My Research
What does it mean to be politically Black?
What are the cognitions present when Black citizens vote?
Can institutions, even higher education, embody anti-Black racism?
In my research, these are the types of sociopolitical questions I attempt to provide evidence-based answers to. It is apparent that racial identity, particularly Blackness, is at the forefront of my research, which may pose a barrier as some deem research using tenants of critical race theory as racist itself (Reuters, 2021). According to African American policy expert Kendra King, discussions of race can “produce some of the most severe ‘knee-jerk’ reactions” (King, 2010, 2). These reactions can undermine legitimate dialogue and research on the sociopolitical issues associated with race. Therefore, my research goal is to mitigate the “knee-jerk reactions” of which Kendra King speaks by robust theoretical explanations connecting political identity, political behavior, and factual racialized experiences.
Black Curativeness
“… the Black voting demographic view the election of Black officials as paramount and remedial to enduring institutional discrimination on the basis of race—a notion of Black curativeness.”
Insulated Blackness
“… this work theorizes the concept of insulated Blackness – the extent to which self-identified African Americans oppose pro-Black remedial policies and/or disagree with commonly held ideologies about the Black condition, as a result of an existence insulated from frequent experiences of racial discrimination.”
Structural aversive racism
“The study concludes that when PWIs approach antiracism through the prioritization of equality, the institution does not become antiracist but retrofits individual aversive racism by creating an aversive racist structure evinced by an anti-Black campus climate.”