Jennifer Darrah
Assistant Professor Sociology, University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa
Jennifer Darrah is an urban and community sociologist with interests in race, ethnicity, identity, and inequality. Her work is motivated by an appreciation for how place—land, neighborhood, community, or home—grounds community, culture, well-being, opportunity, and empowerment. She cares about the politics and inequalities that shape places and afford access to quality homes and communities. Jennifer pays attention to how racism, colonialism, and ethnic inequality influence urban processes, and to the resistances against these structures.
Academic Background
Her research lies at the intersections of urban sociology, the study of race/ethnicity, and politics. In Hawaiʻi, she has done research related to local and Indigenous peoples’ resistance to high-end luxury housing developments, and more recently she's studied homelessness and affordable housing. In other metropolitan areas, Jennifer has studied how access to safe and high-quality neighborhoods makes a difference in peoples’ lives. Finally, she researches the household choices and perceptions behind racial and economic residential segregation.
Her sociological interests flow from my upbringing on the island of Oʻahu. Before joining UH, she was a post-doctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University where she received training in cutting-edge qualitative approaches to the study of neighborhoods and poverty. Jennifer also serves as co-director of the Hawai‘i Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN), which supports community and academic partnerships and dialogue. Jennifer received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University and Masters in Sociology from Harvard University.