University of Kansas Professor to Edit New Journal

Jennifer Hamer, professor of American studies at the University of Kansas, was named editor of the new journal Women, Gender, and Families of Color. The journal will be published by the University of Illinois Press in cooperation with the University of Kansas. The new journal will replace the now defunct journal, Black Women, Gender, and Families.

“Dramatically changing demographics demand that scholars center the past and present gender and familial experiences of blacks, Latinos, indigenous and Asian-Americans,” said Professor Hamer. “Many within these populations persistently maintain institutions and lead cultural and social change. Yet, racialized women and families in the U.S. and abroad have historically known the brunt of austerity measures, crumbling infrastructures, rising costs of education, wealth inequality, and persistent gender, sexuality and class inequities. As an African-American mother, sister, daughter and partner, I am especially aware of the meaning these circumstances have on the health and development of children, the capacity of parents to provide for their families and the ability of workers to maintain meaningful employment.”

Professor Hamer came to the University of Kansas in 2011. Previously, she was associate dean of graduate studies and the former chair of the department of African American studies at the University of Illinois. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio. She earned a master’s degree at Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Texas. Her most recent book is, Abandoned in the Heartland:  Work, Family, and Living in East St. Louis (University of California Press, 2011). She also authored What it Means to Be Daddy: Fatherhood for Black Men Living Away from Their Children (Columbia University Press, 2001).

The first issue of Women, Gender, and Families of Color will be published in the Spring of 2013.