SSSP Division on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Spring 2014 Newsletter TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from the 2012-2014 Division Chair by David G. Embrick …………… 2 Letter from the 2013-2015 Division Co-Chair by Bhoomi K. Thakore………… 3 Letter from the 2014-2016 Division Co-Chair by Michelle R. Jacobs………… 4 Announcing SSSP’s Election Results, Book Award Finalists, and Paper Competition Award Winners …………………………………………….... 5 NYC Meeting Information ……….. 8 General Announcements …….….. 15 Short Essay: “Indian Mascots: Change Over Time” by Michelle R. Jacobs……….. 22 Member Announcements……….. 28 Letter from the Editor by Bhoomi K. Thakore ………. 34 Society for the Study of Social Problems WHO WE ARE Division Chair David G. Embrick (2012-2014) Division Co-Chairs Bhoomi K. Thakore (2013-2015) Michelle R. Jacobs (2014-2016) Newsletter Editors Kasey Henricks Bhoomi K. Thakore MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR (2012-2014) David G. Embrick RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 Society for the Study of Social Problems Dear DREM members, Spring is upon us after one of the craziest winters in history. Summer is just around the corner and with it comes our much anticipated SSSP annual meeting in San Francisco. We have much to celebrate as a division. For example, our recent change to co-chairs allows us more opportunities for shared governance and transitional ease from one year to the next. In addition to the Graduate Student Paper Award, we have two new awards (The Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Outstanding Book Award and the Kimberle Crenshaw Outstanding Paper Award) to help celebrate and acknowledge the great scholarship produces by our members. All of this also creates more service opportunities for our members which will help with creating a better, stronger, and much more vibrant community. That said, I would still urge us to all be vigilant in helping us to grow. We need more members, but more importantly we need more active voices. Please join us at the DREM business meeting this year on Friday, August 15 at 12:30PM in the Club Room and let us know what we can do to make our division better, and how we might serve as representatives in ensuring that SSSP becomes a more useful organization for you and for your colleagues. My time serving as your Chair has been a pleasant experience and I've very happy to have met many great members during my tenure. I wish to thank everyone who has offered their help to DREM the past two years, especially past-Chair Professor Marlese Durr (Wright State University), who's guidance during the transition period and beyond has been invaluable. Thanks also to Dr. Bhoomi K. Thakore (Northwestern University), our first elected DREM Co-Chair who, in all honesty, has done most of the grunt work this year while I have been on leave. And so I owe her a deep gratitude of thanks. And thanks to Professor Michelle R. Jacobs (SUNY Plattsburg), our newly elected Co-Chair. Our division is in good hands. Finally, a special thanks to Kasey Henricks, who continues to serve DREM in his many hats, especially in helping to maintain our presence in the online and social networking world. With warm wishes and solidarity to everyone in the coming academic year, David G. Embrick dembric@luc.edu MESSAGE FROM THE CO-CHAIR (2013-2015) Bhoomi K. Thakore Dear DREM members, I hope this newsletter finds you well, and that you are enjoying your well-deserved summer breaks. In Chicago and the greater Midwest, the grasp of winter has broken and we are finally basking in the late sunsets of the summer sun. In just a couple of months, we sociologists will descend upon San Francisco. The session organizers have done a wonderful job of creating engaging panels, papers in the round, and critical dialogues. Mark your calendars for the DREM-sponsored sessions listed in this newsletter, and please do attend to show your commitment to the thoughtful and important work of our colleagues on race, ethnicity, and inequality. We would love to see you at the DREM Business Meeting on Friday, August 15 at 12:30PM in the Club Room of the Marriott Marquis. This is your opportunity to be heard as members of this division! This is also great opportunity for you to volunteer for service positions next year – on Award Committees, or as Organizers and Presiders of sessions at the 2015 meetings in Chicago. These positions are ideal for graduate students and new members who are interested in learning more about the Division and SSSP as an organization. If you see me walking along the streets of San Francisco (perhaps with a flower in my hair), please do not hesitate to introduce yourself and tell me more about the work you do. I look forward to a wonderful meeting with you this August. Regards, Bhoomi K. Thakore Bhoomi.thakore@northwestern.edu RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 Society for the Study of Social Problems MESSAGE FROM THE CO-CHAIR (2014-2016) Michelle R. Jacobs Greetings DREM members! Thank you for electing me Division Co-Chair. I’m very excited about this opportunity to serve you, my colleagues and collaborators in the movement(s) for social justice. I appreciate the diversity of our interests and areas of expertise and really look forward to hearing more about your work and activism. I hope this brief introduction gives you a better sense of who I am. It also serves as an open invitation to you. Please send any questions, concerns, and/or ideas my way. Your comments are always welcome! I received my PhD from Kent State University (Ohio) in 2012 and have been working as a tenure track Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Plattsburgh for the past two years. This year, however, you will find me in a visiting position at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan – a temporary move that will enable me to do some follow-up data collection in the American Indian communities that are at the core of my research and activism. Initially, my research focused on a small social movement organization committed to the eradication of Cleveland’s Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise’s “Indians” name and “Chief Wahoo” mascot. This research led me to work more closely with Northeast Ohio’s pan-Indian communities to understand how members’ day-to-day lives are impacted by the ubiquitous presence of “Chief Wahoo” and other controlling images of “Indianness.” If you would like to know more about my work, I invite you to read my brief commentary on the Indian mascot issue on page 22 of this newsletter. More broadly, I seek to understand the