JeffriAnne Wilder

Assistant Professor of Sociology
(Ph.D., University of Florida)
Racial & Ethnic Relations, Colorism, Sociology of Black Americans, Women of Color in the United States, Theories of Race and Racism, Traditions of Black Sociological Theory, Women of Color in Higher Education, Qualitative Methodology.

I received my Ph.D. in Sociology, with a concentration on Women’s Studies and Gender Research from the University of Florida.  I completed my MA in Sociology from Cleveland State University, and my BA from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA.  My primary areas of interest are Racial & Ethnic Relations, Colorism, Sociology of Black Americans, Women of Color in the United States, Theories of Race and Racism, Traditions of Black Sociological Theory, Women of Color in Higher Education, and Qualitative Methodology.

My current research agenda is actively devoted to examining issues of inequality affecting black women.  My dissertation examines the issue of colorism— bias and favor for light-skin, European features and “good hair”—among college-aged black women in a project entitled, “Everyday Colorism in the Lives of Young Black Women: Revisiting the Continuing Significance of an Old Phenomenon in a New Generation. Through focus group interviews with 58 women between the ages of 18 and 25, my study employs grounded theory and discourse analysis to investigate how young black women talk about and understand colorism in their everyday lives.  An intersectional analysis of race, class, gender, and skin tone, this projects aims to explore the lived experiences of internalized racism that continues to impact the black community in the post-Civil Rights era.

Contact information:
Office: Bldg 51/Room 2225
Phone: 904-620-3853
E-mail: j.wilder@unf.edu

Links:
Curriculum Vitae
To learn more about colorism, check out my website: http://sites.google.com/site/colorismproject/