BE EMPOWERED

Sangeetha Madhavan is challenging the assumption

that low-income black men in urban South Africa are

uninvolved fathers. She has been analyzing 20 years of

data on children born following apartheid’s collapse and

found that nearly 80 percent of fathers maintain contact

with their children and provide financial support, though

some live apart from them and most have unstable

relationships with the mothers and struggle to find jobs.

She and fellow researchers also found extended families

are critical for maintaining these relationships. The study

is helping South African policymakers strengthen the role

of fathers in low-income communities and is providing

insights that could be applied in the United States.

Melinda Chateauvert’s research critiques narrow

definitions of civil rights that emphasize respectability

and privilege marriage, children, military service and

traditional gender roles. As a result, sexual behavior serves

as the border between full citizenship and a marginalized

existence. She’s studied how, since the 1960s, sex workers

have been challenging that border, organizing a movement

to decriminalize sex and to end gender policing. They

demonstrate, she says, that in the global economy of the

21st century, human rights are for everyone.

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Health, Race and Social Policy » How do par-

ticular social policies impede or promote people’s

opportunities to succeed? Laws that crack down

on inner-city liquor stores, ban smoking or pro-

mote the expansion of mental health services

can have a dramatic effect on health. Our faculty

explores how policies affect the world of work,

family structures and “citizenship” as experienced

by marginalized groups.

“This program has encouraged me to look at politics from a different perspective. i’ve had great professors like Dr. odis Johnson, who had us go to D.c. to participate in panels and workshops of the congressional Black caucus and learn how it’s representing us and its views on issues such as the prison-industrial complex and education.”

—Michellay cole ’13, afrICan amerICan StUDIeS/joUrnalISm

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7.3times as

likely as CauCasians

AfricAn AmericAns Are

to live in high-poverty neighborhoods with limited to no Access to mentAl heAlth services.

aCCorDIng to “mental HealtH: CUltUre, raCe, anD etHnICIty,” a SUpplement to “mental HealtH: a report on tHe SUrgeon general”

79141_AASD.indd 6 5/24/13 3:55 AM

Sharon harley explores the relationship between

women of color and labor, particularly in the United

States and the Caribbean: How is the productive and

reproductive labor of women of color viewed differently

from other groups of working women? How do race, class

and ethnicity influence the impact of women’s work lives on

men in their families or communities? How do nationality

and class influence women of color’s labor narrative?

Her study advocates a more detailed and complex

understanding of how various communities interpret

gender roles.

GnieSha DinwiDDie investigates how residential

segregation affects access to and quality of care for

mental disorders. She has found that psychiatrists typically

don’t have private offices in African-American and Latino

neighborhoods, so patients travel farther to find them or

are treated by primary care physicians, who may not be

able to diagnose or treat them properly. Dinwiddie’s work

has policy implications for the federal Patient Protection

and Affordable Care Act by informing Maryland lawmakers

where psychiatrists should set up practices in order to

provide needed care and to reduce health disparities.

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Odis JOhnsOn Jr. considers how masculinity shapes

the educational beliefs and behaviors of black and white

teens in Prince George’s County, Md., neighborhoods.

He’s discovered a paradox: Hypermasculine behaviors

and expressions of “cool” are linked to youths’ belief that

hard work in school pays off with good grades and future

success, yet those same masculine traits appear unrelated

to their grades. Contrary to stereotypes about black

males, Johnson’s work shows the masculine orientations

of black adolescents are not as strongly related to their

beliefs about schooling’s importance as they are for their

white counterparts.

How do so many African American men end up in the

emergency room as shooting victims, multiple times?

JOseph richardsOn Jr., using patient data from the

University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma

Center, has identified four risk factors: substance abuse

or intoxication, a history of criminal justice involvement,

previous exposure to violence, and whether “disrespect”

preceded the gunfire. He’s expanding his study to Prince

George’s Hospital Center to determine how black men

cope with these injuries and their barriers once they’re

discharged, in hopes of improving trauma care and

hospital-based violence interventions.

As part of his long-term research on historically black

communities in the American South, William W.

Falk is investigating the recent rise in residential gated

communities called “plantations.” The names typically

have no historic significance, but are used primarily to

convey a sense of gentility and elegance for the intended

buyers—relatively affluent white people. But for the

historically majority-black population, these names are

significant for their insensitivity. Falk’s work in coastal

South Carolina and Georgia sheds light on contemporary

racial tensions resulting from economic development.

79141_AASD.indd 8 5/24/13 3:55 AM

Urban and Community Studies » For anyone,

where you live influences the world as you

experience it and your role in it. For African Ameri-

cans—particularly young, black, urban men—that

relationship is amplified. We examine how neighbor-

hoods, schools, workplaces, transportation and more

play a role in the challenges and achievements of

blacks in urban life.

of BlaCk, male freSHmen graDUate from HIgH SCHool In 4 yearS, CompareD to 78 perCent of WHIteS, aCCorDIng to tHe “UrgenCy of noW” report, SCHott foUnDatIon for pUBlIC eDUCatIon, 2012.

52%79141_AASD.indd 9 5/24/13 3:55 AM

afrICan amerICan StUDIeS Be eMpowered

antHropology Be cultural

CrImInology & CrImInal jUStICe Be just

eConomICS Be efficient

geograpHICal SCIenCeS Be gloBal

goVernment & polItICS Be civil

HearIng & SpeeCH SCIenCeS Be heard

joInt program In SUrVey metHoDology Be counted

pSyCHology Be understood

SoCIology Be social

www.aasd.umd.edu p 301.405.1158 » f 301.314.9932

www.bsos.umd.edu

The Department of African American Studies

is one of the College of Behavioral & Social

Sciences’ 10 diverse, interdisciplinary

departments and programs, all committed

to investigating and improving the

human condition.

College of

Behavioral & Social ScienceSthe Solution

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