Meet Christine Slaughter, 2020 APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grantee

The American Political Science Association is pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) Awardees for 2020. The APSA DDRIG program provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation research in political science. Awards support basic research which is theoretically derived and empirically oriented.

Christine Slaughter, University of California, Los Angeles

Christine Marie Slaughter is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles and will defend her dissertation in June 2021. Her dissertation, “No Strangers to Hardship”: African Americans, Inequality, and the Politics of Resilience, develops theory and measurement of “racial resilience” which is defined as disposition of triumph over collective adversity, such as the experience of intergenerational poverty. Racial resilience fills a void in the group identity, resilience, and political behavior literature by providing a mechanism explanatory of high-cost engagement among African Americans, where there are remarkably low benefits associated with doing so. This work highlights the complexity of African American political psychology and behavior. Christine will utilize funds from the APSA DDRIG to support the collection of additional data, including post-election research, a survey experiment, and qualitative interviews. 

A second stream of research specifically focuses on Black women voters and intersectionality. Her co-authored research with Christopher Ojeda has appeared in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law. Prior to UCLA, she graduated with a BA in Political Science and Comparative Women’s Studies from Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia. 


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