Papers by Sherice J Nelson
PS: Political Science & Politics
The freedom to be, and to be creative, is a critical requisite for all scholars. For women of col... more The freedom to be, and to be creative, is a critical requisite for all scholars. For women of color who are early-career scholars, community spaces that foster relationships among women are one of the most meaningful ways that they can unearth their creativity. As Audre Lorde (1979/1984) said, “Without community there is no liberation.” Accessing our creativity as political scientists seeking to uncover new theories and findings is an opportunity that all academics should be offered when venturing into a career as a junior scholar. However, higher education is not an inherently neutral space; this reality often precludes the research environment as a place where women of color can comfortably engage their intellectual creativity. Most often, autonomous political science departments across the country have additional paths of resistance, which serve as a hurdle for women of color scholars early in their career. Given this reality, community spaces are an important component necessary for the growth of women of color as junior scholars. Community spaces have a critical role in the development of junior scholars as both people and researchers. Women of color are dynamic and embody distinct identities, and a plethora of differences may exist among the umbrella of individuals who identify as women of color. These differences should be celebrated (Lorde 1979/1984). This type of space encourages differences as a generative process that can foster new ways of researching and putting forth our research agenda. The reality is that women of color in political science often are a numerical minority—one of few or the only to occupy such a role in their department. Moreover, they often are presumed to be incompetent in the academy, which may lead junior scholars to develop a negative self-concept in both their personal and professional identities. Although these identities have an integral role in their unique approach to research, this presumption can be delegitimized as less rigorous and biased by dominant epistemologies that privilege linear and universalized perspectives of science. One resistive approach to combating this exigency is the implementation of workshop retreat spaces organized by women scholars of color. These convenings provide collaborative spaces for women to share their locally constituted lived experiences and build collective agency as a way to rethink top-down approaches to academic and disciplinary practices in political science. Building on the rich critique of previous work in this area (e.g., Combahee River Collective Statement 1974; Lorde 1979/1984), this article reflects on the power and potential of workshop retreat spaces for building the intellectual growth of women of color scholars. Community spaces curated for junior women of color are one of the few places where there is liberation for ideas to expand and for women to lean into the authenticity of the various dimensions of their distinctiveness. In many ways, it fosters growth as intellectuals. Women of color struggle with the realities of racism, sexism, homophobia, and the intersections of their different identities. Having a communal space that embraces these realities is necessary for development.
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Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, Jul 2, 2020
Niambi Michele Carter’s American While Black discusses how racially constructed democracy in Amer... more Niambi Michele Carter’s American While Black discusses how racially constructed democracy in America uses the issue of immigration as another tool of oppression that denies Blacks in America full c...
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Politics, groups & identities, Mar 4, 2021
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Social Science Research Network, Nov 13, 2018
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PS Political Science & Politics, Mar 31, 2022
The freedom to be, and to be creative, is a critical requisite for all scholars. For women of col... more The freedom to be, and to be creative, is a critical requisite for all scholars. For women of color who are early-career scholars, community spaces that foster relationships among women are one of the most meaningful ways that they can unearth their creativity. As Audre Lorde (1979/1984) said, “Without community there is no liberation.” Accessing our creativity as political scientists seeking to uncover new theories and findings is an opportunity that all academics should be offered when venturing into a career as a junior scholar. However, higher education is not an inherently neutral space; this reality often precludes the research environment as a place where women of color can comfortably engage their intellectual creativity. Most often, autonomous political science departments across the country have additional paths of resistance, which serve as a hurdle for women of color scholars early in their career. Given this reality, community spaces are an important component necessary for the growth of women of color as junior scholars. Community spaces have a critical role in the development of junior scholars as both people and researchers. Women of color are dynamic and embody distinct identities, and a plethora of differences may exist among the umbrella of individuals who identify as women of color. These differences should be celebrated (Lorde 1979/1984). This type of space encourages differences as a generative process that can foster new ways of researching and putting forth our research agenda. The reality is that women of color in political science often are a numerical minority—one of few or the only to occupy such a role in their department. Moreover, they often are presumed to be incompetent in the academy, which may lead junior scholars to develop a negative self-concept in both their personal and professional identities. Although these identities have an integral role in their unique approach to research, this presumption can be delegitimized as less rigorous and biased by dominant epistemologies that privilege linear and universalized perspectives of science. One resistive approach to combating this exigency is the implementation of workshop retreat spaces organized by women scholars of color. These convenings provide collaborative spaces for women to share their locally constituted lived experiences and build collective agency as a way to rethink top-down approaches to academic and disciplinary practices in political science. Building on the rich critique of previous work in this area (e.g., Combahee River Collective Statement 1974; Lorde 1979/1984), this article reflects on the power and potential of workshop retreat spaces for building the intellectual growth of women of color scholars. Community spaces curated for junior women of color are one of the few places where there is liberation for ideas to expand and for women to lean into the authenticity of the various dimensions of their distinctiveness. In many ways, it fosters growth as intellectuals. Women of color struggle with the realities of racism, sexism, homophobia, and the intersections of their different identities. Having a communal space that embraces these realities is necessary for development.
