Jovonne Bickerstaff
Graduate Student in Sociology
Biographical Note
Jovonne Bickerstaff, a Ford Foundation Fellow and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, is currently a doctoral candidate in sociology at Harvard University. A native of Akron, Ohio, Jovonne is an alumna of MIT (2002 - BS in Urban Studies & Planning; BS in Writing & Humanistic Studies) and of the University of Cambridge, St. Johns College (2005 - MPhil in Social & Developmental Psychology) where she was a Cambridge Gates Scholar. She is also a former US Fulbright Grantee to France (2003) where she was an auditing sociology student at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Her current work examines the implicit racialization of French identity and how such racialized representations of Frenchness impact perceptions of life chances, equality and opportunity among French blacks of Sub-Saharan African origin (i.e. second-generation immigrants). This research forms the basis for her recently completed Master's thesis in sociology, entitled, "Noir et Français: Everyday Anti-racism and Challenges to the Racialization of French Identity." Her broader interests include African American gender relations, performances of “blackness”, and how ethnoracial minorities negotiate national identity, ethnography and portraiture.
10/06/2009
- Research Interests
- Ethnography and new qualitative approaches -e.g. portraiture, African American gender relations, everyday anti-racism, "la question noire" in France, how ethnoracial minorities & 2nd generation immigrants negotiate national identity, performances of “blackness”
- Previous Degrees
- MIT - BS Urban Studies & Planning and BS Writing & Humanistic Studies 2002; University of Cambridge - MPhil Social Psychology 2005; Harvard - MA Sociology 2009
| Teaching Experience | ||
|---|---|---|
| African & African American Studies 97 | Race & Humanism - Sophomore Tutorial | Teaching Fellow |
| Foreign Cultures 46 | Caribbean Societies | Teaching Fellow |
- Qualifying Paper Title
- Noir et Français: Everyday Anti-racism and Challenges to the Racialization of French Identity
Miscellaneous Additional Information
- Grants Received
- NSF Fellowship 2007; Ford Foundation Predoctoral 2007; Harvard Center for European Studies, Graduate Summer Research Grant 2008
Contact
617-496-5794 (FAX)
609 William James Hall
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138