Dr. Emerald Christopher (she/her) is a professor, keynote speaker, and local government expert with over 19 years of experience in academia and government. Her research and advocacy focus on the socio-political position of women of color in the U.S., particularly examining their representation in popular culture and how these portrayals influence political institutions and policies. Dr. Christopher’s current research delves into gender-based violence, with a focus on how Black women experience unique forms of violence shaped by the intersection of racial and gender injustice. She earned her Ph.D. in Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, along with Master’s degrees in Education and Human Development and Women’s Studies from The George Washington University. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Women’s Studies from the University of Delaware.
Research Project: The Manifestations of Jane Crow: Gender-Based Violence and Black Women’s Experience
In the 21st century, gender-based violence (GBV) against Black women is a public health crisis. The racialized and gendered experiences of Black women are rarely examined as factors that contribute to how Black women experience GBV. This project connects the ways in which gendered dynamics of racial injustice and racial dynamics of gender injustice transform to create a unique form of GBV experienced by Black women – psychological violence that often leads to deadly violence. Some scholars and violence against women activists have argued the importance of offering culturally based frameworks to address GBV in the Black community (Bent-Goodley 2009). Yet, scholarship on GBV against Black women fails to examine specific forms of violence against Black women, specifically the linkages between psychological violence and femicide. According to the Violence Policy Center (VPC), fatal violence experienced by Black women has been overshadowed by the toll violence has taken on Black men. Black women are murdered by Black men at a rate nearly three times higher than white women (VPC 2020). As a result, scholarship on GBV against Black women does not produce effective strategies for eliminating violence in the Black community. Without adequate analysis of what contributes to psychological violence and its impact on Black women, we are ultimately left with an incomplete conceptualization of the impact it has on Black women. This project seeks to demonstrate and breadth and depth of GBV against Black women paying particular attention to psychological violence that contributes to femicide. Exploring the conditions that give rise to GBV against Black women is imperative to building culturally specific services suited to the needs of the community.