Anna S. Rogers

Anna Sheree Rogers, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology. She received her B.A (2012), M.A.(2015), and Ph.D. (2019) from the University of South Carolina. She was the first ever student in the UofSC Sociology program to graduate with Distinction when she received her B.A. in 2012. Already as an undergraduate Dr. Rogers began to develop her research interests in gender and popular culture, writing her Distinction paper on sexism in the lyrics of various kinds of popular music. In 2015, she received her M.A. in sociology on the basis of a thesis on gender dynamics in the heavy metal subculture, focusing in particular on the changing role of, and perceptions about, women as fans and practitioners of heavy metal. Dr. Rogers' current research centers on gendered, and sometimes deviant, identity formations in various forms of popular culture, such as in music, television, and film. Her dissertation involved an examination of the dynamics of women’s self-empowerment through the development and adaptation of cultural symbols among women who are self-described 'witches'. She investigated how this role is adopted to navigate the stigma associated with a traditionally deviant status. Dr. Rogers was a recipient of the Sociology Department's Graduate Teaching Award in 2017 as well as the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award from the USC Graduate School in 2018. Her dissertation was funded by the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Dissertation Fellowship program.