Barbara Harris Combs
Biographic Data
| ID | 87114 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Barbara Harris Combs |
| GIVEN NAMES | Barbara Harris |
| FAMILY NAME | Combs |
| SIGNATURE | COMBS B H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Clark Atlanta University |
| ORCID | 0009-0000-6631-4078 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 342 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1978 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Push ‘Em Back, Push ‘Em Back . . . Way Back
Finding Black Joy in a World Where We Are Not Safe
In this essay, I reflect on my lived experience as a Black, female scholar doing critical scholarship on racism in the vein of Critical Race Theory (CRT). I am particularly attentive to the ways that the current backlash against those who use critical perspectives that center the experience of marginalized persons to illuminate continuing racial oppression in society is meant to silence and frighten scholars through challenging our very livelihoo…
Bodies out of Place: Theorizing Anti-blackness in U.S. Society
"In Combs's own words, "Racism is dynamic, and because of its changing and adaptable nature, we need new theories to help elucidate it. Therefore, it is extreme error to try to understand contemporary acts of violence against black bodies by solely employing historical methods and theories." This book introduces a theoretical framework called Bodies out of Place (BOP) useful to explain continuing acts of violence against black bodies. The book ex…
The boundaries of confusion: Gerrymandering and racial disparities in state House and congressional district line congruity
Objectives We introduce a new, stable, and reliable measure of gerrymandering based on the number of unnecessary overlapping state House districts within U.S. House districts. We then test for the presence of racial disparities by considering the relative number of unnecessary overlapping districts in majority‐white and majority–minority areas. Methods We utilize a data set encompassing maps in place in the 2012–2022 period from all 35 states wit…
How Ingrained Racism Became Invisible
I interrogate the killing of Ahmaud Arbery using critical race legal scholar Cheryl Harris’ view of whiteness as property. I offer a counter-narrative telling of events to explain how ideological principles rooted in the concept of whiteness as property continues to undergird the agreed upon practices in neighborhoods like Satilla Shores – where Arbery was pursued, shot, and killed by white residents of the development. In doing so, I explore how…
A Jim Crow State of Mind: The Racialization of Space in the McKinney, Texas Pool Party Incident
Violence against Black bodies is not new, but contemporary discussions of these matters often focus on police or other state-sanctioned violence against male Black bodies. While this is important, it ignores the perils all Black bodies face as they navigate White spaces. In this article, I utilize an analytical framework, which highlights intersectional bodies in order to expose the extent to which a Jim Crow-like mentality about where people bel…
Disconnected in the Mecca? Black social media usage and levels of engagement in Atlanta
Atlanta’s reputation as a “Black Mecca” is partly due to African Americans’ continued attraction to Atlanta neighborhoods. However, given the widespread usage of social media, we examine whether Bl
Race and poverty matters: Black and Latino linked fate, neighborhood effects, and political participation
We examine if and how race and contextual poverty, among other neighborhood effects, impact Black and Latino/a rates of political participation. To do so, we expand upon questions at the intersection of Cohen and Dawson’s [1993. “Neighborhood Poverty and African American Politics.” The American Political Science Review 87: 286–302.] highly-cited study of neighborhood poverty’s impact upon African American political participation and Dawson’s [199…
No Rest for the Weary: The Weight of Race, Gender, and Place inside and outside a Southern Classroom
In this article, I reflect on my lived experience as an African American woman teaching in the racialized and gendered context of a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the Deep South. I use the context of a southern campus in the Deep South to provide insight into the ways place, race, and gender continue to shape experiences of people of color and in so doing highlight the fallacy that the United States is a colorblind or post-racial societ…
People Like Us: Dominance-oriented Racial Affiliation Preferences and the White Greek System on a Southern U.S. Campus
Studying in-group affiliation preferences can be a valuable tool for understanding race relations in the contemporary United States. We draw on theories of social dominance and social identity to analyze racial attitudes, as measured by the Social Distance Scale, for a subset of black and white students at the University of Mississippi. While both black and white students expressed strong in-group preference, this preference was stronger for whit…
The Symbolic Lynching of James Meredith: A Visual Analysis and Collective Counter Narrative to Racial Domination
The hanging of a noose on the University of Mississippi's statue of civil rights pioneer James Meredith in February 2014 was framed by university administrators as the act of a few deviant white students, but our analysis suggests otherwise. A historical review shows the university's long-standing resistance to meaningful change and a continuing lack of transparency following racist incidents. Visual analysis shows that the university remains sat…
Black (and Brown) Bodies Out of Place: Towards a Theoretical Understanding of Systematic Voter Suppression in the United States
The construct of place has largely been under-utilized, and, therefore, under-theorized, in social science discussions regarding systematic racial oppression, but we need to consider physical space or symbolic (i.e. social/political) place in our ideas about both racial identity formation and racial relations. During the Jim Crow era, blacks were expected to 'stay in their place', and that place was always subservient to the position of whites. D…