real life consequences of racial formations – in terms of how race and difference are constructed, reified, and resisted in varying social contexts. My ultimate goal, of course, is to challenge and change the systems that perpetuate racial/ethnic (class, sex/gender, sexuality, nation, ability, etc.) inequalities in our global society. This common thread runs through all of our research and activism, and I feel empowered as I reflect on the ways in which our collective efforts make real, visible, and lasting change in the world. I look forward to working with you. Warmly, Michelle R. Jacobs chelle.jacobs@gmail.com http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/23899_482862450183_4526020_n.jpg RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 Society for the Study of Social Problems RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 5 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcing the 2014 SSSP General Election Results President Elect (2014-2015); President (2015-2016) David A. Smith Vice-President Elect (2014-2015); Vice-President (2015-2016) Ronnie J. Steinberg Secretary (2014-2015) Glenn W. Muschert Treasurer (2014-2015) Susan M. Carlson Board of Directors (2014-2017) Cheryl A. Boudreaux Keith M. Kilty Board of Directors: Student Representative (2014-2016) Kathryn M. Nowotny Budget, Finance, and Audit Committee (2014-2017) Stephani Williams Committee on Committees (2014-2017) Daina Cheyenne Harvey Elizabeth Seton Mignacca Editorial and Publications Committee (2014-2017) Corey Dolgon Gregory D. Squires Membership and Outreach Committee (2014-2017) Marni A. Brown Tanya L. Saunders Membership and Outreach Committee: Student Representative (2014-2017) Cameron Thomas Whitley RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 6 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcing the 2013 C. Wright Mills Book Award Finalists Vincanne Adams, Markets of Sorrow, Labors of Faith: New Orleans in the Wake of Katrina, Duke University Press Randol Contreras, The Stickup Kids: Race, Drugs, Violence, and the American Dream, University of California Press http://img2.imagesbn.com/p/9780199752027_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG http://igs.berkeley.edu/files/styles/medium/public/images/events/body-images/fox_-_three_worlds_of_relief.jpg Nancy DiTomaso, The American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality Without Racism, Russell Sage Foundation Marcus Anthony Hunter, Black Citymakers: How The Philadelphia Negro Changed Urban America, Oxford University Press cover for White Bound Body and Soul Jill A. McCorkel, Breaking Women: Gender, Race, and the New Politics of Imprisonment, NYU Press Living Faith RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 7 Society for the Study of Social Problems 2014 Awards Winners Division on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Andrew M. Penner and Aliya Saperstein (2013) “Engendering Racial Perceptions: An Intersectional Analysis of How Social Status Shapes Race.” Gender and Society, 27(3): 319-344 TBA logo Special thanks to our award committee members for their service: Matthew W. Hughey, Bhoomi K. Thakore, Woody Doane, Jennifer Jones, Charles Pinderhughes, David G. Embrick, and Kasey Henricks. If you are interested in serving on these committees next year, please contact the current DREM Co-Chairs! Kimberle Crenshaw Outstanding Paper Award Eduardo Bonilla Silva Outstanding Book Award Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award Please join us in recognizing our award winners at the DREM Business Meeting (Fri, August 15, 12:30pm, Club Room) TBA RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 8 Society for the Study of Social Problems Noteworthy Items at the 2014 SSSP Meeting (All locations are in the Marriott Marquis) Welcome Reception Thurs, 8/14, 6:30-7:30PM (Club Room) Graduate Student Meeting Fri, 8/15, 8:30-10:10AM (Foothill F) DREM Division Business Meeting Fri, 8/15, 12:30-2:10PM (Club Room) Open Discussion of SSSP Resolutions Fri, 8/15, 2:30-4:10PM (Foothill F) Division Co-Sponsored Reception Fri, 8/15, 6:30-7:30PM (Mission Grille Restaurant) SSSP Graduate Student Reception Fri, 8/15, 10:00-11:00PM (Bin 55) New Member Breakfast Sat, 8/16, 7:15-8:15AM (Club Room) General Business Meeting Sat, 8/16, 4:15-5:25PM (Club Room) General Awards Reception Sat, 8/16, 6:45-7:45PM (Yerba Buena Ballroom Salons 5-6) *Please Consult the Final Conference Program for Any Changes am program image RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 9 Society for the Study of Social Problems Sessions Sponsored and Co-Sponsored by the Division on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Teaching Intersectionality/Teaching Sociology Fri, August 15, 8:30-10:10AM (Foothill B) Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Michelle A. Harris, Northern Arizona University “Challenges to Investigating Difference,” Sarah Prior, Northern Arizona University “Popular Media and the Sociological Imagination: Insights into a Teaching Sociology Exercise,” Fernando I. Rivera, University of Central Florida and Eduardo T. Pérez, Bridgewater State University “Teaching Intersectionality in a Public Sociology and Civic Engagement Course,” Kathleen Odell Korgen, William Paterson University “Transnationalizing Intersectionality,” Sabrina Alimahomed, Cal State Univ. Long Beach 2014AMbannerwebsite Race, Ethnicity, and Racisms: International Conceptions and Manifestations Fri, August 15, 10:30-12:10PM (Foothill B) Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Melissa F. Weiner, College of the Holy Cross “Race, Ethnicity and Nation: How Well Do Theories and Concepts Travel Back and Forth Across ‘the Pond?’,” Ashley “Woody” Doane, University of Hartford “Boundaries of Blackness, Citizenship, and Difference among France’s North African Second-Generation,” Jean M. Beaman, Purdue University “Teaching the Boundaries of the Nation: French Immigrant Integration Programs as Sites of Racialization,” Elizabeth Anne Onasch, Sociology Department, Northwestern University “Ethnic Differences in Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Israel,” Yuval Elmelech, Bard College Race, Civic Participation and Law Fri, August 15, 2:30-4:10PM (Pacific H) Organizer & Presider: Kimberly Richman, University of San Francisco “A Police Force of Your Peers: The Impact of Minority Representation on Police Mistrust,” Peter A. Hanink, UC Irvine “Criminalizing Illegality: Consequences of the War on Drugs on the Latino Non-citizen Population in the U.S.,” Heidy Sarabia, UC Berkeley “Moving Toward Employment: An Examination of How Race and Racism Are Framed and Negotiated