Jennifer Darrah-Okike
Biographic Data
| ID | 301201 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jennifer Darrah-Okike |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jennifer |
| FAMILY NAME | Darrah-Okike |
| SIGNATURE | DARRAH-OKIKE J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5843-3648 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 59 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
I Don’t Fit the Stereotypes”: Housing Choice Voucher Recipients and the Navigation of a Voucher Identity
I Thought This Was a Ghost Neighborhood: How Youth Respond to Neighborhood Change
Relatively little scholarship centers the experiences of Black youth to understand how young people interact with their neighborhood contexts, evaluate the differences between neighborhoods, and adapt to new neighborhoods. Using interviews with 120 Black youth whose families moved from high-poverty central city neighborhoods into lower-poverty, more racially diverse suburban neighborhoods with the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program, we find that …
I Just Had to Go With It Once I Got There”: Inequality, Housing, and School Re-optimization
Residential segregation by race and class is a durable form of inequality. Yet, we know less about how the unequal sorting of families into neighborhoods and schools occurs. Drawing on interviews with a diverse sample of 156 families, we examine whether residential and school decisions are connected and how they differ by household income. We find that, for higher-income families, residential decisions maintain and build on existing educational a…
You Have to Prove that You’re Homeless”: Vulnerability and Gatekeeping in Public Housing Prioritization Policies
Building on theories of symbolic boundaries, this article explores the role of the state as gatekeeper to social programs, such as public housing. Using interviews with 75 randomly sampled households living in public housing in Honolulu County, we link contemporary research on gatekeeping with decades of work on how housing policy drives residential outcomes for marginalized groups. In particular, we consider the largely unexamined case of “local…
The Suppressive Impacts of Voter Identification Requirements
Political observers argue that the United States is in a contemporary era of voter suppression. We study one mechanism that may limit voter participation, the requirement to show identification documents at the polls-voter ID policy. Voting rights advocates have raised concerns about disparate impacts of voter restrictions on racial minorities. However, past studies have reported conflicting results. Analyzing nationally representative data from …
Contesting the right to the city under scarcity: The case of Micronesians in Hawaiʻi’s public housing
This paper focuses on how residents of public housing in Hawaiʻi view residents from Micronesia, a geographic region of Oceania. Drawing on in-depth interviews with an ethnically diverse sample, we show how public housing residents stigmatize Micronesian community members. Some respondents described Micronesians as unfairly gaining access to a highly limited supply of affordable housing, potentially displacing Native Hawaiians and other “more des…
Theorizing race in Hawai‘i: Centering place, indigeneity, and settler colonialism
Scholars have argued that the sociology of race in the United States should be theorized within a settler‐colonial framework, while others have advanced a turn toward empire. Theories of settler colonialism are only recently gaining traction within sociology, however, and insights from Indigenous studies remain unfamiliar to many sociologists of race and ethnicity. Contemporary scholarship on Hawai‘i addresses settler colonialism and indigeneity …
Because the World Consists of Everybody”: Understanding Parents’ Preferences for Neighborhood Diversity
Previous research, primarily using survey data, highlights preferences about neighborhood racial composition as a potential contributor to residential segregation. However, we know little about how individuals, especially parents, understand neighborhood racial composition. We examine this question using in–depth interview data from a racially diverse sample of 156 parents of young children in two metropolitan areas. Prior scholarship on neighbor…
Disrupting the Growth Machine: Evidence from Hawai‘i
For much of its modern history, growth machine dynamics in Hawai‘i prevailed on a regional scale. Strikingly, recent events suggest that the hegemony of Hawai‘i’s growth machine has been disrupted. This article offers an in-depth case study of a major luxury development project on the island of Hawai‘i where development interests were thwarted despite the support of growth interests and local government officials. I show how local protesters made…
The decision you make today will affect many generations to come: Environmental assessment law and Indigenous resistance to urbanization
In the early 2000s, the rural and predominantly Native Hawaiian Moloka'i community faced another episode in a decades-long struggle against the commodification of sacred lands in the context of settler colonialism. In this paper I analyze a decisive moment in the land struggle: a public hearing over a legally mandated environmental impact assessment. Environmental assessments promise to improve environmental outcomes via public participation, but…