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This dissertation will evaluate the leadership and decision-making of Madeleine K. Albright and H... more This dissertation will evaluate the leadership and decision-making of Madeleine K. Albright and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the respective years they served as Secretary of State. Particular emphasis will be on their roles in Kosovo’s and Libya’s humanitarian crisis. The study evaluates if and how particular leadership style affects the decision making process. The current study does not attempt to evaluate the United States foreign policy position in each of the sited countries. Instead, the study will evaluate the decisions made by each of these women in the foreign policy arena’s unique and demanding circumstances. To perform this study content analysis is used with two theories simultaneously. Those theories are Riggio’s and Bass’ extension of the full leadership model; more specifically transformational leadership, and Simon’s model of decision-making.
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Politics, Groups, and Identities, 2021
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Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
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Insulated Blackness: the cause for fracture in Black political identity, 2021
The Black Political Identity is often treated as a monolith in American politics, with interest g... more The Black Political Identity is often treated as a monolith in American politics, with interest groups and political parties employing blanket policy solutions to appease and engage African Americans. However, observations and scholarship show that Black Americans are not monolithic, possessing divergent views about social policies, so much so that some Black Americans can hold political positions that are oppositional to collective Black advancement. Therefore, this work theorizes the concept of insulated Blackness – the extent to which self- identified African Americans oppose pro-Black remedial policies and/or disagree with commonly held ideologies about the Black condition, as a result of an existence insulated from frequent experiences of racial discrimination. This analysis will use the 2016 American National Election Study to assess experientially constructed political Blackness in terms of policies and ideologies considered synonymous with Blackness. The analysis also presents predicted probability models that demonstrate that political Blackness is rooted in the heightened racial discrimination experiences. We conclude that self-identified Blacks may exist outside of the identity of political Blackness because they perceive they are insulated from racial discrimination.
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native of Oakland California and a an alumnus of my alma mater, Howard University, is a very capa... more native of Oakland California and a an alumnus of my alma mater, Howard University, is a very capable woman. She is currently serving as California State Attorney General. This was a natural fit for her position achieving a jurist doctorate and her decade of experience at the district court level in the state. Not to mention Harris' mixed heritage. She is the product of an Indian mother and Jamaican father. This allows her to be empathetic to the multicultural nature of the state of California. Harris has been a shrewd throughout her legal career. She has used her intellect and her political adroitness better than any of her colleagues. This has allowed her not only to win elections, but understand the timing necessary to be successful in an campaign and raising money. Harris's, political astuteness has allowed her to be an excellent administrator. During her tenure, in her current position, she has been able to implement legislation passed by the state in a way that better solves the in equities of black and brown people throughout the entire state. As a trial lawyer, at the district level working with the prosecution, she was able to see firsthand the inequities that she has tried to cure as State Attorney General. This was a poignant and sobering realization being raised in a self-declared progressive liberal state. Harris grew up in the time with the War on Drugs. Her experience in impoverished Oakland was congruent with the impoverished state of the nation's capital. Therefore, Harris is in a unique position to help craft and build legislation that is hard on crime without being prejudiced towards black or brown people, or overly punitive supporting the overreach of the prison industrial complex in the state of California. Her mix heritage will also provide an interesting perspective on immigration. Criminal Justice, Gun Reform, and Immigration all important national issues which can be formative for a newly elected Democratic president. She is currently running for the vacant Senate seat of retiring Barbra Boxer in the state of California. This coveted position is important not only in the state of California, as the state currently has two female Democratic women, but also in the overall Senate for Democrats. If the Democrats have any hope of flipping the Senate, they will have to win that seat California. Pulling her out of the race to nominate her as a Justice, assures the lost of that seat. Also, Harris has not been a judge at any level. Therefore her experience, along with her race will make her appointment almost impossible. This would not be ideal when the president has less than a year to secure a confirmation. Which, is more than enough time to make a sound decision about any candidate and not unprecedented as the Republicans would like you to think. Just rare, as Supreme Court Justices serve until their death, like Scalia, or their retirement. There are better qualified less objectionable appointees, if there is such a thing with this brand of recent Republicanism.
