DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Area(s) of Interest

Sexualities, Migration and transnationalism, Genealogy and archival documents, Race/Ethnicity, Health Promotion and HIV/AIDS.

Relevant Links

Gender and Sexuality Studies Program

Latina and Latino Studies Program


The Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN)

Biography

Professor Carrillo has a joint appointment in the Sociology Department and the Gender & Sexuality Studies Program. He has affiliations with Latina/o Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Science and Human Culture, Institute for Policy Research (IPR). 

He is a founder and past co-director of the Sexualities Project at Northwestern (SPAN), which promotes interdisciplinary research and education on sexuality. 

He is the author of two books: The Night Is Young: Sexuality in Mexico in the Time of AIDS (University of Chicago Press, 2002), and Pathways of Desire: The Sexual Migration of Mexican Gay Men (University of Chicago Press, 2017), which received awards from three American Sociological Association (ASA) sections (Latina/o Sociology, Sex and Gender, and International Migration) and the 2020 ASA Distinguished Scholarly Book Award. 

His current research investigates amateur genealogists’ interaction with archival documents, and the social implications of the proliferation of genealogy as a global phenomenon. He has also conducted research on the sexualities of straight-identified men who are sexually interested in both women and men. 

Carrillo is a past chair of the Sociology of Sexualities Section of the ASA and served as a senior editor of Theory and Society. He has a history of involvement in HIV/AIDS community-based organizations.

Courses Taught

Sociology:

SOCIOL 232/GNDR_ST 232: Sexuality and Society Syllabus

SOCIOL 276: Introductory Topics: Sociology of Sexuality Syllabus

SOCIOL 322: Sociology of Immigration Syllabus

SOCIOL 376: Transnationalism, Culture and Ethnicity: Latino/as Syllabus

SOCIOL 376: Heterosexualities: Past, Present & Future Syllabus

SOCIOL 476: Sociology of Immigration Syllabus

SOCIOL 476: Sociology of Sexuality Syllabus

Gender Studies:

GDNR_ST 210: Gender, Power, and Culture in America Syllabus

GNDR_ST 331: Heterosexualities: Past, Present & Future Syllabus

GDNR_ST 351: Gender, Sexuality, and Public Policy Syllabus

GNDR_ST 390: Research Methods in Gender and Sexuality Studies Syllabus

GNDR_ST 490: Sociology of Sexuality Syllabus

Books

Pathways of Desire: The Sexual Migration of Mexican Gay Men
University of Chicago Press, 2017

The Night is Young: Sexuality in Mexico in the Time of AIDS
University Chicago Press, 2002

Publications

“What Can Dead People Teach Us? Genealogy, Commemoration, and Change.”
Critical Sociology (2025) Online first.

“Heteroflexibility.” In Introducing the New Sexuality Studies: Original Essays, edited by Nancy L. Fischer, Laurel Westbrook, Steven Seidman (London and New York, Routledge, 2022).

“‘Straight with a Pinch of Bi’: The Contours of Male Heteroflexibility.”
With Amanda Hoffman. In Routledge International Handbook of Heterosexualities Studies, edited by James Dean and Nancy Fischer, 377-391. (London and New York. Routledge, 2021).

Cultural Archipelagos and Immigrants’ Experiences.
City & Community 18, No.1 (2019): 44-48.

“Straight with a Pinch of Bi”: The Construction of Heterosexuality as an Elastic Category among Adult U.S. Men.
With Amanda Hoffman; Sexualities, 2017.

From MSM to Heteroflexibilities: Non-exclusive Straight Male Identities and their Implications for HIV Prevention and Health Promotion.
With Amanda Hoffman; Global Public Health, 2016.

Border crossings and shifting sexualities among Mexican gay immigrant men: Beyond monolithic conceptions
With Jorge Fontdevila; Sexualities, 2014.

Immigrant sexual citizenship: intersectional templates among Mexican gay immigrants to the USA
With Steven Epstein; Citizenship Studies, 2014.

Rethinking Sexual Initiation: Pathways to Identity Formation among Gay and Bisexual Mexican Male Youth
With Jorge Fontdevila; Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2010.

Risk Across Borders: Sexual Contexts and HIV Prevention Challenges among Mexican Gay and Bisexual Immigrant Men
With Jorge Fontdevila, Jaweer Brown, and Walter Gómez Findings and Recommendations from the Trayectos Study, Monograph, 2008.