Tangible evidence, trust and power: Public perceptions of community environmental health studies
Tangible evidence, trust and power: Public perceptions of community environmental health studies
Because the World Consists of Everybody”: Understanding Parents’ Preferences for Neighborhood Diversity
Previous research, primarily using survey data, highlights preferences about neighborhood racial composition as a potential contributor to residential segregation. However, we know little about how individuals, especially parents, understand neighborhood racial composition. We examine this question using in–depth interview data from a racially diverse sample of 156 parents of young children in two metropolitan areas. Prior scholarship on neighbor…
Disrupting the Growth Machine: Evidence from Hawai‘i
For much of its modern history, growth machine dynamics in Hawai‘i prevailed on a regional scale. Strikingly, recent events suggest that the hegemony of Hawai‘i’s growth machine has been disrupted. This article offers an in-depth case study of a major luxury development project on the island of Hawai‘i where development interests were thwarted despite the support of growth interests and local government officials. I show how local protesters made…
The Suppressive Impacts of Voter Identification Requirements
Political observers argue that the United States is in a contemporary era of voter suppression. We study one mechanism that may limit voter participation, the requirement to show identification documents at the polls-voter ID policy. Voting rights advocates have raised concerns about disparate impacts of voter restrictions on racial minorities. However, past studies have reported conflicting results. Analyzing nationally representative data from …
Theorizing race in Hawai‘i: Centering place, indigeneity, and settler colonialism
Scholars have argued that the sociology of race in the United States should be theorized within a settler‐colonial framework, while others have advanced a turn toward empire. Theories of settler colonialism are only recently gaining traction within sociology, however, and insights from Indigenous studies remain unfamiliar to many sociologists of race and ethnicity. Contemporary scholarship on Hawai‘i addresses settler colonialism and indigeneity …
You Have to Prove that You’re Homeless”: Vulnerability and Gatekeeping in Public Housing Prioritization Policies
Building on theories of symbolic boundaries, this article explores the role of the state as gatekeeper to social programs, such as public housing. Using interviews with 75 randomly sampled households living in public housing in Honolulu County, we link contemporary research on gatekeeping with decades of work on how housing policy drives residential outcomes for marginalized groups. In particular, we consider the largely unexamined case of “local…
I Just Had to Go With It Once I Got There”: Inequality, Housing, and School Re-optimization
Residential segregation by race and class is a durable form of inequality. Yet, we know less about how the unequal sorting of families into neighborhoods and schools occurs. Drawing on interviews with a diverse sample of 156 families, we examine whether residential and school decisions are connected and how they differ by household income. We find that, for higher-income families, residential decisions maintain and build on existing educational a…
Contesting the right to the city under scarcity: The case of Micronesians in Hawaiʻi’s public housing
This paper focuses on how residents of public housing in Hawaiʻi view residents from Micronesia, a geographic region of Oceania. Drawing on in-depth interviews with an ethnically diverse sample, we show how public housing residents stigmatize Micronesian community members. Some respondents described Micronesians as unfairly gaining access to a highly limited supply of affordable housing, potentially displacing Native Hawaiians and other “more des…
The decision you make today will affect many generations to come: Environmental assessment law and Indigenous resistance to urbanization
In the early 2000s, the rural and predominantly Native Hawaiian Moloka'i community faced another episode in a decades-long struggle against the commodification of sacred lands in the context of settler colonialism. In this paper I analyze a decisive moment in the land struggle: a public hearing over a legally mandated environmental impact assessment. Environmental assessments promise to improve environmental outcomes via public participation, but…
I Thought This Was a Ghost Neighborhood: How Youth Respond to Neighborhood Change
Relatively little scholarship centers the experiences of Black youth to understand how young people interact with their neighborhood contexts, evaluate the differences between neighborhoods, and adapt to new neighborhoods. Using interviews with 120 Black youth whose families moved from high-poverty central city neighborhoods into lower-poverty, more racially diverse suburban neighborhoods with the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program, we find that …
