Division on Racial & Ethnic Minorities Winter 2015 Newsletter Who We Are * Michelle R. Jacobs Co-Chair (2014-2016) Wayne State University michelle.Jacobs@wayne.edu * Matthew W. Hughey Co-Chair (2015-2017) University of Connecticut matthew.hughey@uconn.edu * Kasey Henricks Newsletter Editor (since 2012) Loyola University Chicago khenricks@luc.edu OUR MISSION The Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division of SSSP is a collective of scholars, activists, and concerned individuals who recognize that, while significant strides have been made toward racial equality and justice, we continue to live in a society in which racial inequality, segregation, discrimination, and systematic racism function both tacitly and overtly. Simply put, racism continues to inform our daily lives. Our Division’s vision of our future society is one in which racial and ethnic (and all other types of) oppression and discrimination no longer exist. Accordingly, in a world in which the multifarious manifestations of racism are often minimized or ignored, we believe it is a moral and scholarly responsibility to remain vigilant in our quest to study, understand, and make visible the latent and hidden operations, mechanisms, and effects of racism and to speak out against it. Our collective goals revolve around gaining higher levels of inter-and intra-racial understanding, substantive cooperation, and intimate camaraderie toward dismantling racial inequality and injustice. We utilize various sociological models to address racial and ethnic inequality and injustice at all levels, investigating governmental policies, practices of social institutions, representations through media and culture, and individual and group interactions. Our vision for the future is of a just society, in which racial and ethnic histories and cultures are not subjugated, but acknowledged and understood. Further, we implore all members of this section to understand the struggle that people of color often endure, and to join in the fight for alleviating the causes of human suffering through our scholarship, our teaching, and our service to the community and beyond. We encourage members and allies to engage with books from the suggested (but by no means exhaustive) list of readings below. Division members are also encouraged to join our Facebook community. There, we share information related to our larger interests and investment in the alleviation of racial and ethnic social problems. Division mission statement last edited in 2015 by Michelle R. Jacobs, Wayne State University, Racial and Ethnic Minority Division Co-Chair, 2014-2016, and Matthew W. Hughey, University of Connecticut, Racial and Ethnic Minority Division Co-Chair, 2015-2017. Message from the Co-Chairs Greetings DREM members, We hope this newsletter finds you well in these turbulent times. From the Syrian crisis to the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino (and everything in between), the past months have been filled with news of needless violence and tragedy across the globe. Perhaps most discouraging, amidst the heartache, is the demagoguery at home. It is difficult to witness the reactions of media pundits and political leaders (some merely aspiring) to the atrocities occurring. The racialized rhetoric about people who claim Middle Eastern or Arab heritages and/or who are followers of Islam has reached a feverish pitch. This rhetoric not only creates a cacophony of disturbing images and sounds, but also has real and vital consequences for people who are (or are perceived as being) ethnically, racially and/or religiously “other.” In times like these, we are reminded that our race and ethnicity scholarship is as relevant and as necessary now as it has been at any time in history. “Globalizing Social Problems” is the theme for next year’s (2016) Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP). The Division on Racial and Ethnic Minorities (DREM) has some critical and timely conference sessions planned. Historically, we have had excellent DREM member participation in conference sessions, and we implore you now to join us in Seattle in 2016 to continue the conversation. Here are just a few of our thematic sessions at the 2016 meeting: •“A Sociology of Success: Getting It Right in the Global Fight for Racial Justice” •“Interrogating Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Using Institutional Ethnography” [co-sponsored with Institutional Ethnography] •“Race and Refugees” [co-sponsored with Community Research and Development] •“Global Capitalism: Race, Ethnicity, and Class” [co-sponsored with Global] We are also paying tribute to the thirty year anniversary of Omi and Winant’s groundbreaking work with a session titled “30 Years since Racial Formation: Promises, Pitfalls, and Prospects.” And this list is only a sampling of the opportunities available for you to share your scholarship! Please visit the SSSP website for additional session titles. Presentation abstracts and/or papers must be submitted through the SSSP website portal by midnight on January 31, 2016. The meeting will be August 19-21, 2016 at the Westin Seattle Hotel in Seattle, WA. It is also time to submit nominations for our Graduate Student Paper Award. Papers can cover any topic in the field of race and ethnicity. They must be solo-authored, 25 pages or less, and written in 2015. They must not be under review and/or accepted for publication elsewhere. Authors are