RIM Panels @ Various Conferences
2019 Cross Cultural Research Conference
December 8-11, 2019 | Puerto Rico
Race in the Marketplace – Special Session
• We're Only Human: The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Transactions with Artificially-Intelligent Agents
Vanessa Perry, Marcus Stewart, Tiffany White, Linxi Zhao, & Nils Olsen
• The Legitimacy of Transracialism: A Critical Discourse Analysis
Jess A. Vega-Centeno & Kevin Thomas
• Marketing for Faculty Diversity
Sonya Grier & Sonja Martin Poole
2019 Black Communities Conference
September 9-11, 2019 | Carolina Theatre, Durham NC
Race and Marketplaces: Crossing Critical Boundaries
Chair: A. Kwame Harrison
Presenters: Vanessa Perry, Lauren Rhue & David Crockett.
Connections between race and marketplaces are gaining currency, both as subjects of academic study and as concerns for practicing marketing professionals. From the fatal shooting of John Crawford III in Wal-Mart for holding a toy BB gun to extensive evidence showing discrimination in financial, health and outdoor recreation markets, “the marketplace” has emerged as a key site for investigating race-based inequalities and the consequences of anti-Black racism. At the same time, business professionals are recognizing the need to account for race and racism when pursuing target markets, advocating for consumers, and shaping public policy. This panel introduces the Race and the Marketplace (RIM) Network, a critical, multidisciplinary community of scholars working at the intersections of social science, marketing, critical race studies and scholar-activism. The panel highlights the interdisciplinary nature of RIM by showcasing the work of scholars from diverse fields (including sociology, marketing, information systems and analytics, and African American Studies) who study the impacts of race on marketplaces as well as how marketplace activities influence understandings of racial difference. Each panelist will introduce ongoing research they are engaged in, explaining how it connects with RIM and demonstrating different dimensions of how RIM scholars conceptualize “the marketplace.” The particular topics include racial discrimination in housing markets and crowd-based markets (e.g. ride-sharing and crowdfunding), traveling while Black, and the racial aesthetics of gentrification. Spanning from economic to symbolic analyses, together the panelists probe questions of vital importance to Black communities, and invites the audience to join in making these important linkages.
2019 Transformative Consumer Research Conference
May 19-21, 2019 | Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
Operationalizing Critical Race Theory in a Marketplace Context
Track Leaders: Sonya A. Grier, Geraldine Henderson & Sonja Martin Poole
Track Participants: Francesca Sobande, Kevin Thomas, Lez Trujillo Torres, Jess Vega-Centeno, Melinda Weekes-Laidlow, Lynn Addington & Akon Ekpo
This track aims to transform the way race is treated in marketplace research. Despite attempts to marginalize race in much of the public discourse and the scientific debunking of race as a legitimate biological concept, race still matters. Discussions of race in the marketplace, however, are often subsumed into broader discussions of ethnicity or multiculturalism, limiting our knowledge of the particular role of race.
Furthermore, while contemporary discourses on race and racism in other fields of study draw on Critical Race Theory (CRT) — a movement that recognizes that racism is engrained in the fabric and system of our global society — limited research on race in the marketplace has seen analogous engagement.
Building on the momentum developed at the inaugural 2017 RIM Forum, we aim with this track to build a more critical scholarship approach to RIM research by demonstrating the theoretical relevance and validity of CRT within the context of marketplace research.
2018 Southern Sociology Society Annual Meeting
April 4-7, 2018| New Orleans LA
Session 316. Race in the Marketplace
(Sponsored by the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Minorities)
Organizer & Presider: A. Kwame Harrison, Virginia Tech
• Diversity, Cultural Tourism, and the Spatialization of Nostalgia in Washington, D.C.
Brandi T. Summers, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Black Strategic Mothering, the Movement for Black Lives, and the "School Choice" Marketplace
Riché J. Barnes, Yale University
• Buying Black - How racial ideologies condition the consumption preferences and practices of African Americans
Cassi L. Pittman, Case Western Reserve University
• Do They Need It: Responding to Pressures to Lend to Family and Friends
Frederick F. Wherry, Princeton University;
Kristin S. Seefeldt, University of Michigan;
Anthony S. Alvarez, California State University at Fullerton
2017 Marketing & Public Policy Conference
June 1-3, 2017| Washington, D.C.
Session D2. Special Session - Race in the Marketplace
This panel served as a bridge session from the inaugural RIM Forum to the 2017 Marketing & Public Policy Conference. In the session, several RIM advisory board members discussed key areas related to race in the marketplace across disciplines and domains, highlighting public policy issues, and engaging the audience for a discussion on future research needs and approaches.
• Why RIM?
Sonya Grier, American University
• Why a Critical Approach?
Kevin Thomas, University of Texas
• Race and Gentrification
Naya Armendarez Jones, University of Texas
• Race and Popular Culture: What is this ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?
Anthony Kwame Harrison, Virginia Tech
• Race, Urban Food Environments & Health
Naa Oyo Kwate, Rutgers University
• Financial Citizenship
Frederick Wherry, Yale University
Kristin S. Seefeldt, University of Michigan;
Anthony S. Alvarez, California State University at Fullerton