Field:
    American Politics; Race, Ethnicity & Politics

Dissertation Title:
    Racial Discourse in the Post Civil Rights Era: The Debate Over Access to Higher Education

Committee:
    Frank Gilliam (Co-Chair), Mark Sawyer (Co-Chair), David Sears, and Vilma Ortiz

Date of Completion:
    Spring 2008

Contact Information:
    Tamura Howard
    UCLA Political Science Department
    4289 Bunche Hall
    Los Angeles, California 90095-1472
    Phone: 310-825-4331
    Fax: 310-825-0778

Curriculum Vitae:
    View PDF Version

Dissertation Summary:
    Chapter Summaries
    No other issue has divided American politics along racial lines as the debate over equality and civil rights. This project seeks to understand how the debate over access to higher education has been framed in such a way that conservatives’ arguments resemble closely those made during the Civil Rights movement. The main question addressed in this project is how the efforts of two different social movements, although using similar language and frames, culminated in diametrically opposed results. This project uses the framing approach to examine this question and maintains that social movement actors engaged in collective action and were able to strategically create shared understandings of the world aimed toward mobilizing support. I argue that political opportunity and cultural beliefs when examined alone do not explain the mobilization of supporters to action. Collective Action is however dependent on political opportunity and the frames used must align with widely shared cultural beliefs in order to resonate. It is important to the study of collective action to take into consideration the interaction of all three ideational levels: the strategic frames employed that need to resonate with the larger cultural beliefs and the utilization of political opportunity. There are several studies that focus on the ability of one social movement to reframe the language of a previous movement to create new shared understandings however this project, in examining the debate over access to higher education, goes beyond the focus of the specific language of the actors and also takes into consideration the influence of political opportunities and the specific cultural context unique to the movement in order to examine exactly how these reframes come about, what sources are used, what tactics are employed, and how they are deemed credible and resonate with the public.

    There are several similarities to both the success of the Civil Rights movement and the subsequent successful efforts of conservatives to curtail the gains won during that time. Firstly, both social movements framed their grievances in such a way that they were able to elicit predictable responses from the opposition that were antithetical to widely held social beliefs weakening the oppositions credibility. Secondly, both were latent with religious sub tones that triggered powerful symbolic reactions from the public, allowing their frames to be effective and influential but also non-threatening. Both social movements sought out and utilized the media for sympathetic coverage of a “victimized” people that produced an increasingly outraged American reaction. And lastly, both ideological approaches were influenced by the political opportunity of support from strong economic institutions allowing them to win over other possible ideological approaches.

Research Interests:
    My research interests center mostly on the intersection of race and politics in American society. I have approached and studied this area of research from several directions: Racial attitudes impact on public policy decisions, the role of the political system in the oppression and empowerment of racial minorities, race consciousness and racial identity, critical race theory and the examination of race, racism and power, historical and cotemporary groups’ demands for incorporation and civil rights, and the function of mass media in racial and ethnic politics.

Teaching Interests:
    I have taught courses that have examined Public Policy, Public Opinion and Political Behavior, Race and Ethnicity in American Politics, Politics and Media, Inequality and Civil Rights in American politics and Critical Race Theory. I am also interested and prepared to teach Introduction to American Politics, African American Politics, Latino Politics and Voting Behavior.