in the Context of a County Jail Criminal Justice Intervention Program,” Laura S. Abrams and Charles H. Lea, University of California, Los Angeles, Luskin School of Public Affairs “Today’s Youth, Tomorrow’s Leaders?: Changes in Civic and Political Engagement Aspirations across Immigrant Generations,” Radha Modi, University of Pennsylvania “Undocumented Youth Organizations, Anti-Deportation Campaigns, and the Boundaries of Belonging,” Caitlin Patler, UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Irvine RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 10 Society for the Study of Social Problems RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 11 Society for the Study of Social Problems Racial Intimacies and Relationships in the Post-Civil Rights Era Fri, August 15, 4:30-6:10PM (Pacific H) Organizer: Kristy A. Watkins, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Presider: Jessica L. Burke, Francis Marion University Discussant: Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl, Coastal Carolina University “Multiracial Discourse on Interracial Relationships,” Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl, Coastal Carolina University “Psychological Distress among Asian Interracial and Intraracial Relationships: A Mediation Model,” Jessica L. Burke, Francis Marion University “Marital Aspirations among Low-Income Black Mothers in Cohabiting Unions,” Megan Reid and Andy Golub, National Development and Research Institutes “Partnering Out and Moving In: The Locational Attainment of Interracial Couples in Los Angeles County,” Celeste Vaughan Curington, University of Massachusetts-Amherst Racial Inequalities in Health Services and Health Professions Sat, August 16, 8:30-10:10AM (Foothill G1) Organizer: Deborah A. Potter, University of Louisville Presider: David G. Embrick, Loyola University Chicago “Professional Problems: The Burden of Educating the Global Filipino Nurse,” Yasmin Y. Ortiga, Syracuse University, Winner of the Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division’s Student Paper Competition “Racial/Ethnic Differences in Utilization of Physician Care Services for Diabetes,” Raeven Faye Chandler and Shannon M. Monnat, Penn State University “Sweet Salvation: The Black Church, Inclusion, and Type 2 Diabetes,” James Battle, Dept. of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz “Is HIV/AIDS A Black Disease? Teaching Students About Racial Disparities in Health,” Donna M. Cole, Yale School of Public Health “Challenges to Addressing Reproductive Health Disparities in a Smaller Urban Setting,” Matthew Matsaganis and Annis Golden, State University of New York at Albany RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 12 Society for the Study of Social Problems Intersections of Race, Poverty, and Activism Sat, August 16, 10:30-12:10PM (Foothill F) Organizers: Bhoomi K. Thakore, Northwestern University; Saher Selod, Simmons College Presider: Bhoomi K. Thakore, Northwestern University Discussant: Saher Selod, Simmons College “Word is Bond. The (Missing) Link between Poetry Activism and Social Justice,” Frederic Vandermoere and Pieter Cools, University of Antwerp “Doing American from an Outsider-within Position, Korean and Mexican American Language Brokers,” Hyeyoung Kwon, University of Southern California “Black Spaces at White Institutions: How Do African American Men and Women Perceive and Utilize the Black Campus Community at a Predominately White Urban Campus?” Ciera A. Graham, University of Cincinnati “The Disappearing Community and the Rise of Hate: Modeling the Relationship Between Eclipse of the Community Indicators and Perpetrators of Defensive Hate Crimes,” Ashley Veronica Reichelmann, Northeastern University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Margins Beyond Margins: Critically Mapping Racial Formations Sat, August 16, 2:30-4:10PM (Foothill D) Organizer & Presider: Dana K. Champion, Penn State Harrisburg “Where do I fit? Situating Arab and Non-Arab Egyptians in the Racial Field,” Bradley Zopf, University of Illinois at Chicago “Racial Hierarchy and Racial Liminality in Contemporary South Africa: Perceptions of Relative Deprivation in Coloureds,” Whitney N. Laster, Vanderbilt University “Latino Racial Selection: White Racial Identification among Latino Immigrants in the New Immigrant Survey,” Maria D. Duenas, University of South Florida “Collective Memories of a Tejano Past: The Racialization of Mexican Americans in Texas and the Elision of Racial Histories,” Daniel Justino Delgado, Salem State University “Black is More Than a Color: A Socio-political Analysis of Racial Categorization and Terminology,” Christina M. Cannon, CSU Sacramento RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 13 Society for the Study of Social Problems CRITICAL DIALOGUE: The War on Drugs and the New Jim Crow Sun, August 17, 8:30-10:10AM (Foothill E) Organizer: Ellen Benoit, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. Presider: Bhoomi K. Thakore, Northwestern University “Unpacking Infestation: Analyzing Detroit Residents’ Accounts of Drugs in Neighborhood Contexts,” Paul J. Draus and Juliette K. Roddy, University of Michigan-Dearborn and Anthony McDuffie, Wayne State University “‘What You Know About the Ghetto: Collective Resistance in Police-Community Encounters,” Katherine D. Matthews, University of California Santa Barbara “Constrained Maneuvering of Black Masculine Identity,” Brittany C. Slatton, Texas Southern University “Personal Memories and their Public Foundations: How Formerly Incarcerated African Americans Negotiate the Collective Memories of the War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration,” Vanessa Lynn, Stony Brook University “The Impact of Medical Marijuana on Communities in Massachusetts,” Miriam Boeri and Timothy Anderson, Bentley University RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 14 Society for the Study of Social Problems CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Race Along the Life Course Sun, August 17, 10:30-12:10PM (Foothill E) Organizer & Presider: David G. Embrick, Loyola University Chicago “‘Steps to Our Culture’: Indian Dances and the Development of Asian Indian Bicultural Identity,” Pangri Mehta, University of South Florida “Being White, Growing Grey: The ‘Racial Career’ of a Baby Boomer,” Ashley “Woody” Doane, University of Hartford “Economic Risks, Race, and Retirement: Households of Color Face Substantial Financial Vulnerability in Later Life,” Laura A. Sullivan, American University “Financial Strain, Self-rated Health, Service Attendance and Depression: Findings from a National Study of Older Black and White