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The Politics of Skin Color

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The Politics of Skin Color The Politics of Skin Color by Nicole Debra-Jean Yadon A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science) in the University of Michigan 2020 Doctoral Committee: Professor Ted Brader, Co-Chair Professor Vincent Hutchings, Co-Chair Professor Donald Kinder Assistant Professor Mara Cecilia Ostfeld Professor Alford Young Jr. Nicole Debra-Jean Yadon [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5172-0142 © Nicole D. Yadon 2020 All rights reserved To my parents and my husband for their endless support and encouragement ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As a first-generation college student at the University of Michigan, I started my undergraduate career with a very narrow view of my potential career options. I thought maybe I’d pursue the medical field in some fashion. But as I spent time taking classes that were required for such a career, I didn’t enjoy the courses at all. I realized that my primary interest in medicine was related to a broader interest in understanding people and groups. I wanted to know more about people—how they think, operate, and make decisions, how stereotypes are formed and what impact they have on one’s views. During my sophomore year, I decided that I would try something different. Instead of thinking about course requirements or preparing for the MCAT, I would pick courses that spoke to my interests in people. Fortunately for me, I ended up in Prof. Hanes Walton’s course on Political Mobilization. Not only was Hanes an incredible orator, the course material on political views and activism sparked my interest. His passion, engagement, and impressive storytelling immediately made me interested in taking more classes like his in political science. Once again, good luck and good timing was on my side. The following semester, I enrolled in a Public Opinion course with Prof. Vincent Hutchings. I couldn’t get enough of the course material. I went to office hours frequently to discuss the readings and course assignments with Vince. Through the coursework, I realized that the observations I made about people and groups in my young adulthood were things that some scholars spent a great deal of time measuring and studying in an effort to make sense of the world. Near the end of the semester, Vince asked if I had ever considered becoming a professor and doing research because he saw something in me that suggested I’d be good at it. The truth was I had no idea how one became a professor, nor had I ever even considered it to iii be a possibility. As would happen again countless times in the ensuing decade, Vince patiently explained about PhD programs, academic jobs, and suggested I write a senior honors thesis to try my hand at research to see if it was something I would truly like. I was lucky enough to write an honors thesis with both Hanes and Vince serving on my thesis committee, and I enjoyed the entire process. Fast forward several years and I am now finishing my PhD. It is no understatement to say that the opportunities to work with Hanes and Vince changed my life course. I wish that Hanes were still here for me to share this grand reflection and thank him once again for everything he contributed to me, as well as to the discipline at large through his research, teaching, and tireless service. I would love to hear his distinctive laugh and get one final fist bump. I am also forever indebted to Vince for the countless hours he allowed me to spend in his office navigating every phase of graduate study and professionalization in the discipline. I will never forget his patience, care, dedication, critical eye, and unending support. I have grown to cherish our weekly meetings—a time to discuss research progress, recent happenings in the department, and a space to talk honestly about how things are going. There is no way I could ever repay Vince for his investment in me as a person and as a scholar through many formative years in academia. The best I can do is continue to try to pay forward his investment in me by supporting the next generation of young scholars. I have also been incredibly lucky to meet a number of other faculty members who have been very influential to my thinking and development as a graduate student. As fate would have it, I was able to take one of my first substantive classes as a graduate student with Ted Brader. As a more reserved student, I expected that Ted would likely not take much notice of me. To my surprise, he invited me to his office to discuss the class and my work, and ultimately asked me to work with him on a project related to immigration news coverage. From that point forward, our relationship has evolved quite easily given Ted and my shared passion for sarcasm, biting wit, and enjoying a good story. As my dissertation co-chair, his ability to pay both very close attention to detail and iv simultaneously think about big picture implications has been of tremendous benefit. I am very grateful that Ted allowed me to join his inner circle because I have learned much from him and enjoyed all of our precious time together. I was similarly fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know and work with Don Kinder. Having read Don’s seminal work on racial resentment as an undergraduate, I had an image in my mind of Don as a very stoic academic. This image was quickly updated after taking Public Opinion with Don early in my graduate career. I immediately enjoyed Don’s quirky personality and impressively dry sense of humor. I admire his ability to joke lightheartedly in one breath while giving sharp substantive critiques of my work in the next. My work has been pushed forward a great deal thanks to Don’s critical eye and investment in me. I have learned much from him about the process of writing as well as conducting careful research. I feel very fortunate to have gotten to know and work with Don throughout my graduate career. At some point after my prospectus began taking shape, I met a post-doc at the Ford School named Mara Ostfeld. I recall hearing about her work from Vince and decided to cold email her to discuss some potentially shared interests in studying skin tone measurement. To my surprise, she wanted to meet. To my even greater surprise, that conversation blossomed into a huge face-to-face data collection effort and a close personal connection. Mara is a delightful advisor, mentor, friend, and even “academic spouse” (as she calls me). I am so grateful be tied together with her on this academic journey because she is one of the best people I know. She has been a constant cheerleader, constructive critic, and excellent springboard for ideas. I would not have made it to this finish line without her. Another transformational part of my committee was Al Young. I am so grateful that he shepherded me through the process of working with qualitative data for the first time. He devoted time to me at every stage of the process—from research design to data collection to transcription and analysis. Both his encouragement and advice were essential towards improving the quality of my v research. Although it remains far from perfect, I am incredibly grateful for his time and energy over the past several years. Apart from my committee members, I have been lucky enough to build a broader support system within the department and the discipline. Although she is not on my committee, I am indebted to Nancy Burns. She took me under her wing as a research assistant early on in my graduate career and provided me with a number of exciting opportunities. Nancy’s brilliance, creativity, thoughtfulness, grace, and strength continue to inspire me. I also am incredibly thankful to Nick Valentino for his feedback on the project at various points through the years despite the fact that we never formally had an opportunity to be in a classroom together. Rob Mickey and Lisa Disch have also both been excellent sources of feedback and support in their respective capacity as DGS. Andy Markovits has also been a wonderful cheerleader and source of support dating back to my college years. Similarly, I am greatly appreciative of the support I received and networks I built during my year as a graduate student at Ohio State. I will be forever grateful for having the chance to get to know and work with Corrine McConnaughy, Irfan Nooruddin, Ismail White, Alison Craig, Nyron Crawford, Chryl Laird, Nicky Mack, Will Massengill, Yalidy Matos, Lauren Ratliff, and Julian Wamble. More broadly, I am grateful to stand on the shoulders of giants. Some of these giants came out of the University of Michigan, including the founders of survey research and the American National Election Study. Others did the difficult but vital work of attempting to more centrally position the study of race and politics in the discipline. I am especially indebted to those who gave voice to groups that were often voiceless. Scholars like Anna Julia Cooper, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and countless others did the hard but important work of putting a spotlight on racial injustices. Within political science, so too did scholars like Hanes Walton, Jewel Prestage, and the founders of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS). I attempt to build from their legacies vi and efforts to highlight ongoing inequities in society while lifting up the voices of those who are often unfairly and unjustly silenced.
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