S1E9 - Centering and Celebrating Black Women in Sociology

This episode features the recorded audio from the panel Cite Black Women: Centering and Celebrating Black Women in Sociology, that took place at the American Sociological Association Meeting in 2019: What started out as a small idea on twitter turned out to be a mini-movement in Philly. On the Saturday of 2018 ASA conference, scores of sociologists were seen donning t-shirts adorned only with simple writing #CITEBLACKWOMEN and the message was clear. It was a call out to cite black women as a tool to fight the intellectual and positional erasure of black women and their merits in the academy. This panel seeks to ensure that the 2018 moment might transition to a larger movement that centers and celebrates black women sociologists. Questions the panelist will address include: Who belongs in the cannon of black women sociologists and who are the contemporary innovators? Who is even included (or who is excluded) when we say, black women? What guides our gatekeeping practices in publishing and how can we make them more inclusive and equitable? What might we lose if we don’t listen to black women today? How might we make this symbolic gesture of #citeblackwomen into something more praxis oriented? Beyond citing black women, how can we further support black women in our discipline and the academy? Panelists (in speaking order): (Organizer) Dr. Whitney N L Pirtle, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Merced. https://whitneylpirtle.com Dr. Christen Smith, founder of Cite Black Women. and Associate Profesor of African and African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. http://www.afro-paradise.com Dr. Crystal Marie Fleming, Associate Professor of Sociology, Africana Studies and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Stony Brook University. http://www.crystalfleming.com Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom is digital sociologist, professor, writer and columnist. She is an associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a faculty associate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. https://tressiemc.com Dr. Zakiya Luna is Assistant Professor of Sociology at The University of California Santa Bárbara. http://www.zakiyaluna.com