required to submit their papers through the annual meeting Call for Papers process as a condition for consideration for the award. Visit http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/pageid/1717/for additional information. Nominations for DREM’s other major award’s –the Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Book Award and the Kimberlé Crenshaw Outstanding Article Award –are not due until April 15, 2016, but it is not too soon to start thinking about them. Please nominate your friends and colleagues for these awards. Self-nominations are welcome, too. Finally, we want to thank you for your continuing work for racial justice. May you and yours enjoy a peaceful holiday season. In solidarity, Michelle R. Jacobs, DREM Co-Chair 2014-2016 Matthew W. Hughey, DREM Co-Chair 2015-2017 2015 DREM Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Outstanding Book Award Winner This Ain’t Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South by Zandria F. Robinson, Rhodes College University of North Carolina Press, 2014 When Zandria Robinson returned home to interview African Americans in Memphis, she was often greeted with some version of the caution “I hope you know this ain’t Chicago.” In this important new work, Robinson critiques ideas of black identity constructed through a northern lens and situates African Americans as central shapers of contemporary southern culture. Analytically separating black southerners from their migrating cousins, fictive kin, and white counterparts, Robinson demonstrates how place intersects with race, class, gender, and regional identities and differences. Robinson grounds her work in Memphis--the first big city heading north out of the Mississippi Delta. Although Memphis sheds light on much about the South, Robinson does not suggest that the region is monolithic. Instead, she attends to multiple Souths, noting the distinctions between southern places. Memphis, neither Old South nor New South, sits at the intersections of rural and urban, soul and post-soul, and civil rights and post-civil rights, representing an ongoing conversation with the varied incarnations of the South, past and present. About the Author Zandria F. Robinson is assistant professor of sociology at Rhodes College. She is coeditor of Repositioning Race: Prophetic Research in a Post-Racial Obama Age. Spotlight: Social Problems “Social Problems has a long history of doing public sociology—well over 60 years, way before the concept of “public sociology” became popularized. It continues to be one of the most prominent sociology journals that persistently calls attention to the plight of the poor, the voiceless, the disenfranchised, and folks on the margins of society. It remains the ‘go-to’ journal for linking sociological research to public discourse and public policy.” Rogelio Sáenz Dean of College of Public Policy Peter Flawn Professor of Demography University of Texas at San Antonio “Social Problems is a journal of an organization with a purpose, research in the interest of social justice. I think everyone who cares about sociological research that matters beyond the academy should read Social Problems. That’s why I do.” Barbara Risman Professor of Sociology University of Illinois at Chicago “Social Problems is a journal with a conscience.Whereas most social science journals just focus on describing the world,it is also concerned with prescription; with what ought to be done to achieve class, gender, and racial justice in an unjust world. Because of this, this journal is more pluralistic than most top-ranked journals and is read widely by people at all levels in all kind of institutions. Social Problems remains a top venue for critical sociological scholarship.” Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Department Chair and Professor of Sociology Duke University Member Publications & Announcements The Stickup Kids: Race, Drugs, Violence, and the American Dream By Randol Contreras In his recently released book entitled, The Stickup Kids: Race, Drugs, Violence, and the American Dream, Dr. Randol Contreras examines the lives of Dominican Stickup Kids, or drug robbers, in a South Bronx neighborhood. The research covers over a decade of fieldwork, where he hung out with men who brutally robbed drug dealers storing large amounts of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and cash. Through rich field data and theory, Contreras examines a drug robbery’s organization and violence; the emotional and gendered aspects of torture; and how the relentless pursuit of the American Dream led these men to growing violence and eventual self- destruction. In all, The Stickup Kid surges readers to explore the ravages of the drug trade while masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. More info available at: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520273382 The Black Power Movement and American Social Work By Joyce M. Bell The Black Power movement has often been portrayed in history and popular culture as the quintessential “bad boy” of modern black movement making in America. Yet this image misses the full extent of Black Power’s contributions to U.S. society, especially in regard to black professionals in social work. Relying on extensive archival research and oral history interviews, this study follows two groups of black social workers in the 1960s and 1970s as they mobilized Black Power ideas, strategies, and tactics to change