Americans,” Allison Houston, SUNY, Albany “Is Mascot the New N Word?” Peggy Wireman, Wireman & Associates “Racial Apathy and Racial Religious Salvation among White College Students,” Carol Walther, Northern Illinois University “Racial Inclusion in the United States Military,” Damon J. Bullock, New member Backlash: Racialized Anti-Public Sentiment in the Post-Civil Rights Era Sun, August 17, 12:30-2:10PM (Foothill J) Organizers: Louise Seamster, Duke University; Kasey Henricks, American Bar Foundation and Loyola University Chicago Presider & Discussant: Alfred DeFreece, Roosevelt University “Arizona under Fire in a ‘Post Racial’ Era: How Color-Blind Discourse, Anti-Immigrant Racism and White Injury Ideology Fueled Support for Senate Bill 1070,” Cassaundra Rodriguez, University of Massachusetts Amherst “Nativism and Racism: Frameworks of Superiority and Clashing Ideological Arguments,” Candace E. Griffith, West Virginia University “A Free Academic Community?: Racial Harassment Policy in Higher Education,” Joyce M. Bell, University of Pittsburgh “Solidarity Across Civil Rights? Same-Sex Relations and Racial Attitudes,” Emily A. Paine, University of Texas, Austin RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 15 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcements Conference Opportunities 4th ANNUAL GRADUATE PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY CONFERENCE October 18, 2014 at George Mason University, VA Deadline for submissions: July 13, 2014 The graduate students of the Public Sociology Program at George Mason University organize an annual conference that critically engages contemporary social problems with diverse publics. This year’s conference engages the robust field of environmental justice and the contemporary crisis of climate change. We invite papers and session proposals—from students, scholars, practitioners, policymakers and activists, alike—that focus on the social impacts of environmental changes and the ongoing and emerging efforts to shape and reshape our future. Topics may include, but are not limited to: • Environmental Racism, Sexism, & Classism • Political Ecology (or Economy) & Climate Change • Human Landscapes & Consumption • Cities & the Sharing Economy • Weather Events and Disaster Recovery • Immigration, Security, & Risk • Sustainable Development & Environmental Activism • Indigenous Social Movements & Nature Rights • Public Sociology, Pedagogy, and Practice • And more… The conference will feature the following sessions and opportunities for submitters: Traditional Paper Sessions with facilitated group discussions Round Tables that feature young scholars and emerging research projects Thematic Forum Sessions on strategies to further environmental justice work and scholarship Workshops aimed at enabling critical public sociological approaches to social research Submissions (papers or 500-word abstracts) should be emailed to gmusocgrads@gmail.com along with a short bio. To view the flyer, click here. RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 16 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcements Conference Opportunities THE ASSOCIATION FOR HUMANIST SOCIOLOGY 2014 ANNUAL CONFERENCE Call for Papers, Presentations and Sessions Injustice, Exploitation, Racism, and the Activist Foundations of Sociology October 8-12, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio Social “development” often only deepens structural processes that perpetuate injustice, exploitation, and racism. American slavery provided cause for a racist ideology that may have clouded people’s vision, but it could not conceal the violence and exploitation at its core. In the early days of industrial production, the direct social relations between workers and owners enabled the worker to see the contribution of their own poverty to both the property and the pockets of the owner. Today, racial inequality continues with great effect in a “color-blind” system “without racists.” Today, poverty often appears to be more about neglect, than active exploitation. Few can trace their dispossession to the accumulations of others, while those who accumulate insulate themselves from those who bear the cost of their good fortune. The activist foundation of sociology resides in the good work of founders – Addams, DuBois, Marx, Fanon, de Beauvoir, Lee, and so many others – who challenged illusions to address structural injustices. It resides in the thousands of students who are drawn into sociology classrooms because they have come to see that the social world is not as it appears. And it resides in intellectual work that identifies and documents the social conditions hidden beneath the veneer of our public discourse. If a more just world lies in our future, then future generations will look back and shake their heads over our barbarism. Between us and that improved future vision is a lot of good work that will assess, challenge, and dismantle the systems, processes, and ideologies that perpetuate our current inhumanity. Sociologists might not lead such a transformation, but some fraction of them (AHS members at least) will be there to inquire, to study, to document, to inform, to agitate, and to teach of the promises and perils in change and the inadequacies of current conditions. Papers and session topics that build from this foundation are encouraged, but we welcome all submissions of interest to sociologists and humanists. Abstracts for papers, presentations or requests to organize a session should be submitted by July 15, 2014 here: https://secure.jotformpro.com/form/40214386065955 Inquiries or programming suggestions should be sent to the Program Chair, Mary Erdmans and the 2014 AHS President, Stephen Adair adairs@ccsu.edu RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 17 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcements Call for Papers Race and Contention in 21st Century U.S. Media (tentative title) Prospectus in development Jason Smith and Bhoomi K. Thakore, editors In the 21st century, colorblind ideology permeates all structures of society, including the media. Representations of minorities in the media continue to reflect contentious stereotypes and ideologies. While these representations are problematic, they represent the racial order in which they were produced. To date, much has been written on the topic of stereotypical representation in the media. However, there have been fewer critical works on the ways in which increased minority representation speak to normative racial ideology, and the political economy surrounding the creation of these representations. In Race and Contention in 21st Century U.S. Media, we