Race and Ethnicity Commons^™

Intradistrict Inequality: Examining Educational Opportunity In Richmond Elementary Schools, Tara Sheehan

Honors Theses

Educational inequality in the U.S. is often discussed across district lines, but differences between schools within the same district are just as significant. This paper examines intradistrict disparities in Richmond Public Schools (RPS) by comparing William Fox Elementary and Broad Rock Elementary. Although both schools operate under the same district, they serve very different student populations and produce markedly different outcomes. William Fox serves mostly White and economically advantaged students, with higher test scores, lower absenteeism, fewer behavioral incidents, and access to a wide range of enrichment programs. Broad Rock, on the other hand, serves predominantly Hispanic and Black students, …

Health Disparities After Redlining: A Comparative Analysis Of Health Outcomes And Health Disparities In Richmond, Virginia And Portland, Oregon, Amal Ali

Araneum: Richmond Journal of American & Global Affairs

Redlining was a discriminatory housing practice introduced by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation that denied loans and mortgages to Black residents and resulted in a heavily entrenched system of economic discrimination in the U.S. Existing literature points to a strong relationship between redlining and worsened health outcomes in communities of color. For example, redlining is associated with a higher risk of heart failure, a higher risk of death from breast cancer, and a higher risk of COVID-19 infection. While previous research has focused on the relationship between redlining and health outcomes and proposed several possible interventions, there is a lack …

Ur’S Witness Oak Project Honors Enslaved Ancestors, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

This article is about one tree and one cemetery plot. Though the existence of some may have been forgotten, many more burial grounds for the enslaved are known and some of these may still have trees old enough to have “witnessed” the interments of those who toiled so hard, for so long. What better way to remember their contributions to the land that continues to nourish us than by maintaining a living legacy of Witness Tree progeny?

“Nails Done, Hair Done, Everything Did!”: Consumption And The Creation Of Black Feminine Selves, Simone Reid

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how race and gender shape the meaning that Black women associate with their beauty consumption practices and spending. Much of the existing feminist scholarship on beauty has been postfeminist, privileging the concept of agency and empowerment over structural realities. However, the materialist feminist frame has more utility to address how beauty operates within the lives of Black women as a form of distinct gendered racial oppression. The concept of aesthetic capital emerges from the materialist feminist perspective and suggests that beauty demands the investment of considerable economic resources and can deliver economic returns. Despite this, aesthetic capital …

Battle Rap: An Exploration Of Competitive Rhyming In Hip Hop. In African Battle Traditions Of Insult. African Histories And Modernities, Matthew Oware

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Emcees deploying clever and pointed wordplay in order to outduel an opponent remain a staple of rap music. Originating in the South Bronx in the mid-1970s, hip hop started in local parks but grew in popularity, leading to commercial success for many musicians. Now, artists receive record contracts, play in concert venues, and appear on audio streaming and digital platforms such as SoundCloud. Nevertheless, the practice of “battling” or engaging in spirited hyper-competitive banter by insulting adversaries continues (Alim et al.; Mavima). This chapter unpacks “battle” rap. First, we trace its beginnings to New York and the structural and cultural …

Offense Or Defense? Leadership Of The Nba And Nfl In Response To Athlete Activism, Katrina Hale

Honors Theses

Over the past decade, the Black community of the United States has faced great discrimination and violence leading to various protests and instances of activism across the county. In the world of sports, where one may think that political engagement has no relation, some Black athletes use their platforms to speak up about these issues. The National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) recruit the largest percentage of Black athletes compared to any other professional league in the U.S., but their reactions to racial activism on the field and on the court appear very different. In order …

Book Review Of The Sociology Of W.E.B. Du Bois: Racialized Modernity And The Global Color Line, Matthew Oware

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

I regretfully write that I learned so much about W.E.B. Du Bois in The Sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois: Racialized Modernity and the Global Color Line that I am thoroughly embarrassed. My professors did not assign Du Bois’s work in my theory course in graduate school. What I learned from this great thinker, I read on my own. I could recite Du Bois’s notion of double consciousness, and my fellow Black graduate students and I fronted like we represented the Talented Tenth. After reading Itzigsohn and Brown’s work, I realize I know very little about Du Bois. Through a critical …

