By Aida Yezalaleul ’26, political science major
Chaya Crowder is an assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. She chose to earn a certificate in African American Studies and Sexuality alongside her PhD in Politics at Princeton because she felt that traditionally the field of political science doesn’t take into account the ways in which identities—particularly the experiences of communities of color as well as women—factor into the study of politics. She, however, does not shy away from this intersectionality. In fact her dissertation, ”Intersectional Solidarity and Public Opinion: The Impact of a Political Consciousness of Race, Gender and Sexuality on Political Behavior,” speaks to a term she has coined as intersectionality solidarity.
Intersectional solidarity does not necessarily require that someone belongs to a certain identity group but instead it is an awareness of and distress over people who are often disadvantaged by multiple sources of oppression. She developed this theory to procure a better understanding of how people come to care about political issues that affect Black women in particular; having this awareness does in fact have a positive relationship when it comes to caring about the issues these communities face. She will be publishing a book by Oxford University Prep based on her dissertation called, ”Intersectional Solidarity: Black Women and the Politics of Group Consciousness.” In her book project she is very candid about the fact that she can’t answer every question. She compares her research to her husband's music in the sense that it will never be done. In the world of politics there are always new things happening and new political events that will reshape how we think about things.
She also shines a light on communities that have been rendered virtually invisible in the field of politics by focusing on political institutions and elites that include people of color as well as women. Aside from her lived experience, she has used empirical study to prove that issues which affect communities of color and women take place on a systemic level and can be used as a tool for social justice movements. As a Black woman within the discipline of political science who studies Black women, Crowder has found that her research can be wrongfully referred to as “me search.” The underlying assumption in this narrative being that when people who aren't visibly marked by their race study groups it is very objective, when in actuality no one is truly approaching a topic from a completely objective standpoint. Because of this she has been forced to work harder to prove that what she studies is necessary and important.
She speaks to the importance of mentorship in her research experience. The only Black political science professor she had during undergrad was able to put her in touch with a Black woman who was running strategic research at a nonprofit in Brooklyn. This led her to her work as a social justice research fellow at the Center for Popular Democracy where she contributed to getting Zara stores in New York City unionized in just one year. A great demonstration of how she was able to use research and surveys, tools that she teaches in her class Empirical Approaches, to affect change and do social justice work.
In grad school one of her mentors said to her: “You have to think about what having it all means to you.” That's in part why she decided to work at LMU. Having it all to her means living near her family and working at a place that embraces and celebrates her publishing and research on race and gender in journals that focus on racial minorities and women. LMU has fostered an environment in which she can publish in lesser known journals that focus on particular communities that are typically overlooked, not just in the discipline of political science, but in our society today as a whole.