From Selma to Montgomery: The Long March to Freedom
On March 7, 1965, a peaceful voting rights demonstration in Selma, Alabama, was met with an unprovoked attack of shocking violence that riveted the attention of the nation. In the days and weeks following "Bloody Sunday," the demonstrators would not be deterred, and thousands of others joined their cause, culminating in the successful march from Selma to Montgomery. The protest marches led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,…
Newspaper Coverage of Causes of Death
How safe is safe enough? A psychometric study of attitudes towards technological risks and benefits
How safe is safe enough? A psychometric study of attitudes towards technological risks and benefits
Race and poverty matters: Black and Latino linked fate, neighborhood effects, and political participation
We examine if and how race and contextual poverty, among other neighborhood effects, impact Black and Latino/a rates of political participation. To do so, we expand upon questions at the intersection of Cohen and Dawson’s [1993. “Neighborhood Poverty and African American Politics.” The American Political Science Review 87: 286–302.] highly-cited study of neighborhood poverty’s impact upon African American political participation and Dawson’s [199…
Black (and Brown) Bodies Out of Place: Towards a Theoretical Understanding of Systematic Voter Suppression in the United States
The construct of place has largely been under-utilized, and, therefore, under-theorized, in social science discussions regarding systematic racial oppression, but we need to consider physical space or symbolic (i.e. social/political) place in our ideas about both racial identity formation and racial relations. During the Jim Crow era, blacks were expected to 'stay in their place', and that place was always subservient to the position of whites. D…
The Symbolic Lynching of James Meredith: A Visual Analysis and Collective Counter Narrative to Racial Domination
The hanging of a noose on the University of Mississippi's statue of civil rights pioneer James Meredith in February 2014 was framed by university administrators as the act of a few deviant white students, but our analysis suggests otherwise. A historical review shows the university's long-standing resistance to meaningful change and a continuing lack of transparency following racist incidents. Visual analysis shows that the university remains sat…
Finding Black Joy in a World Where We Are Not Safe
In this essay, I reflect on my lived experience as a Black, female scholar doing critical scholarship on racism in the vein of Critical Race Theory (CRT). I am particularly attentive to the ways that the current backlash against those who use critical perspectives that center the experience of marginalized persons to illuminate continuing racial oppression in society is meant to silence and frighten scholars through challenging our very livelihoo…
No Rest for the Weary: The Weight of Race, Gender, and Place inside and outside a Southern Classroom
In this article, I reflect on my lived experience as an African American woman teaching in the racialized and gendered context of a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the Deep South. I use the context of a southern campus in the Deep South to provide insight into the ways place, race, and gender continue to shape experiences of people of color and in so doing highlight the fallacy that the United States is a colorblind or post-racial societ…
A Jim Crow State of Mind: The Racialization of Space in the McKinney, Texas Pool Party Incident
Violence against Black bodies is not new, but contemporary discussions of these matters often focus on police or other state-sanctioned violence against male Black bodies. While this is important, it ignores the perils all Black bodies face as they navigate White spaces. In this article, I utilize an analytical framework, which highlights intersectional bodies in order to expose the extent to which a Jim Crow-like mentality about where people bel…
People Like Us: Dominance-oriented Racial Affiliation Preferences and the White Greek System on a Southern U.S. Campus
Studying in-group affiliation preferences can be a valuable tool for understanding race relations in the contemporary United States. We draw on theories of social dominance and social identity to analyze racial attitudes, as measured by the Social Distance Scale, for a subset of black and white students at the University of Mississippi. While both black and white students expressed strong in-group preference, this preference was stronger for whit…
The boundaries of confusion: Gerrymandering and racial disparities in state House and congressional district line congruity
Objectives We introduce a new, stable, and reliable measure of gerrymandering based on the number of unnecessary overlapping state House districts within U.S. House districts. We then test for the presence of racial disparities by considering the relative number of unnecessary overlapping districts in majority‐white and majority–minority areas. Methods We utilize a data set encompassing maps in place in the 2012–2022 period from all 35 states wit…
Disconnected in the Mecca? Black social media usage and levels of engagement in Atlanta
Atlanta’s reputation as a “Black Mecca” is partly due to African Americans’ continued attraction to Atlanta neighborhoods. However, given the widespread usage of social media, we examine whether Bl
How safe is safe enough? A psychometric study of attitudes towards technological risks and benefits
Newspaper Coverage of Causes of Death
From Selma to Montgomery: The Long March to Freedom
On March 7, 1965, a peaceful voting rights demonstration in Selma, Alabama, was met with an unprovoked attack of shocking violence that riveted the attention of the nation. In the days and weeks following "Bloody Sunday," the demonstrators would not be deterred, and thousands of others joined their cause, culminating in the successful march from Selma to Montgomery. The protest marches led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,…