Crime Pays: How Black Americans Became Central To The Carceral State, Will Brooks

Honors Theses

Over the course of American history, Black Americans have been intentionally criminalized at moments of ostensible social progress. This legacy of intentional criminalization of minority communities has both created the perception that African Americans are innately criminal and given rise to a prison-industrial complex that now depends on Black bodies. Now, predictive policing technology reinforces perceptions of Black criminality necessary for the justification of the carceral state and the survival and expansion of the prison-industrial complex.

Hometown Diversity And Race Essentialism: The Role Of Interracial Friendship Quality, Junming Zhang

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between high-quality interracial

friendships and race essentialism among college students who perceived differing levels of racial diversity in their hometowns. Participants, who were recruited from a small, private university in the southeastern United States, included 84 juniors and seniors who reported having at least one other-race close friend. Participants completed a web-based survey about their hometown diversity, friendship quality, and race essentialism. Results from multiple regression analyses revealed two significant interaction effects between hometown diversity and two measures of interracial friendship quality: intimate disclosure and affection. Findings indicated that higher intimate …

The Effect Of Early Cross-Race Socialization On Black Lives Matter Attitudes, Elizabeth Popovich

Honors Theses

The present study investigated the effect of early cross-race socialization within the family, school, and neighborhood on current support for Black Lives Matter and anti-racist attitudes. Specifically, this study will examine the variables of whether participants’ families talked about race and the diversity of schools and neighborhoods. 98 female participants, 36 male participants, and 2 n.a. participants were recruited from the University of Richmond’s Introduction to Psychology class (N= 136) and were asked to complete an anonymous survey on their attitudes regarding Black Lives Matter. Based on the results, there was no clear influence of early cross-race socialization on current …

[Introduction To] Black Lives And Bathrooms: Racial And Gendered Reactions To Minority Rights Movements., J. E. Sumerau, Eric A. Grollman

Bookshelf

Black Lives and Bathrooms: Racial and Gendered Reactions to Minority Rights Movements examines how people respond to minority movements in ways that maintain existing patterns of racial and gender inequality. By studying the Black Lives Matter and Transgender Bathroom Access movement efforts, J.E. Sumerau and Eric Anthony Grollman analyze how cisgender white people define minority movements in relation to their existing notions of United States social norms; react to minority movements utilizing racial, classed, gendered, and sexual stereotypes that reinforce racism, sexism, and cissexism in society; and propose ways that racial and gender minorities could gain conditional acceptance by behaving …

When Class Is Colorblind: A Race-Conscious Model For Cultural Capital Research In Education, Bedelia N. Richards

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Sociologists of education frequently draw on the cultural capital framework to explore the ways in which educational institutions perpetuate inequality in schools and the larger society. However, these studies adhere to a white centered “class-based master-narrative,” to legitimize and perpetuate the assumption that racial differences are secondary manifestations of class-based structures. The class-based master-narrative elevates a one-dimensional view of inequality as rooted primarily in class-based stratification and downplays the fact that the economic elites who inhabit these dominant social positions are predominantly white. In this essay, I propose a race-conscious framework to challenge the colorblind assumptions and deficit perspectives inherent …

Campus Route Map For The Feminist Flash Mob Intervention, Patricia Herrera, Mariela Méndez

Intervention Route Map

This map provides the route followed by the students for the Feminist Flash Mob Intervention on the University of Richmond campus.

Feminist Flash Mob Intervention - Handout, Patricia Herrera, Mariela Méndez

Intervention Handout

To launch Women’s History Month, a series of feminist flash mob interventions took place at the University of Richmond on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 organized by professors Patricia Herrera and Mariela Méndez who team-taught the bilingual course "Gender, Race, and Performance Across the Americas." These flash mobs were inspired by “Un violador en tu camino,” a performance based protest against gender violence created by the Chilean feminist collective Lastesis. “A Rapist in Your Path” was first staged in Valparaíso, Chile, in, 2019. Soon after, it went viral, and has been performed by women all over the world.

