Winston-Salem State University
Behavioral Sciences
This paper describes the use of a novel from the 1980s, Kate Quinton's Days which documents an Irish immigrant's challenges related to health, finances, housing, and the complex navigation of a fragmented health care system and social... more
This paper describes the use of a novel from the 1980s, Kate Quinton's Days which documents an Irish immigrant's challenges related to health, finances, housing, and the complex navigation of a fragmented health care system and social services, as a pedagogical tool in the classroom. The objectives were to bring to light to the topic of aging in the context of issues related to the experience of care work, immigration, and long-term care in later life. The authors describe the integration of a variety of pedagogical tools and the professor's guided learning process a way to assist in informing students' on the challenges that older persons and their care partners face as they attempt to navigate the landscape of care and identity. Reflections from the undergraduate gerontology students are highlighted, including how students were able to connect with the narrative of the protagonist, Kate Quinton, through her journey.
and others. She also held committee positions in the MidSouth Sociological Association, and was always active in advancing the organizations' membership and bringing new colleagues into the organizations. Throughout the years, Dr. Sharma... more
and others. She also held committee positions in the MidSouth Sociological Association, and was always active in advancing the organizations' membership and bringing new colleagues into the organizations. Throughout the years, Dr. Sharma was the springboard, creator and chair of various panels for the gerontology conferences, and presented papers at national and international seminars, including Oxford University. Involving diverse aspects of research on the elderly, they included nutrition and religion, Elderly Abuse, Meditation and the Elderly, statistical analyses involving the diversity of aging, both in India and the United States, including housing, poverty, retirement and new beginnings, victimization, issues of disabilities, displacement mentally, physically, and economically. Dr. Sharma was a "scholar's scholar," always developing new concepts and topics for enlarging the field of gerontological research. She helped to combat strategies for changing the nature and philosophy of ageism. She was a strong advocate and an international leader in the changes advancing the field of gerontological education and community outreach. Dr.
This study examines the manifestation of subordinate men's masculinity in popular culture by analyzing the construction of Black masculinity in rap music. The data for this research comes from a content analysis of lyrics from playa rap-a... more
This study examines the manifestation of subordinate men's masculinity in popular culture by analyzing the construction of Black masculinity in rap music. The data for this research comes from a content analysis of lyrics from playa rap-a genre of rap music characterized by its focus on consumption, adornment, and sensual pleasure. Playa rap's
promotion of an alternative form of masculine embodiment points to the limitations of hegemonic masculinity as a lens for understanding subordinated men. Some argue that
while playa rap may seem at first glance to endorse non-hegemonic modes of embodiment, others argue that its lyrics actually promote an embodiment that is in service of the hegemonic goals of controlling women and displaying capitalistic success. While playa modes of embodiment may ultimately have hegemonic goals in mind, the path they travel reveals the particular constraints Black men face when asserting male dominance. In other words, the research takes masculinity in rap as produced, not
primordial.
promotion of an alternative form of masculine embodiment points to the limitations of hegemonic masculinity as a lens for understanding subordinated men. Some argue that
while playa rap may seem at first glance to endorse non-hegemonic modes of embodiment, others argue that its lyrics actually promote an embodiment that is in service of the hegemonic goals of controlling women and displaying capitalistic success. While playa modes of embodiment may ultimately have hegemonic goals in mind, the path they travel reveals the particular constraints Black men face when asserting male dominance. In other words, the research takes masculinity in rap as produced, not
primordial.
This article examines how the concentration of low-income African American students in urban elementary schools is deeply coupled with a leveling of teachers’ expectations of students and a reduction in their sense of responsibility for... more
This article examines how the concentration of low-income African American students in urban elementary schools is deeply coupled with a leveling of teachers’ expectations of students and a reduction in their sense of responsibility
for student learning. We argue that this process is rooted in school-based organizational habitus through which expectations of students become embedded in schools. We show that this process can be mediated if school leaders engage in practices designed to increase teachers’ sense of responsibility for student learning.
for student learning. We argue that this process is rooted in school-based organizational habitus through which expectations of students become embedded in schools. We show that this process can be mediated if school leaders engage in practices designed to increase teachers’ sense of responsibility for student learning.
- by Antonia Randolph and +2
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- Urban Education, Teacher Perceptions
Caring for the black interior, or the inner life of black people, is necessary for political action and for the emotional well-being of the black community. We must create spaces for black vulnerability if we want to care for our... more
Caring for the black interior, or the inner life of black people, is necessary for political action and for the emotional well-being of the black community. We must create spaces for black vulnerability if we want to care for our humanity. Black vulnerability happens within the context of white supremacy and other forms of oppression, but it is not defined by that context. How can we be vulnerable with ourselves and others under those conditions? I describe three different types of black interior spaces and outline the dangers and possibilities within them. Specifically, I talk about the private-private space, where we think about how it feels to be black, the public-private space, where we share private thoughts about what it means to be black in places where others can overhear, and the private-public space, where we respond to things that bring us shame and might be stigmatizing if they became public. These spaces are metaphors for different moments in ordinary black life, which I have artificially divided to highlight the tensions that define each space. I end by talking about a fourth space, what I call "the black now", the in-the-moment blackness that is not about rupture, the space between us and ourselves, but is instead about the times when we feel seamless and most whole.
