race and privilege, poverty and addiction, commitment and betrayal. It's also about the making of a sociologist, an origin story for the insight and empathy that represent the best of our discipline. I couldn't put it down." - Philip N. Cohen, author of Citizen Scholar: Public Engagement for Social Scientists "In this conversation-changer, you will discover the fascinating, and at times, truly unbelievable, story of Davis, who went from middle school drop-out to one of the country's foremost experts on the sociology of intersex experiences. With her life story as a backdrop, Davis expands our understanding of the interplay between social class, health, and race, while telling a story about the enduring ties, challenges, and strength of biological and found family." - Kristina Olson, Professor of Psychology, Princeton University