FOCUS
Khadijah’s doctoral research is on place-based, community-led interventions to address Black health inequities in the United States. As a Black woman raised in Virginia and Georgia, Khadijah is particularly interested in the impact of racism and intersecting forms of oppression on Black health in the American South. Due to centuries of structural violence in the Southern U.S., Black Southerners currently experience some of the most drastic health disparities in the country. Yet despite the oppressive policies and practices plaguing the region, the Southern “Black Belt” has served as a geo-political hub of global liberatory movements and a space of resistance and healing. Khadijah would like to apply qualitative methods, critical praxes, and a Black queer feminist lens to study both the cultural assets that are health-promoting in the Black South, as well as the structural changes needed to protect the health of Black people in the South and across the diaspora.
MORE ABOUT KHADIJAH
Khadijah is a social scientist, non-profit leader, organizer, and health justice champion currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. Her positionality as a Black queer woman directly influences her understanding of self, society, and how she approaches health sciences research.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — FALL 2023
Moving towards community power in academic health – community research partnerships involving Black communities
The purpose of the proposed research project is to: 1) explore how racism shapes contemporary power relations in dominant forms of academic health-community research partnerships involving Black communities; and 2) explore how power can be redistributed in academic health-community research partnerships involving Black communities to advance community power and actualize racial health justice.
Through in-depth narrative interviews, counter-stories from Black people who have served as community partners on academic health research projects will be collected to amplify their lived experiences on academic research teams and visions for advancing the health of their communities through research.
