Colloquia

How will an external threat from Asia affect racial relations in the United States? While Americans' sense of shared adversity during the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to unite people across racial and national lines, research also suggests that perception of threat increases racially biased behaviors and may have spillover effects on intergroup relations. Using an experiment that combines behavioral game and survey methods (N = 1,987), we…

As a part of our annual tradition, we will view the documentary "Below Baldwin: How an Expansion Project Unearthed a University ’ s Legacy of Slavery", followed by a discussion with community organizer Imani Scott Blackwell, led by Dr. Sarah Shannon and Dr. Vanessa Gonlin. On November 17, 2015, construction on Baldwin Hall on the University of Georgia campus came to a halt when workers uncovered human remains on the site. DNA tests revealed what…

Colorism, the practice whereby light skin is privileged over dark, has been widely acknowledged and studied among African Americans and Latinx populations. Though this research has grown exponentially in recent decades, less attention has been given to Asian Americans, for whom colorism is equally pervasive and deeply entrenched. This talk focuses on colorism among Asian American women and the twin pressures for light skin stemming from (1) the…

From California to China, self-described “greening” efforts claiming to address inequality and the climate crisis proliferate. But why are such projects—undertaken in the name of ecological sustainability and climate resilience as well as quality of life—being carried out in such a wide range of places with very different histories, ecologies, and cultural repertoires for urban life? Based on a study of a century of greening in Germany’s Ruhr…

We know remarkably little about the varying meanings justice-involved populations assign to their employment experiences, and how those meanings intersect with varying criminal involvement over time. Some perspectives assume that employment and crime are alternative choices that don’t easily co-exist, particularly as the individual moves down a pathway towards desistance. Other scholars view employment and income-generating crime as more-or-less…

In this presentation, we will discuss the troubled past (and present) of fat stigma. We will consider the role of racism and sexism in its creation and perpetuation throughout the Western world. The presentation will highlight the role of the medical field in its more recent propagation. Sabrina Strings, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Sociology and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Irvine. Sabrina has been featured in dozens…

This talk offers an historical sociology of militarized policing in the US and Britain, where the model of our current “civil police” was born. It explores the deep historical roots of militarized policing, its causes, and its inextricable connections with empire abroad and racial dynamics at home. Julian Go is Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, where he is also a member of the Committee on International Relations, a Faculty…

Thirty years into a purported culture war, evidence for the ideological polarization of popular tastes and lifestyles remains inconclusive. And yet, the degree to which ideological antipathy has spilled over into otherwise mundane realms of social life is central not only for key sociological insights about societal cohesion, but also for the existence of a functioning democratic society. Relying on original survey data on political ideology and…

In the U.S., those who identify as Afro-Latinx, do so at the intersection of a Latinx community that often rejects them and an African American community that often does not understand them. I examine the relationship between Afro-Latinx identity and the #BlackLivesMatter movement via social media. By employing, a combination of Twitter analysis and in-depth interviews with social media users, I provide insight into how Afro-Latinxs understand…

News framing contests are a central feature of Twitter, which is unsurprising given the unique ways that Twitter users engage with news. Twitter users are far more likely to use the platform to follow breaking news stories, directly follow reporters, and to engage with political news than Facebook users. At the same time, news personnel use Twitter as a source of news stories and to connect with interlocutors. Previous research has attempted to…