DEPARTMENT of PSYCHOLOGY
2019-2020 COLLOQUIUM SERIES
presents
Lisa Bowleg, PhD
Professor of Applied Social Psychology, Department of Psychology, The George Washington University; Director of
the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core of the DC-Center for AIDS Research; and the Founding Director of the Intersectionality Training Institute at The George Washington University
“The Phrase “Women and Minorities” and Other Blunders: Applying Intersectionality to Social and Behavioral Science Research to Challenge Assumptions and Injustice”
Historically rooted in Black feminist activism, intersectionality is a critical theoretical framework that posits that access to power and privilege are differently structured, and vary based on people’s multiple and intersecting sociodemographic positions (e.g., race, gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic status). Intersectionality has made impressive inroads within the social and behavioral sciences (SBS) in recent years. It enhances SBS research by challenging “single-axis” assumptions connoted by the phrase “women and minorities,” and centers the experiences of people from multiple marginalized groups. Dr. Bowleg’s talk will: (1) provide an overview of intersectionality, its history, and core tenets; (2) describe how intersectionality challenges conventional assumptions about groups of people and social issues; (3) demonstrate how inter-sectionality has been applied to her NIH-funded health research with Black men; and (4) discuss why critical perspectives such as intersectionality are indispensable for SBS researchers committed to social justice work.
Bio: Lisa Bowleg, Ph.D. is Professor of Applied Social Psychology in the Department of Psychology at The George Washington University (GW), Director of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core of the DC Center for AIDS Research, and the Founding Director of the Intersectionality Training Institute at GW. She is a leading scholar of the application of intersectionality to social and behavioral science research, as well as research focused on HIV prevention and sexuality in Black communities. Her mixed methods research focuses on: (1) the effects of social-structural context, masculinity, and resilience on Black men’s sexual HIV risk and protective behaviors; and (2) intersectionality, stress, and resilience among Black lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. She has served as a principal investigator of four NIH-funded R01 studies, including a NIDA-funded R01 to examine intersectional stress, substance use, and co-occurring negative health outcomes among Black men and a NIMH-funded R21 to develop measures of multilevel intersectional stigma for Black gay, bisexual and other MSM in Washington, DC. Her findings have been published in journals such as Health Psychology, Archives of Sexual Behavior, and the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). In 2014, Dr. Bowleg was awarded a Distinguished Leadership Award from the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Psychology and AIDS in 2014.
Friday, January 17, 2020
3:30 p.m.
Gilmer 190
Coffee/cookies at 3:15pm.
Reception will be held after the talk.