strive to address the ways in which minority characters have broken the historical limitations of representation in mainstream/popular media. Through the works presented in this anthology, we will acknowledge the power of dominant values and ideologies in non-normative racial/gender representations, and the types of characterizations these representations reproduce. We contend that these representations have direct consequences on racial ideologies and hierarchies in the 21st century. We seek both theoretical and empirical submissions that address minority representations in a variety of post-2000 media – including film, television, music, news media, and online/new media. Topics may include, but are not limited to: • Media and the “Post-racial” (contributes to/challenges of) • Race and intersections of gender and sexualities • Ethnic identities/Whiteness • Biracialism in the media • Structural dimensions (around all forms of media) • Policy-related issues and their impact on the media landscape • Media as a melting pot or a source of multicultural displays • Mass media or niche media in regard to racial/ethnic groups • Media creation - practices, values, norms Please submit your completed chapter (5000-7000 words), OR a chapter proposal (500-750 words, including your research question, key literature, and conclusions) to the editors by August 30, 2014 in APA style format. Authors will be notified by October 2014 if their proposals have been accepted for the book prospectus. For more information and to submit proposals, contact Jason Smith (jsm5@gmu.edu) and Bhoomi K. Thakore (bhoomi.thakore@northwestern.edu). RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 18 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcements Call for Papers The journal Future Internet is accepting submissions for a special issue on "Digital Inequalities" (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet/special_issues/digital-inequalities). We are seeking papers that focus on how inequality is reproduced or mitigated online or through new technologies. As the editor I would like to see more scholarly work published on race or racial inequality in the digital environment. This is the second edition of this special issue. 6 articles were published last year (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet/special_issues/digital-inequality). This is a good opportunity for new scholars exploring the digital environment. It is also a good fit for niche articles focusing on new technologies. Future Internet is open access. There are no publication fees for the first five articles accepted for publication. The deadline for manuscripts is August 31st, 2014. Any questions can be directed to rgraham[at]ric.edu -- Roderick Graham Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology Rhode Island College Rm. 467 Craig-Lee Hall 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue Providence, RI 02903 401-456-8727 www.roderickgraham.com RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 19 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcements Call for Papers RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 20 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcements Call for Papers RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 21 Society for the Study of Social Problems Announcements Dr. Roderick D. Bush (1945-2013) Several .things have been set up to celebrate Rod Bush’s life and work: A website http://rodbush.org/ has been developed to provide access to Rod’s biography, publications, presentations, information about upcoming events, photos and tributes. .You can add reflections and participate in a community forum that allows one to post questions that might have been asked of Rod and/or respond to those raised by others Critical Sociology conference sessions (2) (August 18 : S.an Francisco.) http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/598/index.cfm/m/598/pageID/1785/ Community Memorial . (June 8th : Brooklyn, NY) Click the link for more information and to RSVP. St. Johns' University Memorial (April 28th) View the video here: http://rodbush.org/upcoming-events/ Left Forum Panels (2) (May 31st. : NYC). https://www.smore.com/6esu9 (Questions regarding any of these events may be addressed to melanie.e.l.bush@gmail.com.) Rod web page RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 22 Society for the Study of Social Problems Indian Mascots: Change Over Time by Michelle R. Jacobs When I first started researching the Indian mascot issue in 2004, it seemed like very few people – aside from American Indians and a handful of academics – were paying attention. Now, ten years later, the issue is gathering steam. The “Redskins” name of Washington’s NFL franchise has been at the forefront of this controversy. Team owner Daniel Snyder stated that he will never change the Redskins name, but pressure is mounting. DC Mayor Vincent Gray and DC city council members have made their dissent clear. Several prominent sports writers and sports media outlets have gone public with their refusals to speak the offensive name. And although some (less than scientific) polls indicate that the general public thinks Washington should retain the name, my (less than scientific) perusal of the internet indicates that the tide of public sentiment is changing. Ten years ago, for instance, I doubt that a video such as “Proud to Be,” created by the National Congress of American Indians, would have received more than 1.8 million hits on YouTube. Perhaps even more notable than the video’s popularity is the fact that it has received more than 11,000 “likes” and only 424 “dislikes” by YouTube viewers. Touted online as “the most important Super Bowl ad you didn’t see,” it is a two minute appeal to change the Redskins name. The video voiceover provides a string of names that Indians might call themselves, such as “Chippewa,” “Navajo,” “mother,” and “teacher.” It portrays contemporary Indians RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 23 Society for the Study of Social Problems who are “proud” yet “forgotten,” “struggling” yet “resilient,” and also spotlights Indian leaders as diverse as Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills. “Proud to Be” ends with the proclamation, “Native Americans call themselves many things.” Suddenly the images of Native people disappear and the narrator says “The one thing they don’t –.” The music stops and a Redskins football helmet is all that remains on the screen. The spotlight on the Redskins has shined a light on other professional sports team’s Indian mascots, as a May 2014 article published in USA