Blog
What I learned while studying Flint’s Municipal Takeover, Pt. 2
My research found that despite politicians’ claims to the contrary, municipal takeovers are in fact political, and have significant political consequences at the local level. By taking an in-depth, policy-focused look at the municipal takeovers in Flint, I found that the state’s intervention not only suspended the authority of local elected officials in the short-term, but reshaped the local political landscape for the long term.
What I learned while studying Flint’s Municipal Takeover, Pt. 1
In the summer of 2015, months before the city of Flint made national, rather international, headlines for the water crisis, I began my fieldwork in Flint. I was there to conduct research on the state’s takeover of Flint, under the now infamous “PA 4”. I wanted to understand the political impact of the takeover. At the time, I was a PhD candidate at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey studying public policy and administration with a focus on community development and urban politics.
A Day Without a Woman: International Women’s Day
Today is International Women’s Day. It is a day dedicate to celebrate the successes and achievement of women and gender non-conforming people. It is a day dedicated to action. (It also happens to be a day with a long history, with roots in the 1908 women’s march in NYC and official designation as International Women’s Day by the UN in 1975).
Blogging and Community Engagement
I am one of those academics. You know, the kind that labels themselves with buzzwords like: a scholar-activist or publicly engaged scholar. These are common terms used to differentiate traditional academics from the more applied, participatory academics. Both of these identities–scholar-activist and public engaged scholar–emphasize the relationship that the scholar has with the broader public.