Students from six …

Feminist Flash Mob Intervention - Ur Collegian Article, Patricia Herrera, Mariela Méndez

Intervention – UR Collegian Article

No abstract provided.

Feminist Flash Mob Intervention - Posters, Patricia Herrera, Mariela Méndez

Intervention Posters

Posters created by University of Richmond student participants for the Feminist Flash Mob Intervention on March 4, 2020.

Feminist Flash Mob Intervention - Posters, Patricia Herrera, Mariela Méndez

Intervention Posters

Posters created by University of Richmond student participants for the Feminist Flash Mob Intervention on March 4, 2020.

Feminist Flash Mob Intervention - Description, Patricia Herrera, Mariela Méndez

Intervention Event Description

To launch Women’s History Month, a series of feminist flash mob interventions took place at the University of Richmond on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 organized by professors Patricia Herrera and Mariela Méndez who team-taught the bilingual course "Gender, Race, and Performance Across the Americas." These flash mobs were inspired by “Un violador en tu camino,” a performance-based protest against gender violence created by the Chilean feminist collective Lastesis. “A Rapist in Your Path” was first staged in Valparaíso, Chile, in, 2019. Soon after, it went viral, and has been performed by women all over the world. Students from six different …

Feminist Flash Mob Intervention - Posters, Patricia Herrera, Mariela Méndez

Intervention Posters

Posters created by University of Richmond student participants for the Feminist Flash Mob Intervention on March 4, 2020.

“Smile For Me, Sweetie!”: An Analysis Of Contemporary Gender Based Violence And Discrimination In The Bahamas, Jennifer Munnings

Honors Theses

Women in the Bahamas face various forms of pervasive sexist discrimination and high rates of gender-based violence. However, recent governmental initiatives aimed at addressing gender inequality have not proven effective. The narrow focus on individual reforms like anti-crime measures to curb structural violence highlights a lack of understanding of gender inequality as embedded within social institutions. To interrogate the institutionalized nature of gender inequality in the Bahamas, the present study draws on in-depth interviews with seven Bahamian women’s rights activists to explore the social, cultural, and political explanations for the persistence of gender-based violence and discrimination. Three major themes emerged …

[Introduction To] Treating Black Women With Eating Disorders : A Clinician’S Guide, Charlynn Small, Mazella Fuller

Bookshelf

The first of its kind, this edited volume provides in-depth, culturally sensitive material intended for addressing the unique concerns of Black women with eating disorders in addition to comprehensive discussions and treatment guidelines for this population.

The contributing authors—all of whom are Black professionals providing direct care to Black women—offer a range of perspectives to help readers understand the whole experience of their Black female clients. This includes not only discussion of their clients’ physical health but also of their emotional lives and the ways in which the stresses of racism, discrimination, trauma, and adverse childhood experiences can contribute to …

Break Beats In The Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop’S Early Years (Book Review), Matthew Oware

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Review of the book, Break Beats in the Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop’s Early Years, by Joseph C. Ewoodzie, University of North Carolina Press, 2017, https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469632759/break-beats-in-the-bronx/.

Black, Queer, And Beaten: On The Trauma Of Graduate School, Eric Anthony Grollman

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Two years after I graduated with a PhD in sociology from Indiana University, I started seeing a therapist again. At my in-take visit, my therapist invited me to return within a week. “Right now, you’re full,” he said, commenting on the numerous issues that I brought up in explaining why I was seeing a therapist. He did not mean “full of shit,” as in offering lies or irrelevant information; rather, he meant that I was “filled to the brim” of issues weighing on my heart, mind, and spirit. This was not news to me, but hearing him say “full” emphasized …

[Introduction To] I Got Something To Say: Gender, Race, And Social Consciousness In Rap Music, Matthew Oware

