Kenneth Alyass is a Ph.D. student in history at Harvard University where he studies race, class, and crime in American cities during the late twentieth-century. His proposed dissertation project is provisionally titled “From the Motor City to the Murder City: Detroit in the Age of Mass Incarceration.” It examines how transformations in racial capitalism and the emergence of neoliberalism and the modern carceral state shaped urban governance between 1970 and 2000.

Kenneth holds a B.A. in History from Wayne State University in the heart of Detroit, and his previous work focused on the intersection between urban redevelopment and policing. He has presented at multiple conferences such as the American Historical Association, Midwestern History Conference, and the Urban History Association. He is also published in the Michigan Journal of History.

He is currently the president of the History Graduate Students Association (HGSA) and welcomes all prospective students to reach out to him to learn more about graduate life in the department and at Harvard.