Much work in the sociology of race and ethnicity centers on an underlying narrative of racial progress. Progress narratives are typically conceptualized as a linear process of slow, yet inevitable, improvement. Drawing on Critical Race... more
Much work in the sociology of race and ethnicity centers on an underlying narrative of racial progress. Progress narratives are typically conceptualized as a linear process of slow, yet inevitable, improvement. Drawing on Critical Race Theory and Afro-Pessimism, theoretical perspectives that emerged outside of the discipline of sociology, this paper urges a rethinking of linear progress narratives. First we elucidate the central tenets of these theoretical paradigms. We then apply them to diversity and labor market research, providing suggestions for how sociology can incorporate these perspectives.
- by Antonia Randolph and +2
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- Critical Race Theory, Afropessimism
This paper examines how commenters (N= 290 posts) to an urban gossip blog interpret the meaning of ambiguously sexual behavior: a kiss shared by two male gangsta rappers. It shows that fans use the same interpretive repertoire to come to... more
This paper examines how commenters (N= 290 posts) to an urban gossip blog interpret the meaning of ambiguously sexual behavior: a kiss shared by two male gangsta rappers. It shows that fans use the same interpretive repertoire to come to very different conclusions about the meaning of the rappers’ sexual orientation in the wake of the kiss. Other research finds that hegemonic masculinity has expanded to include touch between men as a legitimate expression of heterosexual intimacy, yet that literature ignores or pathologizes marginalized men (Bridges and Pascoe 2014; McCormack and Anderson 2014). Our study makes up for this gap by exploring the frames and concerns native to hip-hop culture that explain how fans label the rappers’ sexuality as a result of the kiss. We find that fans are particularly concerned with policing the boundary around thug masculinity, the most valorized form of masculinity within hip-hop culture.
In this response to George Weddington’s critique of their recent article, the authors argue that Weddington rightfully critiques them for not paying enough attention to the role of psychoanalysis (exemplified by Frantz Fanon) in... more
In this response to George Weddington’s critique of their recent article, the authors argue that Weddington rightfully critiques them for not paying enough attention to the role of psychoanalysis (exemplified by Frantz Fanon) in Afro-pessimist theory and for not giving primacy to the political ontology of blackness in Afro- pessimist thought. However, his critique is hindered by his mischaracterizing the authors’ argument as saying that black political ontology is merely different, not singular, and his lack of engagement with the authors’ analysis of critical race theory. The authors address these issues and suggest that Weddington’s reading of Afro-pessimist claims as empirically unverifiable is inconsistent with his proposal for incorporating the theory into ethnographic projects and would lead to the abandonment of the sociological project.
This article analyzes how four Black musical artists make “quiet,” or the inner life of African Americans,legible. Specifically, we consider ways that the quiet found within the lyrics of recent acclaimed albums from two hip-hop artists... more
This article analyzes how four Black musical artists make “quiet,” or the inner life of African Americans,legible. Specifically, we consider ways that the quiet found within the lyrics of recent acclaimed albums from
two hip-hop artists and two neo-soul artists—Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN (2017) and Rapsody’s Laila’s Wisdom(2017), Solange’s A Seat at the Table (2016) and Maxwell’s blackSUMMERS’night (2016), respectively—offer subtle, quotidian challenges to oppression, dehumanization, and objectification. We find that quiet occurs as artists describe the use of metaphysical space, or how place is used to make and take space for the self and to find peace, the protection of the interior self, and the gifts of quiet to the struggle for resistance.
These lyrics speak to the interior safe space that Blacks seek as refuge from oppression by the dominant culture and demands from within their community. We contend that Blacks exercise power through their
dominion over their interior selves, which in turn expresses their humanity. It is their control of the content of inner life, whatever those contents may be, that is an expression of sovereignty.
two hip-hop artists and two neo-soul artists—Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN (2017) and Rapsody’s Laila’s Wisdom(2017), Solange’s A Seat at the Table (2016) and Maxwell’s blackSUMMERS’night (2016), respectively—offer subtle, quotidian challenges to oppression, dehumanization, and objectification. We find that quiet occurs as artists describe the use of metaphysical space, or how place is used to make and take space for the self and to find peace, the protection of the interior self, and the gifts of quiet to the struggle for resistance.
These lyrics speak to the interior safe space that Blacks seek as refuge from oppression by the dominant culture and demands from within their community. We contend that Blacks exercise power through their
dominion over their interior selves, which in turn expresses their humanity. It is their control of the content of inner life, whatever those contents may be, that is an expression of sovereignty.