People Like Us: Dominance-oriented Racial Affiliation Preferences and the White Greek System on a Southern U.S. Campus
Studying in-group affiliation preferences can be a valuable tool for understanding race relations in the contemporary United States. We draw on theories of social dominance and social identity to analyze racial attitudes, as measured by the Social Distance Scale, for a subset of black and white students at the University of Mississippi. While both black and white students expressed strong in-group preference, this preference was stronger for whit…
The Symbolic Lynching of James Meredith: A Visual Analysis and Collective Counter Narrative to Racial Domination
The hanging of a noose on the University of Mississippi's statue of civil rights pioneer James Meredith in February 2014 was framed by university administrators as the act of a few deviant white students, but our analysis suggests otherwise. A historical review shows the university's long-standing resistance to meaningful change and a continuing lack of transparency following racist incidents. Visual analysis shows that the university remains sat…
Black (and Brown) Bodies Out of Place: Towards a Theoretical Understanding of Systematic Voter Suppression in the United States
The construct of place has largely been under-utilized, and, therefore, under-theorized, in social science discussions regarding systematic racial oppression, but we need to consider physical space or symbolic (i.e. social/political) place in our ideas about both racial identity formation and racial relations. During the Jim Crow era, blacks were expected to 'stay in their place', and that place was always subservient to the position of whites. D…
No Rest for the Weary: The Weight of Race, Gender, and Place inside and outside a Southern Classroom
In this article, I reflect on my lived experience as an African American woman teaching in the racialized and gendered context of a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the Deep South. I use the context of a southern campus in the Deep South to provide insight into the ways place, race, and gender continue to shape experiences of people of color and in so doing highlight the fallacy that the United States is a colorblind or post-racial societ…
Race and poverty matters: Black and Latino linked fate, neighborhood effects, and political participation
We examine if and how race and contextual poverty, among other neighborhood effects, impact Black and Latino/a rates of political participation. To do so, we expand upon questions at the intersection of Cohen and Dawson’s [1993. “Neighborhood Poverty and African American Politics.” The American Political Science Review 87: 286–302.] highly-cited study of neighborhood poverty’s impact upon African American political participation and Dawson’s [199…
Disconnected in the Mecca? Black social media usage and levels of engagement in Atlanta
Atlanta’s reputation as a “Black Mecca” is partly due to African Americans’ continued attraction to Atlanta neighborhoods. However, given the widespread usage of social media, we examine whether Bl
How Ingrained Racism Became Invisible
I interrogate the killing of Ahmaud Arbery using critical race legal scholar Cheryl Harris’ view of whiteness as property. I offer a counter-narrative telling of events to explain how ideological principles rooted in the concept of whiteness as property continues to undergird the agreed upon practices in neighborhoods like Satilla Shores – where Arbery was pursued, shot, and killed by white residents of the development. In doing so, I explore how…
A Jim Crow State of Mind: The Racialization of Space in the McKinney, Texas Pool Party Incident
Violence against Black bodies is not new, but contemporary discussions of these matters often focus on police or other state-sanctioned violence against male Black bodies. While this is important, it ignores the perils all Black bodies face as they navigate White spaces. In this article, I utilize an analytical framework, which highlights intersectional bodies in order to expose the extent to which a Jim Crow-like mentality about where people bel…
Bodies out of Place: Theorizing Anti-blackness in U.S. Society
"In Combs's own words, "Racism is dynamic, and because of its changing and adaptable nature, we need new theories to help elucidate it. Therefore, it is extreme error to try to understand contemporary acts of violence against black bodies by solely employing historical methods and theories." This book introduces a theoretical framework called Bodies out of Place (BOP) useful to explain continuing acts of violence against black bodies. The book ex…
The boundaries of confusion: Gerrymandering and racial disparities in state House and congressional district line congruity
Objectives We introduce a new, stable, and reliable measure of gerrymandering based on the number of unnecessary overlapping state House districts within U.S. House districts. We then test for the presence of racial disparities by considering the relative number of unnecessary overlapping districts in majority‐white and majority–minority areas. Methods We utilize a data set encompassing maps in place in the 2012–2022 period from all 35 states wit…
Finding Black Joy in a World Where We Are Not Safe
In this essay, I reflect on my lived experience as a Black, female scholar doing critical scholarship on racism in the vein of Critical Race Theory (CRT). I am particularly attentive to the ways that the current backlash against those who use critical perspectives that center the experience of marginalized persons to illuminate continuing racial oppression in society is meant to silence and frighten scholars through challenging our very livelihoo…
Push ‘Em Back, Push ‘Em Back . . . Way Back
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Critical Race Theory in Education (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Race, History, and American Society (6 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Criminology (4 works)