What does your research focus on?
My research focuses on the antecedents, consequences and organizational constraints associated with the expression of racial and ethnic minority identities in predominantly-White settings.
I have a lot of interests relating to social mobility, so much of my existing work studies self-expression within the contexts of workplaces and schools. At some point though, I’d like to extend my work to religious contexts and dating as well, as these are settings where the expression of racial or ethnic minority identities could be consequential concerning how people are perceived.
How (or why) did you become interested in that line of research?
I initially started some research in grad school relating to [anti-Black] hair discrimination. At some point, I realized that was a smaller manifestation of a much, much larger phenomenon wherein racial and ethnic minorities are conditionally accepted in predominantly White societies based on their willingness or ability to conform to White-centric norms and values. It’s a slightly more subtle, but also deeply insidious, manifestation of racism that I got more and more curious about.
What’s the most interesting aspect about your research that most people won’t know about?
I’d like to think that doing what I do reasonably well requires a breadth of exposure to scholarship relating to racial and ethnic relations. In any given paper, I could cite research by psychologists, sociologists, historians, and even anthropologists. While these are very different academic disciplines, frequently on my topic of interest, scholars in these fields have different insights to make the same resounding conclusion. So, if science is about developing (and frequently testing) compelling and accurate arguments concerning how the world works, having dozens of ways of explaining the same thing is actually very useful.
What are you looking forward to most about joining U of T Scarborough?
I’m looking forward to being a mentor to students. College is waaaaay better when you have people invested in you.
What are you reading/watching right now?
Right now, I’m technically not reading anything. I did, however, recently order "Black in White Space: The Enduring Impact of Color in Everyday Life" by Elijah Anderson, a professor of sociology and African American Studies at Yale. Also, I just finished the 4th season of "Never Have I Ever," and now I’m very, very sad the show is over.