their national professional associations. Comparing black dissenters within the National Federation of Settlements (NFS), who fought for concessions from within their organization, and those within the National Conference on Social Work (NCSW), who ultimately adopted a separatist strategy, this book shows how the Black Power influence was central to the rise of black professional associations. It provides a nuanced approach to studying race-based movements and offers a framework for understanding the role of social movements in shaping the nonstate organizations of civil society. More information available at: cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-16260-9/the-black-power- movement-and-american-social-work. On Becoming a Teen Mom: Life before Pregnancy By Mary Patrice Erdmans and Timothy Black 2015 Betty and Alfred McClung Lee Book Award from the Association for Humanist Sociology On Becoming A Teen Mom is based on 108 life story interviews with white, brown, and black adolescent mothers from urban areas, small cities, and rural towns throughout Connecticut. The authors argue that problematizing teen births is misplaced and focus instead on the structural inequalities present before the pregnancy. When we do, we expose the systemic problems of patriarchy, racism, and poverty manifest as child sexual abuse, residential segregation, failing public schools, structural and symbolic violence, and gendered practices of sexuality. More info available at: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520283428 Deported: Policing Immigrants, Disposable Labor and Global Capitalism By Tanya Marie Golash-Boza The United States currently is deporting more people than ever before: 4 million people have been deported since 1997 –twice as many as all people deported prior to 1996. There is a disturbing pattern in the population deported: 97% of deportees are sent to Latin America or the Caribbean, and 88% are men, many of whom were originally detained through the U.S. criminal justice system. Weaving together hard-hitting critique and moving first-person testimonials, Deported tells the intimate stories of people caught in an immigration law enforcement dragnet that serves the aims of global capitalism. More info available at http://nyupress.org/books/978147984397-8/ Beneath the Surface of White Supremacy: Denaturalizing U.S. Racisms Past and Present By Moon-Kie Jung Racism has never been simple. It wasn't more obvious in the past, and it isn't less potent now. From the birth of the United States to the contemporary police shooting death of an unarmed Black youth, Beneath the Surface of White Supremacy investigates ingrained practices of racism, as well as unquestioned assumptions in the study of racism, to upend and deepen our understanding. Ultimately, Moon-Kie Jung challenges the dominant racial common sense and develops new concepts and theory for radically rethinking and resisting racisms. More information available at: http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=22341 Vanishing Eden: White Construction of Memory, Meaning, and Identity in a Racially Changing City By Michael T. Malyand Heather M. Dalmage For many whites, desegregation initially felt like an attack on their community. But how has the process of racial change affected whites’ understanding of community and race? In Vanishing Eden, Michael Maly and Heather Dalmage provide an intriguing analysis of the experiences and memories of whites who lived in Chicago neighborhoods experiencing racial change during the 1950s through the 1980s. They pay particular attention to examining how young people made sense of what was occurring, and how this experience impacted their lives. More info available at: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/2310_reg.html Edited Volumes and Special Issues Byrd, W. Carson and Matthew W. Hughey. 2015. “Race, Racial Inequality, and Biological Determination in the Genetic and Genomic Era.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Dalmage, Heather M. and Melissa Steyn. Eds. 2015. “Post Mandela South Africa.” Sociological Imagination. Hughey, Matthew W., David G. Embrick, and Ashley “Woody” Doane. 2015. “The Mechanisms of Colorblind Racism and the Racialized Social System.” American Behavioral Scientist. Seamster, Louise and Kasey Henricks. Eds. 2015. “Racializing the Public: The Post-Civil Rights Retreat from Public Education.” Humanity & Society. Smith, Jason A., Mark Lloyd, and Victor Pickard (Eds.). “Communication in Action: Bridging Research and Policy,” International Journal of Communication. Articles Brunn-Bevel, Rachelle J. and W. Carson Byrd. 2015. “The Foundation of Racial Disparities in the Standardized Testing Era: The Impact of School Segregation and the Assault on Public Education in Virginia.” Humanity & Society. DiTomaso, Nancy. 2015. “Racism and Discrimination versus Advantage and Favoritism: Bias For versus Bias Against.” Research in Organizational Behavior, 35. Freiberg, Fred and Gregory D. Squires, 2015. “Changing Contexts and New Directions for the Use of Testing.” Cityscape. Jones, Antwan, Gregory D. Squires, and Cynthia Ronzio. 2015 “Foreclosure is Not an Equal Opportunity Stressor:How Inequality Fuels the Adverse Health Implications of the Nation’s Financial Crisis.”Journal of Urban Affairs. Little, Tariana V., Brianna Farber, and Shaikha H. Al-Kuwari. 2015. “Becoming Ethnographers: Social (Re)Positionings in the Field.” McMillan Cottom, Tressie. 