Tangible evidence, trust and power: Public perceptions of community environmental health studies
Because the World Consists of Everybody”: Understanding Parents’ Preferences for Neighborhood Diversity
Previous research, primarily using survey data, highlights preferences about neighborhood racial composition as a potential contributor to residential segregation. However, we know little about how individuals, especially parents, understand neighborhood racial composition. We examine this question using in–depth interview data from a racially diverse sample of 156 parents of young children in two metropolitan areas. Prior scholarship on neighbor…
Disrupting the Growth Machine: Evidence from Hawai‘i
For much of its modern history, growth machine dynamics in Hawai‘i prevailed on a regional scale. Strikingly, recent events suggest that the hegemony of Hawai‘i’s growth machine has been disrupted. This article offers an in-depth case study of a major luxury development project on the island of Hawai‘i where development interests were thwarted despite the support of growth interests and local government officials. I show how local protesters made…
The decision you make today will affect many generations to come: Environmental assessment law and Indigenous resistance to urbanization
In the early 2000s, the rural and predominantly Native Hawaiian Moloka'i community faced another episode in a decades-long struggle against the commodification of sacred lands in the context of settler colonialism. In this paper I analyze a decisive moment in the land struggle: a public hearing over a legally mandated environmental impact assessment. Environmental assessments promise to improve environmental outcomes via public participation, but…
Contesting the right to the city under scarcity: The case of Micronesians in Hawaiʻi’s public housing
This paper focuses on how residents of public housing in Hawaiʻi view residents from Micronesia, a geographic region of Oceania. Drawing on in-depth interviews with an ethnically diverse sample, we show how public housing residents stigmatize Micronesian community members. Some respondents described Micronesians as unfairly gaining access to a highly limited supply of affordable housing, potentially displacing Native Hawaiians and other “more des…
Theorizing race in Hawai‘i: Centering place, indigeneity, and settler colonialism
Scholars have argued that the sociology of race in the United States should be theorized within a settler‐colonial framework, while others have advanced a turn toward empire. Theories of settler colonialism are only recently gaining traction within sociology, however, and insights from Indigenous studies remain unfamiliar to many sociologists of race and ethnicity. Contemporary scholarship on Hawai‘i addresses settler colonialism and indigeneity …
The Suppressive Impacts of Voter Identification Requirements
Political observers argue that the United States is in a contemporary era of voter suppression. We study one mechanism that may limit voter participation, the requirement to show identification documents at the polls-voter ID policy. Voting rights advocates have raised concerns about disparate impacts of voter restrictions on racial minorities. However, past studies have reported conflicting results. Analyzing nationally representative data from …
You Have to Prove that You’re Homeless”: Vulnerability and Gatekeeping in Public Housing Prioritization Policies
Building on theories of symbolic boundaries, this article explores the role of the state as gatekeeper to social programs, such as public housing. Using interviews with 75 randomly sampled households living in public housing in Honolulu County, we link contemporary research on gatekeeping with decades of work on how housing policy drives residential outcomes for marginalized groups. In particular, we consider the largely unexamined case of “local…
I Just Had to Go With It Once I Got There”: Inequality, Housing, and School Re-optimization
Residential segregation by race and class is a durable form of inequality. Yet, we know less about how the unequal sorting of families into neighborhoods and schools occurs. Drawing on interviews with a diverse sample of 156 families, we examine whether residential and school decisions are connected and how they differ by household income. We find that, for higher-income families, residential decisions maintain and build on existing educational a…
I Don’t Fit the Stereotypes”: Housing Choice Voucher Recipients and the Navigation of a Voucher Identity
I Thought This Was a Ghost Neighborhood: How Youth Respond to Neighborhood Change
Relatively little scholarship centers the experiences of Black youth to understand how young people interact with their neighborhood contexts, evaluate the differences between neighborhoods, and adapt to new neighborhoods. Using interviews with 120 Black youth whose families moved from high-poverty central city neighborhoods into lower-poverty, more racially diverse suburban neighborhoods with the Baltimore Housing Mobility Program, we find that …
Sociology (11 works) · Political science (9 works) · Economics (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies (5 works) · Criminology (3 works) · Economic growth (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works)