Today makes clear. I was ecstatic that author Erik Brady began his piece with a story about a long-time Cleveland baseball fan “de-chiefing” his Cleveland “Indians” baseball jersey. I grew up in and attended graduate school in Northeast Ohio, so the pseudo-Indian athletic imagery I am most familiar with, both personally and academically, is the Cleveland MLB franchise’s “Indians” name and “Chief Wahoo” mascot. In case you are not familiar with the mascot, Brady’s description is apt: It is a “big-toothed, idiot-grinning, red-faced caricature.” As former Cleveland baseball writer Terry Pluto once noted, Chief Wahoo “looks as if he sold his soul for a six-pack, reinforcing all the old stereotypes.” And, I would add, the not so old stereotypes. A group of University of North Dakota (UND) students quite literally reinforced the “drunken Indian” stereotype on t-shirts produced for their annual end-of-semester party this spring. I study this stuff, but my head is still spinning from the sight of it – the classically stereotyped Indian head profile (complete with war bonnet) drinking from a beer bong under the caption “SIOUXPER DRUNK.” (If you have to see it to believe it, here RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 24 Society for the Study of Social Problems is a link to the New York Daily News article.) So even as more and more people are beginning to understand the inanity of using a race of people as sports team mascots, there are still pockets of folks who just don’t get it. As a long-time NE Ohio resident and someone who has studied the mascot issue in NE Ohio specifically, my educated guess is that the deepest pockets exist in places where prominent Indian mascots remain (or, as in the case of UND, have only recently been eradicated). My research and that of others shows that the very presence of these mascots leads to the devaluation of American Indian citizens. People who are surrounded by Indian stereotypes – who see them on billboards and beer cans and myriad other every day places – seem almost unable to stop themselves from replacing the cognitive space that should be reserved for actual American Indians with the ahistorical, one-dimensional representations of “Indianness” that are omnipresent in their lives. It is a bit ironic, for instance, that the Cleveland baseball fans who most vehemently resist retiring the “Chief” – the fans who insist that “Chief Wahoo” is honorable or fun or at the very least harmless – are the same fans spewing strings of epithets at the American Indian protestors they pass on their way into the baseball stadium. Yes, American Indian people who protest Cleveland’s ubiquitous “Chief Wahoo” are called many things – but none of them are respectful. The movement to eliminate Indian mascots is gaining ground – but you certainly wouldn’t think so if you were standing outside the Cleveland baseball stadium on game day. You probably wouldn’t think so if you were visiting just about any place in the NE Ohio region RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 25 Society for the Study of Social Problems during baseball season. And my guess is that the same would be true if you were visiting any region that historically has been inundated with an Indian mascot. As my recent article in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues illustrates, context matters (Jacobs 2014). People across the nation are beginning to understand that Indian mascots relegate American Indian citizens to second-class status. This increasing disdain for Indian mascots is illustrated by the photo that went viral during the Cleveland baseball team’s home opening game this year. It showed a Cleveland baseball fan in “redface” (who was also bedecked in garish red, white, and blue feathers) in conversation with an American Indian protestor outside the baseball stadium. You can view the photo on Buzzfeed. I do not know how Clevelanders reacted to this internet phenomenon, but it provided folks across the nation with a stunning visual articulation of the crass fan behaviors invoked by Indian mascots. In this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words. A final thought: People who live in cities with prominent Indian mascots seem least likely to understand the harms they cause. Not only are local sports fans emotionally attached to their specific Indian mascots, but they are also more likely to experience American Indian people as objects and others. In NE Ohio, for instance, Cleveland baseball fans see American Indian protestors as a hindrance to their enjoyment of the “all-American” game of baseball. What they do not see is that their beloved mascot is a hindrance to the overall quality of life of American Indian people. It took the NCAA to stop the thoughtless use of (some) Indian mascots in college athletics, and it’s going to take all of us – whether we RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 26 Society for the Study of Social Problems are directly impacted by these mascots are not – to eradicate Indian mascots once and for all in the realm of professional sports. Here are two simple things you can do: 1) Discuss the issue in class. It is a great way to introduce 101 concepts like culture or stereotype, for instance, and can lead to insightful discussions in upper division inequalities courses as well. You can use these images as conversation starters. 2) Call or write your local news outlets and ask them to stop using names like “Redskins” and “Indians.” They will make a strong statement about their commitment to diversity if they refer to these teams as the “Washington football team” or the “Cleveland baseball franchise” instead. The Board of Directors has selected Dr. Pamela Anne Quiroz and Dr. Nilda M. Flores-Gonzalez of the University of Illinois-Chicago as the 2014-2017 Editors of Social Problems. In addition to selecting Pam and Nilda as our new editors, the Board also selected Oxford University Press as the Society’s new publisher from January 1, 2015-December 31, 2019. The editorial office of Social Problems has moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago as of June 1, 2014. All new submissions and all revised submissions will be the responsibility of Dr. Quiroz and Dr. Flores-Gonzalez and their editorial team. To learn more about our new editors visit: http://sssp1.org/NewEditorsofSocialProblems Pam Quiroz Nilda Flores-Gonzalez Announcing the New Editors and Publisher of Social Problems RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 27 Society for the Study of Social Problems 1) Information: An online hub for information for SREM members related to professional success. 