Bookshelf

What do millennial rappers in the United States say in their music? This timely and compelling book answers this question by decoding the lyrics of over 700 songs from contemporary rap artists. Using innovative research techniques, Matthew Oware reveals how emcees perpetuate and challenge gendered and racialized constructions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality. Male and female artists litter their rhymes with misogynistic and violent imagery. However, men also express a full range of emotions, from arrogance to vulnerability, conveying a more complex manhood than previously acknowledged. Women emphatically state their desires while embracing a more feminist approach. Even LGBTQ artists …

Contested Commitment: Policing Black Female Juvenile Delinquency At Efland Home, 1919-1939, Lauren Nicole Henley

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The North Carolina Industrial School for Negro Girls was established in 1925 by the local branch of the National Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. Also known as Efland Home, this institution, like others across the South, was designed to rehabilitate young black women “destined for pregnancy, prostitution, or prison.” The quasi- private reformatory negotiated its relationship with the state, receiving inconsistent and nominal funding for roughly a decade. By the mid-to-late 1930s, Efland Home functioned as a penal institution as the ideals of its clubwomen founders crumbled under financial and logistical pressures. State-sanctioned investigations and inquiries wrought mixed messages concerning …

Repensando A Violência Policial No Brasil: Desmascarando O Segredo Público Da Raça*, Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Nas cidades brasileiras, talvez a atividade criminosa mais perturbadora seja a violência perpetrada pelos próprios agentes policiais. Este artigo é um convite e uma provocação à reconsiderar o pensamento científico social sobre a violência policial no Brasil. Ilustrado pela decisão judicial de uma cidade nordestina, na qual um homem negro venceu um processo contra o Estado por ter sido ilegalmente preso e abusado por um policial negro devido a racismo, este artigo investiga três paradoxos: brasileiros temem tanto a polícia quanto a criminalidade; policiais negros atacam cidadãos negros; e oficiais do governo negam responsabilidade ao estigmatizar a polícia por motivos …

Sexual Orientation Differences In Attitudes About Sexuality, Race, And Gender, Eric Anthony Grollman

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Researchers have extensively documented sociodemographic predictors of race and gender attitudes, and the mechanisms through which such attitudes are formed and change. Despite its growing recognition as an important status characteristic, sexual orientation has received little attention as a predictor of Americans’ race and gender attitudes. Using nationally representative data from the American National Election Survey 2012 Time Series Study, I compare heterosexuals’ and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people’s attitudes about sexuality, race, and gender. For most attitudes, LGB people hold significantly more liberal attitudes about sexuality, race, and gender than do heterosexuals, even upon controlling for other powerful …

"Dear Colleague", Matthew Oware

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Research demonstrates that faculty of color in historically white institutions experience higher levels of discrimination, cultural taxation, and emotional labor than their white colleagues. Despite efforts to recruit minority faculty, all of these factors undermine their scholarship, pedagogy, social experiences, promotion and retention.

Trump’S Electoral Speeches And His Appeal To The American White Working Class, Michele Lamont, Bo Yun Park, Elena Ayala-Hurtado

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This paper contributes to the study of social change by considering boundary work as a dimension of cultural change. Drawing on the computer-assisted qualitative analysis of 73 formal speeches made by Donald Trump during the 2016 electoral campaign, we argue that his political rhetoric, which led to his presidential victory, addressed the white working class’s concern with their declining position in the national pecking order. He addressed this group’s concern by raising their moral status, that is, by (1) emphatically describing them as hard-working Americans who are victims of globalization; (2) voicing their concerns about ‘people above’ (professionals, the rich, …

Multiracial Identity, Matthew Oware

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

This entry examines multiracial identity from each of the aforementioned perspectives, positing that classification entails more than individual claims and assertions; rather, the interactions between the state, multiracial groups, and personal decisions lead to a more nuanced understanding of the process of multiracial identification. The government plays a critical role in creating the "mark all that apply" (MATA) option on the census. The emergence and influence of multiracial activist organizations advocating for recognition of this population is significant now. Finally, there is considerable social psychological literature addressing mixed-race identity, focusing on the four largest pairings. Early research characterized this population …