Recent News
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Research, Teaching, and Engagement Updates
March 10, 2024 – from Medium
In this article, Professor Alvin B. Tillery, Jr. talks about the recent downward trend in support for the Democratic party among Black voters. He shows that, after record high support in the Black community for Barack Obama, support has wained in successive elections. Especially in today's climate of razor thin margins, Democrats cannot afford losses, especially from a bloc that is historically so supportive. Professor Tillery suggests that a platform adjustment may be in order for Democrats if they aim to keep Black voters in the 2024 election cycle.
March 6, 2024 – from CAN TV
In a recent interview with Hugo Balta, Michelle Bueno Vasquez shared some of the results of her research into the Afro-Latino diaspora. She also breaks down aspects of the US Census to explain the underrepresentation of Afro-Latinos in America. Michelle also shares aspects of her personal experience and how it impacted her perspective and her research.
March 6, 2024 – from Cambridge University Press
Our Academic publishing excellence has been recognised at this year’s annual PROSE awards, with five of our titles named subject category winners and an additional nine chosen as finalists. Since 1976, the annual Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) awards have recognised publishers who produce books, journals, and digital products of extraordinary merit that make a significant contribution to a field of study. This year, 118 finalists were named along with 41 category winners. Our five category winners will now be eligible for the next level of PROSE honours - the Awards for Excellence winners, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
March 6, 2024 – from CAN TV
In a recent interview with Hugo Balta, Michelle Bueno Vasquez shared some of the results of her research into the Afro-Latino diaspora. She also breaks down aspects of the US Census to explain the underrepresentation of Afro-Latinos in America. Michelle also shares aspects of her personal experience and how it impacted her perspective and her research.
March 4, 2024 – from X (formerly Twitter)
Congratulations to PhD Candidate Nicolette Alayón on her selection as a University of Pennsylvania Provost Predoctoral fellow!
March 3, 2024 – from USA Today
Professor Alvin Tillery, Jr. commented on former President Donald Trump's anti-DEI rhetoric, stating: “They are trying to take apart the legacy of these laws that made us a multiracial democracy ... Trump is just picking up the mantle."
March 3, 2024 – from The Hill
Professor Alvin Tillery Jr. commented on recent efforts by Republican lawmakers to limit the power of tenured university faculty. Tillery Jr. shares: “Let’s be clear, they are succeeding. I think the reason that we have a mostly untenured faculty in American higher education today is because you have Republican governance and a lot of these states that attack university budgets and don’t invest in these institutions in such a way to make wages livable for faculty.”
March 2, 2024 – from Jacobin
Professor Mneesha Gellman examines the recent reelection of Nayib Bukele as President of El Salvador. Professor Gellman breaks down Salvadorians' reasoning for reelecting Bukele, as well as the democratic backsliding being experienced in the country as a result of Bukele maintaining the country's state of exception, a form of emergency rule that suspends many rights and gives the president emergency powers.
March 1, 2024 – from Sociological Theory
The visibility of populations, policies, and the state matters greatly for questions of power, inequality, and democratic life. This article builds on existing scholarship by examining how visibility operates as a lever and effect of social control in a racially and economically stratified society. By doing so, the article identifies a paradox. Race- and class-empowered groups often pressure state actors to implement punitive policies or otherwise visibly contain and control disadvantaged populations. But they also tend to decry and disavow the necessary public costs of these disciplinary interventions. This creates a conundrum for authorities: how to satisfy popular demands for social control while concealing resource commitments.
March 1, 2024 – from Oxford University Press
In "Doing Good Qualitative Research," over 40 experts are brought together to provide a thorough overview of how to use qualitative methods in the social sciences. In Professor Pearlman's chapter, she specifically analyzes how to conduct quality interviews, specifically on vulnerable populations.