"On the Origin of White Hollywood: The Racialized Space of the U.S. Film Industry (2020)
The scholarship on White spaces has highlighted the ways in which institutions have devoted themselves to reproducing Whiteness through intentional ideological work, and how the prevalence of such ideologies impact the individuals within these spaces. It is well recognized that experiences are racialized within U.S. social institution, but there needs to be more work on highlighting the origins of such ideologies within each context. In this article, I focus on the Hollywood film industry to emphasize how its history and contemporary practices do just that. Furthermore, the effects of such practices on the content created by Hollywood reinforce mediated representations that not only reproduce stereotypes at the interactional level but also reinforce the ideological status quo of White Hollywood. I conclude with a reflection on how any changes to the structure must be strategic, lest we repeat the same mistakes of other so-called “integrated” institutions.
"The Whitening of South Asian Women in Popular Media" (2020)
In this chapter, I examine consumer-oriented content (i.e. feature films and episodic programming intended for the Screen) to understand how produced, created, and manufactured content reinforces the Trump Era’s dominant ideologies of homogeneity, divisiveness, and “making America great again.” I discuss: a) the historical context of the perceived attractiveness of “white” features, b) a brief overview of the history of women of color in visual media, c) key examples of ethnic women in 21st century representations (including Padma Lakshmi, Mindy Kaling, and Priyanka Chopra) , and d) a matrix of understanding which women and which roles are most and least subjected to these dynamics. Within this argument, it is important to note that diverse representations are in fact increasing – in 2018, we have more examples of non-White characters, actors, writers, and producers in the history of U.S. media. However, as I will argue here, regardless of physical representation, the ideologies remain inherent.
"The ASPET Mentoring Network: Enhancing Diversity and Inclusion through Career Coaching Groups within a Scientific Society" (2020)
Over the past decades, two persisting priorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) training have been: 1) increasing the knowledge of and access to careers beyond academic scientist; and 2) increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce. Previous studies show that a uniquely constructed career coaching group provides strong support and progress for both priorities. This report extends this design into a more sustainable model that is positioned within the professional context of rising young scientists. This new model is based in the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)—the ASPET Mentoring Network. Groups of PhD students and postdocs were assigned to an ASPET professional (academic or other career) member (the coach) with an initial meeting held the day before the society’s annual meeting. The coaching groups interacted during the meeting and then virtually for a year. Extensive survey and interview evaluation data gathered from the first three cohorts (12 coaching groups) in 2016– 2018 provided strong evidence of the perceived and real benefits of the network. This new version of career coaching groups is both feasible and linked to career success due to its close association with a scientific society, peers, and coaches who share scientific identities and aspirations.