2) Questions: You will be able to ask questions on this blog and a volunteer will answer them. 3) Safe Space: SREM will host a safe space where you can discuss issues with fellow sociologists who also research and teach in your area. In need of mentoring? Check out SREM’s Mentoring Blog, brought to you by the American Sociological Association’s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities http://srem-mentoring.blogspot.com/ … What It Offers … RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 28 Society for the Study of Social Problems Accolades Dr. Randol Contreras (University of Toronto) was awarded the 2013 UC Press Exceptional First Book Award for his book, The Stickup Kids: Race, Drugs, Violence, and the American Dream (University of California Press, 2013). He received the honor at the 23rd Annual Literary Award Festival, hosted by PEN Center USA. Dr. David G. Embrick (Loyola University Chicago) and Kasey Henricks (Loyola University Chicago and American Bar Foundation) were awarded the Distinguished Paper of the Year by the Southwestern Sociological Association for their article published in Symbolic Interaction entitled, “Discursive Colorlines at Work: How Epithets and Stereotypes are Racially Unequal.” Kasey Henricks (Loyola University Chicago and American Bar Foundation) was awarded the Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant by the Law and Social Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation. The project is tentatively entitled, “No Taxation without Discrimination: The Racial Politics of American Property Taxes.” For his paper entitled, “Bursting Whose Bubble? The Racialized Tax Consequences of Evaporated Home Value,” Kasey also won 1st Place in Paper Competitions sponsored by SSSP’s Division on Sociology and Social Welfare and the Southwestern Sociological Association, and Honorable Mention in the competition sponsored by the Eastern Sociological Society. Dr. Matthew W. Hughey (University of Connecticut) will receive the 2014 Distinguished Early Career Award from the Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, American Sociological Association. Dr. Marie S. Johnson will begin an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. Recent Publications Annika Anderson, Andrew Crookston, and Paul Anderson. 2013. "The Structural Origins of Stereotype Threat and Its Impact on Racial/Ethnic Groups at Predominantly White Institutions." Pp. 19-35 in The Plight of Students of Color at Predominantly White Institutions: A Critical Reader, edited by R.V. Robertson. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing. DREM Member Announcements RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 29 Society for the Study of Social Problems Recent Publications (cont.) Byrnes, Bill and Kasey Henricks. 2014. “‘That’s When the Neighborhood Went South’: How Middle Class Blacks and Whites Police Racial Boundaries of Stigmatized Blackness.” Sociological Spectrum 34(5). Henricks, Kasey. 2014. “Passing the Buck: Race and the Role of State Lotteries in America’s Changing Tax Competition.” Georgetown Journal of Law & Modern Critical Race Perspectives 6(2). Parks, Gregory, Rashawn Ray, Shayne Jones, and Matthew W. Hughey. 2014. “Complicit in their Own Demise?” Law & Social Inquiry 39(2), Parks, Gregory and Matthew W. Hughey. 2014. “Opposing Affirmative Action: The Social-Psychology of Political Ideology and Racial Attitudes.” Howard Law Journal 57(2): 513-543. Hughey, Matthew W. (Lead Article). 2014. “White Backlash in the ‘Post-Racial’ United States.” Ethnic and Racial Studies Review 37(5): 721-730. Goss, Devon, Denishia Harris, Deronta Spencer, and Matthew W. Hughey. 2014. “Teaching and Learning Guide for: Black Greek-Letter Organizations.” Sociology Compass 8(5): 571-587 Parks, Gregory S., Matthew W. Hughey, and Rodney T. Cohen. 2014. “The Great Divide: Black Fraternal Ideals and Reality.” Sociology Compass 8(2): 129–148. Hughey, Matthew W. 2014. “Survival of the Fastest? The Media Spectacle of Black Athleticism and Biological Determinism.”Contexts 13(1): 56-58 Johnson, Marie S. 2013. “Strength and Respectability Black Women’s Negotiation of Racialized Gender Ideals and the Role of Daughter–Father Relationships.” Gender & Society 27(6): 889-912. Miller, Reuben J. 2014. “Devolving the Carceral State: Race, Prisoner Reentry, and the Micro-politics of Urban Poverty Management.” Punishment & Society doi: 10.1177/1462474514527487. Announcements RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 30 Society for the Study of Social Problems Recent Publications (cont.) Monnat, Shannon M. 2014. “Race/Ethnicity and the SES Gradient in Women’s Cancer Screening Utilization: A Case of Diminishing Returns?” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 25(1):332-356. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24509030) Smith, Jason. 2013. "Between Colorblind and Colorconscious: Contemporary Hollywood Films and Struggles over Racial Representation." Journal of Black Studies, 44(8):779-797. Randy Abreu and Jason Smith. 2014. "Public or Industry Interest? Debating the UHF Discount." International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 10(1):95-100. Bhoomi K. Thakore. 2014. “Must-See TV: South Asian Characterizations in American Popular Media.”Sociology Compass, 8(2): 149-156. Announcements Where Scholars, Students, Activists, Journalists, and Others Meet. http://www.sociologistswithoutborders.org/ RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 31 Society for the Study of Social Problems More information available at: http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book237570?subject=Course4&sortBy=defaultPubDate%20desc&fs=1 Recent Member Books More information available at : http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520273382 LGBT Families by Nancy J. Mezey Taking a social constructionist perspective, and part of the SAGE Contemporary Family Perspective series, LGBT Families by Nancy J. Mezey presents a comprehensive yet accessible understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families today by drawing upon and making sense of the burgeoning scholarly literature about LGBT families from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Drawing on multidisciplinary data, the book pays particular attention to how structures of race, class, gender, sexuality, and age shape LGBT families, and how members of such families negotiate the social landscapes within which they exist. The book also contains information about LGBT families and communities around the world. The book aims at helping readers better understand the formation, experiences, challenges, and strengths of LGBT families by addressing two main questions: Why are new family forms so threatening to certain groups of people in society? and How are new family forms beneficial to the society in which they exist? 