IAC Bunche Center Fellowships and Grants Awardees
2013-2014 Institute of American Cultures (IAC)
Bunche Center Fellowships and Grants Awardees
GRADUATE/PREDOCTORAL FELLOWS
Cory Gooding, History
Roots, Rhythm and Religion: The Politics of Context, Identity and Culture among Afro-Caribbeans in New York and Los Angeles
Mr. Gooding seeks to use social context to develop the way political science discusses identity, culture and political engagement through his comparative study of Jamaican and Trinidadian immigrants in New York and Los Angeles. Mr. Gooding’s project examines the role that three social context elements—religious institutions, media and the neighborhood—play in the development of political frames, racial/ethnic identity and political engagement. He grounds the theoretical approach of this study with respect to racial/ethnic identity in current events by examining the campaign of Barack Obama and the role that identity played in Afro-Caribbean political engagement. In addition to examining the impact of social context on traditional engagement, he also investigates how cultural practices operate as forms of political engagement. His research uses data collected from 75 in-depth interviews conducted in New York and Los Angeles with first and second-generation black immigrants from Jamaica and Trinidad. He also uses survey data from the 2004 National Politics Study and the 2012 Collaborative Multi-racial Post-Election Study (CMPS). The Bunche Center believes this is an important study of black immigrants in New York and Los Angeles that will greatly inform our understanding of diversity within “blackness.”
RESEARCH GRANT AWARDEES
Faculty and Staff
Walter Allen and Patricia McDonough, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
Counselor Calculus: Assessments of Student-Institutional Fit and (mis)conceptions about the UC
Professors Allen and McDonough seek to better understand what factors contribute to high school counselors’ conception of access to the UCs as well as how they assess student-institutional fit (e.g. who could be “UC bound” versus who should be “UC bound”).
Robin Derby, History
Male Heroism, Demonic Pigs and Memories of Violence in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Prof. Derby examines the correlation between poverty and demonic animal tales in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Negin Ghavami, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
Disparities in Health and Academics of Urban, Ethnics Minorities LGBQ Middle School Students
Dr. Ghavami focuses on the experiences of ethnic minority and white LGBQ middle-school students in LA urban schools and identifies factors that contribute to risk and resilience for their well-being and academic achievement.
Paul Von Blum, Afro-American Studies
The Civil Rights Movement for Beginners
Professor Von Blum is writing a book focused on African American Studies that places the modern civil rights movement in a broader historical perspective.
Graduate Students
Susila Gurusami, Sociology
Mothering on the Margins: Race and Class Constructions of Precarious Mothering
Ms. Gurusami’s dissertation deals with the consequences of debasing the Black matriarch and the way that this has material and theoretical implications for both poor Black mothers and their wealthier counterparts.
Jacob Lau, Ph.D. Student, Gender Studies
Sistership as Survival: Looking after Sylvia, Marsha and Queens in Exile
Mr. Lau’s archival research will examine the connections and influence between drag queens Rivera and Johnson’s coalitional work within and between black and white activist organizations in the 1970s, which will lead to a reworking of the historical narratives of African American, Latina/o and Gay social movements.
Kimberly Mack, English
The Fictional Black Blues Figure: Blues Music and the Art of Narrative Self-Invention
Ms. Mack’s project will examine fictional constructions of the American black blues musician in post-1960 American literature and popular music.
Winter Schneider, History
History, Memory and Identity in Haiti’s Lakou: Views from the Diaspora
Ms. Schneider seeks to examine the history of the sacred communities, or lakou, outside of Gonaïves, Haiti, through oral histories of pilgrims to the lakou from the Haitian Diaspora in the U.S., mainly in Florida.
Janira Teague, History
I, too, Am America: Migrations, Identity and Citizenship in Black New York City, 1890s -1930s
Ms. Teague examines and explores migrations, identity, citizenship status, and the intellectual ideas/ideals of Black native New Yorkers, Black southern migrants and Black immigrants who resided in New York City (NYC) from the 1890s until the 1930s.
For additional information about The Institute of American Cultures (IAC) Fellowships & Research Grants at the Bunche Center, Click Here. For a list of 2012 – 2013 awardees, Click Here.