Michaela McMillian JenkinsGraduate Student

• M.A. in Sociology Emory University, 2023
• B.A. in Sociology, Kenyon College, 2019

My research considers the experiences of Black people in the United States within racialized organizations and during demographic shifts. I ask: How does an institution or organization's racial history and present shape their inclusion and understanding of Black people. What differences account for the incorporation of some Black people and the exclusion of others? How is the way we think about Blackness changing in the United States, and how does that shape Black people?

I particularly examine how experiences and outcomes vary within Black populations, especially along the lines of ethnicity, regionality, and rurality. In this way, I look at Blackness not as a singular identity, but as a site of heterogenous experiences and theoretical complexity.

My dissertation considers how Black cultural organizations, like Black Student Unions and African Students' Associations, are treated differently at colleges with different racial histories and present racial demographics. I also examine how Black students experience ethnicity and negotiate agency in these spaces.