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 Kids urges readers to explore the ravages of the drug trade while masterfully uncovering the hidden social forces that produce violent and self-destructive individuals. C:\Users\BKT.VAIO\Downloads\LGBT families cover photo.jpg Cover Image RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 32 Society for the Study of Social Problems More information available at: cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-16260-9/the-black-power-movement-and-american-social-work. Recent Member Books 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 info available at http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/product/Learning-Race-Learning-Place,4158.aspx. Learning Race, Learning Place: Shaping Racial Identities and Ideas in African-American Childhoods By Erin N. Winkler How do children negotiate and make meaning of multiple and conflicting messages to develop their own ideas about race? Learning Race, Learning Place engages this question using in-depth interviews with an economically diverse group of African American children and their mothers. Through these rich narratives, Erin N. Winkler seeks to reorient the way we look at how children develop their ideas about race through the introduction of a new framework—comprehensive racial learning—that shows the importance of considering this process from children’s points of view and listening to their interpretations of their experiences, which are often quite different from what the adults around them expect or intend. Winkler examines the roles of multiple actors and influences, including gender, skin tone, colorblind rhetoric, peers, family, media, school, and, especially, place. She brings to the fore the complex and understudied power of place, positing that while children’s racial identities and experiences are shaped by a national construction of race, they are also specific to a particular place that exerts both direct and indirect influence on their racial identities and ideas. https://cup.columbia.edu/app?fileid=10471&height=275&service=thumbnail&width=183 RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 33 Society for the Study of Social Problems More information available at: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/2263_reg.html Recent Member Books (cont.) More info available at http://www.westviewpress.com/book.php?isbn=9780813349305 The White Savior Film: Content, Critics, and Consumption By Matthew W. Hughey In The White Savior Film, Matthew Hughey provides a cogent, multipronged analysis of this subgenre of films to investigate the underpinnings of the Hollywood-constructed images of idealized (and often idealistic) white Americans. Hughey considers the production, distribution, and consumption of white savior films to show how the dominant messages of sacrifice, suffering, and redemption are perceived by both critics and audiences. Examining the content of fifty films, nearly 3,000 reviews, and interviews with viewer focus groups, he accounts for the popularity of this subgenre and its portrayal of "racial progress.“ The White Savior Film shows how we as a society create and understand these films and how they reflect the political and cultural contexts of their time. Recognizing Race and Ethnicity: Power, Privilege, and Inequality By Kathleen J. Fitzgerald Despite radical changes over the last century, race remains a central organizing principle in U.S. society, a key arena of inequality, and the subject of ongoing conflict and debate. In a refreshing new introduction to the sociology of race, Recognizing Race and Ethnicity encourages students to think differently by challenging the notion that we are, or should even aspire to be, color-blind. Recognizing Race and Ethnicity makes it clear that, in a time when race and racism are constantly evolving in response to varied social contexts, societal demands, and political climates, we all must learn to recognize race if we are to get beyond it. http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/2263_reg.gif FROM THE DESK OF THE NEWSLETTER EDITORS KASEY HENRICKS BHOOMI K. THAKORE Dear Division Members, We encourage all members to continue submitting their announcements to the newsletter. Please promote your work among this group of critical race/ethnicity scholars. If you have any ideas for abbreviated work or book reviews that you would like to include in forthcoming issues, please pass those along to us and we will forward them to the Division C0-Chairs for consideration. All the best for a happy summer! Kasey Henricks (kasey.henricks@gmail.com) Bhoomi K. Thakore (bhoomi.thakore@northwestern.edu) RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 34 Society for the Study of Social Problems C:\Users\BKT.VAIO\Downloads\IMG_20140606_134520_555.jpg RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES NEWSLETTER PAGE 35 Society for the Study of Social Problems The Race and Ethnic Minorities Division of SSSP is a collective of folks who agree that while the times have changed, we continue to live in a society where race still matter, and where racism continues to inform our daily lives. Our division’s vision of society is one in which racial and ethnic (and all other types of) oppression and discrimination no longer exist. In a world where acts of racial discrimination are minimized or ignored, we must remain vigilant in our quest to make visible the hidden mechanisms of racism and speak out against both overt and covert forms of racism. Our collective goals revolve around higher levels of racial understanding and tolerance, and a dismantling of overt racist attitudes and prejudices. We utilize various sociological models to address racial and ethnic inequality at all levels, including governmental policies, practices of social institutions, representations through media and culture, and within 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 celebrated. Further, we employ all members of this section to understand the struggle that people of color endure, and to join alongside us toward fighting these causes 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 (https://www.facebook.com/groups/sssp.drem/). There, we share information related to our larger interests and investment in racial and ethnic social problems. For this list, go to http://sssp1.org/index.cfm/pageid/1241/m/464 MISSION Division on Racial and Ethnic Minorities