Debra Kaufman was the founding director of the Women's Studies department at Northeastern University in 1982. She later co-founded the Jewish Studies program and was named a Matthews Distinguished University Professor in the sociology department. Her work contributes to our understanding of how we construct and are shaped by our ethnic, religious, and gender identities.

Debra analyzes contemporary identities, deconstructing the ways in which we measure and take meaning from religion, ethnicity, the sacred, and the secular. Her research has shown that almost all identity structures are shaped by the power relations within and among institutions.

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