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This piece is a rebuttal to Stuart Stevens, “ This is How Hillary Loses the Primary” in The Da... more This piece is a rebuttal to Stuart Stevens, “ This is How Hillary Loses the Primary” in The Daily Best.
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Drafts by Sherice J Nelson
This manuscript will do a historical analysis of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HB... more This manuscript will do a historical analysis of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the fabric of the creation and maturation of higher education in the United States. Many if not all of these academic institutions were birthed out of the need to educate the Negro. Consequently, they grew substantially in the Reconstruction period in the United States, and are in many ways responsible for the economic successes of the nation albeit subpar resources. The proper funding of these Colleges and Universities will be examined in a tort and atonement reparations framework, which contends that wrongs and injustices impair the relationship with the State. This impairment has caused a lasting mistrust of the government structure by Blacks throughout the United States. Such an impairment has had social, political, and most importantly economic implications. Therefore, the manuscript provides reasons why the federal government should provide proper funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities as a pillar of reparations to Black Americans who still socially, politically, and economically suffer from the effects of slavery
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This a preliminary paper that I wrote as a blog post over a year ago. I thought it relevent after... more This a preliminary paper that I wrote as a blog post over a year ago. I thought it relevent after Black women helped to elect Doug Jones in Alabama.
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This presidential primary cycle has been one for the ages. Historians will squill with glee to ha... more This presidential primary cycle has been one for the ages. Historians will squill with glee to have an abundance of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources to study, and evaluate this time in our relatively young democracy. On the Republican side, we started out with 16 candidates. Never in the history of the party have they seen so many candidates. On the Democratic side, we started with four contenders, two fell by the wayside fairly quickly. Now we're down to three Republicans and two Democrats. Well, maybe not two Democrats. Maybe just one and the allusion of another. Have we been told so many lies that we don't know the truth? In this political process is everyone a prostitute or are we evolving into better people, a better country? The inspiration for this piece is a culmination of recent world events. The recent loss of life in Brussels Belgium, the President of the United States first visit to communist Cuba in 70 years, the question about Hillary Clinton's truthfulness, all these things have inspired such a complex piece. At the commencement of 2009, the Grand Old Party made a decisive statement. Then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the party was determined to make President Barack Obama a one term president. The parties repudiation of Barack's Blackness, commenced a season of obstructionism and fantastical stories that were rooted in stereotypical believes about Black laziness, lack of intellect, and violent behavior. Instead of the Grand Old Party realizing that the problems of their party were displayed in their title; they were old and White, they continuously denied their problem. The ideals held by Grand old White men were no longer the ideals of the nation. They were no longer the party of Lincoln, and haven't been in a longtime. They were the frat boys entering their sixth year of college, still excited and exuberant about pledge week while others were confused, why were they even still there? Instead of the Grand Old Party facing the facts that the electorate was quickly changing and that conservatism and it's staunch ideals needed to evolve, they dug their heels in deeper. They galvanized a community, once heterogenous in their political views, by refusing to concede that deporting 11 million people was ludicrous and unconscionable. Instead, they lie to themselves and lied to the American people. So much so, the American people now expect a lie regardless of their political party affiliation. Eight years of lies and bigotry, created a Tea Party, a radical right group bound together by inconsistent ideals and principles that are too complex for most of the party faithful to comprehend. It literally set the table for a Fascist Demagogue known to us as Donald J. Trump, who has lied repeatedly without much more than verbal disdain by establishment Republicans and cable media. All the while his supporters admits he lies, but they are too tied with the emotional charge he provides and they feel, to stop, hear, and act upon the truth. Please do not think the Democrats are blameless. Quite the opposite, many of them have used the obstruction as an excuse not to work on pressing needs of their constituents. Others have secretly rejoiced as they never liked the junior Senator representing the great state of Illinois: and not because of his race, on no, because the are prejudice free, but because he is too self assured, and did not then and does not now, need their approval to define success.
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Papers by Sherice J Nelson
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