SSSP Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division July 2008 Newsletter Message From Our Chair We are eagerly anticipating the SSSP annual meeting in Boston, July 31 thorough August 2. Please take a moment to review the various sessions that our division is sponsoring. As you will see, there is a wide range of topics and ideas for attendees to explore. Please plan to join us for our division meeting on Friday, August 1 from 12:30-2:10 in the Georgian Room. At this meeting we will discuss resolutions, recognize the author of the outstanding graduate paper -Oluwakemi Balogun, discuss sessions for the next annual conference to be held in San Francisco, and introduce our incoming division chairperson, Erica Chito Childs. This meeting is open to all members and provides each of us with an opportunity to become involved in the facilitation of the division. I encourage everyone to take a more active role and make your voice heard. Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Winner The division is pleased to announce that Oluwakemi Monsurat Balogun’s paper “Extended Identities: Context, Life Course and Social Networks in Second-Generation Nigerian Immigrant Identity Formation” has been selected as the Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division Outstanding Graduate Student Paper for 2008.  Congratulations to Oluwakemi and to all of the students who submitted their work. See page 3 for more information. Are You Who You are Online? Student Presentation on Immersive Learning and the Virtual World of Second Life The Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division is pleased be sponsoring a panel of undergraduate students who will be presenting on their experiences in an immersive learning class that explored race and ethnicity in the virtual world of Second Life. The students created an outstanding graphic novel and play and will be sharing their work with SSSP on Thursday, July 31 from 4:30-6:10pm in the Newbury Room. This is a session you will not want to miss. Please come out and support the efforts of our students. COnference Sessions Sponsored by OUr Division Thursday, July 31 8:30-10:10 am. Thematic session 3. Outsiders Within Sociologists in the Late 2000’s: Achievements, Limitations, and Strategies. Room: Constitution. 10:30-12:10am. Session 19. Boundaries of Race, Ethnicity, and Class: Inclusion and Exclusion in Health. Room: While Hill 10:30-12:10pm. Session 20. Border Control/Social Control: Theorizing Immigration as a Social Problem. Room: Whittier. 12:30-2:10pm. Session 31. Inter-sextions: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: LGTBI Research. Room: Whittier. 4:30-6:10pm. Session 36. Hispanic Drug Use, Violence and Crime. Room: Cabot 4:30-6:10pm. Session 40. Teaching and Learning About Social Problems: Student Reflections on Immersive Learning Experience. Room: Newbury. Friday, August 1 8:00-9:40am. Thematic Session 48. Defining Borders: Race, Ethnicity and Place. Room: Franklin. 2:30-4:10pm. Session 75. Social Problems and Theories of Identities: The Global Borderlands of Race, Gender, and Sexuality. Room: Lexington. Saturday, August 2 8:30-10:10am. Session 94. What is Race? Social Categorization vs Self Identity. Room: Franklin. 2:30-4:10pm. Thematic Session 136. Latin American and Caribbean Immigration. Room: White Hill. Announcing the Publication of the Agenda for Social Justice, Solutions 2008 The SSSP is pleased to offer you the Agenda for Social Justice, Solutions 2008, which represents an effort by our professional association to nourish a more "public sociology" that will be easily accessible and useful to policy makers. It is also a way to give something back to the people and institutions that support our scholarly endeavors. We hope that you find it helpful in your challenging work of crafting successful solutions to contemporary social problems.  In all, it contains 11 pieces by SSSP members, covering a variety of social problems in three sections: global issues, Americans at risk, and health & welfare.  This is an effort on the part of scholars at the Society for the Study of Social Problems to disseminate the findings in social problems research as freely and as widely as possible.  The web page for the project is located here: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/323.  On that page, you can download the full version, and you can link directly to the one-page briefs and individual chapters.  The chapters are available for free download, and may be suitable as cost-effective supplementary readings in many social problems-related courses.   Graduate Student Paper Competition The division is pleased to announce that Oluwakemi Monsurat Balogun’s paper “Extended Identities: Context, Life Course and Social Networks in Second-Generation Nigerian Immigrant Identity Formation” has been selected as the Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division Outstanding Graduate Student Paper for 2008. During a brief interview, Oluwakemi stated this topic was prompted by some of her own personal experiences as a child of Nigerian immigrants and stemmed from her questioning some of the assumptions of the literature on second-generation immigrants in general and Black immigrants in particular. “There is also not much out there on African immigrants and their children” said Oluwakemi, “and I wanted to be able to add to that scholarship.” Oluwakemi is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkley, and her research interests include race and ethnicity, immigration, gender, culture and social theory. When asked what prompted her to join SSSP, Oluwakemi responded, “SSSP aims at promoting the application of social scientific tools for bringing about broader social change. I hold that as a goal and vision for my research.” Currently Oluwakemi is working on a dissertation proposal that focuses on gender, nationalism and beauty, and hopes to be a professor. “I want to do research that would have some broader relevancy in social change and social policy.” Announcement Dear Members: This is a reminder to register for the Society for the Study of Social Problems’ (SSSP) 58th Annual Meeting in Boston at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, July 31-August 2, 2008.  Please plan to join us for an exciting program of scholarly presentations and films related to this year’s theme “Crossing Borders: Activist Scholarship, Globalization, and Social Justice.” Plan to attend the 8th Annual AIDS fundraiser auction and comedy act on Thursday, July 31 from 9:00pm-11:00pm.  