Nikki Jeanette Jones (born May 29, 1975) is an American sociologist. She is an associate professor of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Nikki Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 29, 1975 |
| Academic background | |
| Education | PhD, Sociology and Criminology, 2004, University of Pennsylvania |
| Thesis | Girls fight: negotiating conflict and violence in distressed inner-city neighborhoods (2004) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley University of California, Santa Barbara |
| Website | socprofjones |
Early life and education edit
Jones was born on May 29, 1975.[1] She earned her master's degree and PhD in Sociology and Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania, becoming the first person to earn a Ph.D. in criminology from any top ten research university in the United States.[2]
Career edit
Upon earning her PhD, Jones accepted an assistant professor position in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara for the 2004–05 academic year.[3] In this role, she earned a William T. Grant Award for Early Career Scholars to fund her research project titled Pathways to Freedom: How Young People Create a Life After Incarceration.[4] A few years later, Jones published her first book titled Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner City Violence, which won the New Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology.[5] The book was an ethnographic study of violence within the inner-city of Philadelphia amongst adolescent girls. She focused on how the girls oscillate between protecting themselves against daily threats of physical violence and conforming to White middle-class gender norms.[6][7]
The following year, Jones published her second book, which was edited by criminologist Meda Chesney-Lind, titled Fighting for Girls: New Perspectives on Gender and Violence. Similar to her first book, Jones focused on adolescent girls and the moral panic caused by media representations surrounding them as becoming increasingly violent.[8] Her research found that a spike in arrest numbers for adolescent girls were the cause of this panic, not an actual increase in violence. She placed the blame of the increase on zero-tolerance policies in schools and mandatory arrest policies.[9] As a result of her research, Jones was appointed Chair of the American Sociological Association's Race, Gender and Class Section from 2012 until 2013.[10] During this time, she also co-led a research project with Geoff Raymond called Identifying Good Strangers: A Micro-Interactional Approach, funded by a $592,699 three-year grant.[11]
Jones left the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2013 to join the department of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.[10] Following the Shooting of Philando Castile, Jones collaborated with Raymond on a three-year project to help police develop better communication methods.[12] She also established the Justice Interaction Lab during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement with funding from the William T. Grant Foundation.[13] Her third book, The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption, reflected on her recent research and focused on the victimization of young black men by urban gun violence.[14] It went on to receive on the Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Title for 2018[15] and the Michael J. Hindelang Award from the American Society of Criminology.[16] In 2020, Jones received the W.E.B. DuBois Award from the Western Society of Criminology for her work in raising awareness for racial and ethical issues in criminology and criminal justice.[17]
Selected publication edit
The following is a list of selected publications:[18]
- Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner City Violence (2009)
- Fighting for Girls: New Perspectives on Gender and Violence (2010)
- The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption (2018)
References edit
- ^ "Jones, Nikki, 1975-". id.loc.gov. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ "Nikki Jones Master of Science in Criminology". crim.sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ "UCSB Greets New Faculty Members". ia.ucsb.edu. November 1, 2004. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ "William T. Grant Foundation Announces 2007 Grant Scholars". philanthropynewsdigest.org. April 24, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Minniear, Mackensie (November 18, 2010). "Professor To Gain Award". Daily Nexus. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Hale, Lori Ann (2016). "Reviewed Work(s): Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner-City Violence by Nikki Jones" (PDF). Jean Ait Belkhir, Race, Gender & Class Journal. 23 (3–4): 205–207. JSTOR 26529215. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Oeur, Freeden (2010). "Reviewed Work(s): Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner-City Violence by Nikki Jones". Berkeley Journal of Sociology. 54: 124–127. JSTOR 40999939. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ LaCrosse Levesque, Helen (2011). "Review of Meda Chesney-Lind & Nikki Jones (Eds.): Fighting for Girls: New Perspectives on Gender and Violence". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 40: 502–505. doi:10.1007/s10964-010-9618-2. S2CID 145465568. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Estrada, Andrea (November 15, 2010). "Research by UCSB Sociologist Finds Increase in Arrests, Not Levels of Aggression and Violence Among Adolescent Girls". news.ucsb.edu. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ a b "Qualitative Methods Working Group". dlab.berkeley.edu. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ "Research Grants Awarded". soc.ucsb.edu. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Medina, Jim (June 22, 2017). "A Warmer Shade of Blue". news.ucsb.edu. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Natividad, Ivan (June 4, 2020). "George Floyd's death is a reminder that Black voices are still ignored". news.berkeley.edu. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Miller, Reuben Jonathan (April 16, 2020). "Book review: Nikki Jones, The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption". Theoretical Criminology. 24 (2): 412–414. doi:10.1177/1362480620914085. S2CID 218811524. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ "UC Press Titles Awarded CHOICE's Outstanding Academic Title for 2018". ucpress.edu. January 18, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
- ^ Natividad, Ivan (December 1, 2020). "Berkeley professor Nikki Jones wins national award for criminology research". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- ^ "Berkeley's Nikki Jones Honored by the Western Society of Criminology". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. November 27, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- ^ "Au:Nikki Jones". worldcat.org. Retrieved September 10, 2020.