2015. “‘Who Do You Think You Are?’: When Marginality Meets Academic Microcelebrity.” Gender, New Media & Technology. Molina KM, Little TV, Rosal MC. Forthcoming. “Everyday Discrimination, Family Context, and Psychological Distress among Latino Adults in the United States.” Journal of Community Psychology. Patterson, Evelyn J. and Helena E. Dagadu. 2015. “Fractures in the Color Line: Consequences of Constructions of Race and Ethnicity on Measures of Imprisonment.” Sociology of Race & Ethnicity. Quiroz, Pamela Anne and Vernon Lindsay. 2015. “Selective Enrollment, Race, and Shifting the Geography of Educational Opportunity: Where ‘Diversity’ and Opportunity Compete with Tax Increment Financing.” Humanity & Society. Rugh, Jacob S., Len Albright, and Douglas S. Massey. 2015. “Race, Space, and Cumulative Disadvantage: A Case Study of the Subprime Lending Collapse.” Social Problems. Sin, Ray, and Maria Krysan. 2015. “What Is Racial Residential Integration? A Research Synthesis, 1950–2013.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. Wilson, George, Vincent J. Roscigno, and Matt Huffman. 2015. “Racial Income Inequality and Public Sector Privatization.” Social Problems. Book Chapters Elaine Bell Kaplan. “Student Identity in Impoverished Communities,” InAdolescent Identity and Schooling Diverse Perspectives, ed. by Cynthia Hudley, 39-52, New York: Routledge, 2015. Ward, Geoff K and Hanink, Peter. "Deliberating Racial Justice: Towards Racially Democratic Crime Control.” Handbook of Criminal Justice Ethics, J. Jackson and J. Jacobs (eds.). Routledge. Presentations Heather M. Dalmage presented a paper in July 2015entitled "Disrupting the Prison Pipeline for Youth with Disabilities" at the International Association of Special Education in Wroclaw, Poland. Tariana V. Little TV, along with CR Baptista, will be presenting in April 2016 a paper entitled, “(Re)Defining Borders & Belonging in the Afro-Descended Digital Diaspora” at the “Blacks in Boston” conference hosted by Boston College’s African & African Diaspora Studies Program in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Popular Media McMillan Cottom, Tressie. “Injustice at Universities Runs Deeper than Names.” The Atlantic. McMillan Cottom, Tressie. “Still We Rise: The Continuing Case for America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” The American Prospect. New Positions, Moves, and/or Promotions Beginning January 2016, Shirley A. Jackson begins her new position as Chair of the Department of Black Studies in the School of Gender, Race, and Nations at Portland State University. As of June 1, David Luke serves as Assistant Director of the Martin Luther King Center at the University of Kentucky. Awards The American Non-dilemma: Racial Inequality without Racism by Nancy DiTomaso (Rutgers University) recently was honored with the following awards: • Winner, C. Wright Mills Award, Society for the Study of Social Problems, 2013 • Winner, Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Section of American Sociological Association, Outstanding Book Award, 2014 • Runner-Up, George R. Terry Award, Academy of Management Book Award for Outstanding Contribution to Advancement of Management Knowledge, 2014 • Honorable Mention, Max Weber Book Award, Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section, American Sociological Association, 2015 David G. Embrick (Loyola University Chicago) was awarded the 2015 Mentor Excellence Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Call for Submissions Humanity & Society –Media Reviews Recognizing the multiple modalities of communication and how presentations enhance our sociological understanding of the complex realities of the 21st century, the journal Humanity & Society (http://has.sagepub.com/) seeks authors for Media Reviews. We invite reviewers of critical messages in popular films, television shows, documentaries, multimedia presentations, video games, and other forms of media. Written submissions should be approximately 1,000 words. The journal welcomes reviewers from diverse backgrounds and with diverse perspectives, including activists, graduate students, and practitioners in fields other than sociology. To review for Humanity & Society, please contact the Media Review Editor, Bhoomi K. Thakore, with your background information and suggested review topicatbhoomi.thakore@northwestern.edu. Sociology of Race & Ethnicity In January 2015, the Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities of the American Sociological Association, along with Sage, published the first issue of the new journal, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity! Please share this news widely with colleagues and students. This is an exciting new venture! Each issue is organized around a core group of original research articles. Original articles, of 8,000 to 10,000 words, will represent rigorous sociological research in the sociology of race and ethnicity, broadly conceptualized, with varying methodologies. We are also very interested in publishing theoretically important pieces. The journal also includes a section that features pedagogical application pieces devoted to the teaching of race and ethnicity –“Race and Ethnicity Pedagogy” –as well as Book Reviews and a section on Books of Note. We are currently welcoming submissions of: o Regular length journal articles (8,000-10,000 words) o Shorter pieces on race and ethnicity pedagogy (3,000 words)