You’ll be able to place bids on many wonderful items.  Proceeds from the AIDS Fundraiser will go to Cambridge Cares About AIDS (CCA), an advocacy, education and service organization based in Cambridge.  In addition to the many services and educational forums it conducts on AIDS prevention, safe sex practices, and negotiating the health care system, CCA  participates in community dialogue and advocacy efforts that seek to reduce social and economic inequality. If you have not donated an item to this event, it is not too late.  You can mail it to Gordana Rabrenovic, Local Arrangements Chair, ahead of time or you can bring it to the meeting.  You just need to provide Gordana and Michele Koontz, Administrative Officer & Meeting Manager with a full description of the item (and its estimated value) by July 15, 2008 to g.rabrenovic@neu.edu and mkoontz3@utk.edu.  I hope to see you in Boston! Sincerely, Nancy A. Naples, SSSP President P.S. The preliminary program is available online, http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/23 Annual Meeting Registration Form: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/305 Announcement Dear SSSP Member:   This year, we will be electing a President-Elect, a Vice-President-Elect, regular and student members of the Board of Directors, members of the Budget, Finance, and Audit Committee, Editorial and Publications Committee, and the Committee on Committees.  Please consider nominating a colleague or yourself for one of these offices by completing the online nomination form.  Nominees for the Budget, Finance, and Audit Committee should have substantial financial competence.  Those nominated for the Editorial and Publications Committee should have editorial expertise and a history of reviewing for and/or publishing in Social Problems.  Strong candidates for the Committee on Committees should have substantial and varied professional networks, and familiarity with the institutional history of the SSSP.  Candidates for the Board of Directors should have a history of involvement with the SSSP, obviously of a shorter nature for student nominees than for regular nominees.  Finally, nominees for President-Elect and Vice-President-Elect should have a longstanding history of involvement with SSSP, and a reputation as important contributors to the sociology of social problems.   Nominations should include a brief description of the nominee’s SSSP involvement and other relevant experiences. The Nominations Committee will meet at the Annual Meeting in Boston.  All nominations should be submitted online prior to midnight (EST) on July 15, 2008. The Board of Directors will approve the slate of candidates for the 2009 General Election on August 2, 2008.  If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Mezey, Chair, Council of Special Problems Divisions at nmezey@monmouth.edu.   For those members of SSSP who have not yet become involved with the Society to the extent that would support a strong nomination to a Society-wide position, please consider becoming more involved!  The best way to begin a deeper involvement is to attend a business meeting of one of the Special Problems Divisions at the annual meeting.  There you may propose to organize a paper session on a topic that interests you, or to edit the divisional newsletter, or propose to organize a project, such as a mini-conference or collection of position papers.  Once you have been involved at this level, you will be qualified to run for Division Chair.  Serving as a Chair is a springboard to a Society-wide position.  The SSSP encourages all members to deepen their involvement with the Society and their contribution to addressing social problems.   Most sincerely, Nancy Mezey Chair, Council of Special Problems Divisions Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division Elects New Chairperson The Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division is pleased to welcome Erica Chito Childs, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology form Hunter College, CUNY, as the incoming chairperson. Erica Chito Childs joined the Hunter College Sociology Department as an Assistant Professor in September 2005. She received her BA in Sociology and African American Studies at San Jose State University and received her MA and PhD in Sociology from Fordham University. Her research interests focus on issues of race, gender and sexuality in relationships, families, communities and media/popular culture. For the past five years she has studied black-white couples, and the attitudes and responses of black and white families and communities to interracial relationships. Her book, Navigating Interracial Borders: Black-White Couples and Their Social Worlds was published in July 2005. Other recent publications include a related article in the August 2005 issue of Gender & Society., "Looking Behind the Stereotypes of the 'Angry Black Woman,'" which critiques the way black women's voices have been overlooked in the discourse on interracial relationships Currently she is working on her second book Fade to Black and White, which explores the images and meanings attached to interracial sexuality in media and popular culture. Beyond this, she is also working on a number of other qualitative research projects including an ethnography of racial and ethnic divisions in neighboring communities in Rhode Island. This information is from Dr. Chito Child’s website http://www.ericachitochilds.com/pages/about.htm Society for the Study of Social Problems Purpose Statement : This Society shall be a non-profit corporation to promote and protect sociological research and teaching on significant problems of social life and, particularly, to encourage the work of young sociologists; to stimulate the application of scientific method and theory to the study of vital social problems; to encourage problem-centered social research; to foster cooperative relations among persons and organizations engaged in the application of scientific sociological findings to the formulation of social policies; to foster higher quality of life, social welfare, and positive social relations in society and the global community and to undertake any activity related thereto or necessary or desirable for the accomplishment of the foregoing purposes. Division Chair Contact Information: Melinda Messineo Department of Sociology Ball State University 2000 W. University Ave. Muncie, IN 47306 Phone: 765-5530 Fax: 765-285-5920 E-mail: mmessine@bsu.edu Newsletter Editor Tracey H. Randolph Graduate Assistant Ball State University