On Current Research Related to Race and Ethnicity

By: Margaret Savoie and Sandra Spiroff

On February 27, University of Mississippi (UM) graduate students and faculty shared their research on the topics of race and ethnicity, including the four students featured below. There were over 25 submissions to the call for proposals.

Represented programs were: the Law School, School of Journalism and New Media, Sociology, Southern Studies, Psychology, History, Leadership and Counselor Education, English, Social Work, Modern Languages, and the Center for Community Engagement.

The forum was organized by the UM Study of Race and Racism Exploration Group, a working group of faculty and administrators seeking to found a Center for the Study of Race and Racism (CSRR) on campus.

“The goal of the forum was to bring UM faculty and graduate students together to learn about and discuss their current research on race and ethnicity in the U.S. and abroad,” said Dr. Simone Delerme, McMullan Associate Professor of Southern Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology.

Latrice Johnson, M.A. in English student from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, presented her paper titled, “My name is Latrice: Negotiating racial politics and navigating discrimination through Black names and naming.” In this project, Johnson examines how Black people with racially distinctive names (i.e. Black-sounding or White-sounding names) negotiate the politics, meaning, assumptions, stereotypes, and motives for behavior of their names in public settings. Johnson’s project began in 2019, under the direction of Dr. Brian Foster.

“I have always been interested in doing work on the importance of names and naming,” said Johnson. “Witnessing how people frequently disregard the intent and meaning behind names sparked my interest in this work.”

In the future, Johnson hopes this particular project can be published and shared more broadly. She would also like to see the English Department continue to participate in the forum.

Maximilian Conrad, M.A. student in Anthropology and Southern Studies, from San Francisco, California, presented on the Museum of Immigration of Santa Barbara d’Oeste in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The town is home to a population of Confederados, descendants of American Southerners who fled the defeated Confederate States at the end of the Civil War.

“My mother is from Brazil and I hold dual citizenship there as a result,” said Conrad, “I started to become fascinated by how American culture and history might be perceived in Brazil, and vice versa.”

For Conrad, it is important to know and understand that Brazil and the United States are very similar, with histories and cultures that are deeply interwoven, and can inform one another in interesting ways.

Marcus E. Cheeks, a 2023 doctoral graduate in the Department of Leadership and Counselor Education, from Canton, Mississippi, presented a correlation study designed to examine Mississippi school district level funding at the per pupil level (local, state, federal, and total) and academic achievement gap scores for students identified by their poverty status and racial make-up.

According to Cheeks, “This research echoes the impact of funding inequalities. K-12 education is a state responsibility; however, this research noted there was minimal to no correlation found between state per pupil revenue and achievement gaps based on poverty and race. State funding, according to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding formula, may be by definition, adequate, but persistent large achievement gaps indicate a lack of adequacy. This is more symptomatic of a funding equity issue.”

Cheeks became interested in this area of research after a 20-year career working with federal grants designed to positively impact high-risk children.

“I hope this research will allow lawmakers, state education officials, school administrators, teachers, and parents to better understand the relationship between school funding and academic achievement gaps, specifically for poor and minority children, where educational needs often go well beyond classroom instructions,” said Cheeks.

In the future Cheeks hopes to publish and present this research to key stakeholders nationwide. Professionally, he hopes to become a college professor and continue adding scholarly information to Mississippi’s Pre K-12 educational landscape.

Madeline Burdine, M.A. student in Sociology, from Houston, Mississippi, presented research on how religion, specifically Christianity, plays a part in the larger society.

This area is of personal interest for Burdine, as she grew up in a conservative Christian environment. Burdine hopes her research contributes to a better understanding of how conservative Christianity operates, as it contributes to a number of social issues in society and helps create a roadmap to promote social change.

“Whether one identifies as a conservative Christian or not, conservative Christian belief systems permeate the political sphere of the country,” said Burdine. “An intimate understanding of what drives the behaviors of this group is important since someone does not have to be a conservative Christian to be affected by its wider system.”

Burdine began her time at UM in the Integrated Marketing Communications program. While in the final semester, an opportunity to join a qualitative research study focusing on whiteness in the South arose.

“The concept of whiteness in both the South and beyond is intimately intertwined with Christianity, so I applied and ended up being selected to work on this 2-year study that was housed in the Sociology Department under the leadership of Dr. James Thomas,” said Burdine. This allowed Burdine two additional years of graduate school funding and an introduction to the field of sociology.

The Race and Ethnicity forum is just one avenue where graduate student researchers can present their work on topical material, moving discussion and understanding forward. Graduate students at the University of Mississippi regularly participate and present in conferences and events in a variety of disciplines. As a sponsor for the forum, among other meetings, the Graduate School aims to support and highlight research across departments and units here at the University.

2023 Spring Newsletter

1. Welcome
2. Celebrating the Doctoral Class of 2023
3. Meet our Elite Scholars!
4. Portrait of a Business Woman and Lifelong Learner
5. On Current Research Related to Race and Ethnicity
6. The Velvet Ditch, or Gateway of Opportunity?

 

2022 Winter Newsletter

Link to Winter Newsletter 2022