Faculty Profile
James Thomas
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology
Phone Number:
Email: jmthoma4@olemiss.edu
https://socanth.olemiss.edu/james-thomas/
Key Words: race, racism, inequalities
Research Description: Broadly, my scholarship centers racism as a socio-historically contingent phenomenon, global in its force, and rooted in the dynamic nexus between ideology and practice. To date, I am the author or co-author of four book-length monographs, and over twenty peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and invited essays on the causes and consequences of race and racism in America, and abroad. My scholarship is wide-ranging in its coverage: from comparative and historical analyses of racial formations and racism in Western Europe and in the United States; to theorizing the complex interplay between race, citizenship, and affect along the US-Mexico border; to critical investigations of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on college campuses.
Honors Theses:
Curtis, Bradley (2021) Measuring Rental Affordability Dynamics for the Southern United States with Constant Quartile Mismatch (full text)
Patel, Viviek (2020) SEALDs: A Quantitative Content Analysis of #DontTrashYourVote on Twitter (full text)
Taylor, Elizabeth R. (2018) The Space Between: The Interactional Dynamics between Policy, Organizations, and Social Actors Within the Field of Sexual Abuse (full text)
Bailey, Jenna (2017) "Heritage, Not Hate": The Mississippi State Flag as a Conduit of Colorblind Racism. (full text)
Hughes, Lauren (2016) Someday my Prince Will Come: How are gender roles enabled and constrained in Disney Music, during Classic Disney, the Disney Renaissance, and Modern Disney? (full text)
Available Research Projects:
Whiteness in Crisis
Project Description: Broadly, this research centers the economic, political, and social transformations of the new century, the relationship these transformations have to whites’ ongoing racial formation, and the relationship between whites’ racial formation and place. Previous scholarship on whiteness overwhelmingly centers whites’ attitudes toward minority groups. More recent research shifts the focus to examine whites’ attitudes toward their own in-group. Yet the majority of this research is survey-based, narrowly focused on whites’ interests in protecting their dominant status within the American racial hierarchy, largely neglectful of shifting social and political contexts, and absent an analysis of how whites’ racial subjectivity is rooted in place. This research serves as complement and contrast. This project uses in-depth qualitative interviews to examine how white southerners who have come of age amidst large-scale economic, political, and social changes – those between the ages of 18 and 35 years old – understand the American racial hierarchy and their place within it. Specifically, this research asks (1) how, in an era where whites’ dominant status is increasingly scrutinized, are these white southerners making sense of their dominant racial group status? And, (2) what are the contexts and experiences that white southerners draw upon when making sense of their dominant group status? This project is funded through the National Science Foundation (award #2115147)
Desired Student Qualifications: strong work ethic, positive attitude, interested in learning how to conduct social research
Project Timeline: ongoing
Duties of Student Researcher: I will provide hands-on training in qualitative research methodology, including interview techniques. Students will be expected to: - conduct interviews with the assistance of research team members - help research team code and analyze qualitative data - co-authorship opportunities available - co-presenter opportunities available
Last Updated on 2021-09-27 12:47:56