USC.edu

Ange-Marie Alfaro

Dean's Professor of Gender Studies and Professor of Political Science and Gender and Sexuality Studies
Email ahancock@usc.edu Office VKC 327 Office Phone (213) 740-6998

Research & Practice Areas

American Politics, Political Theory, Public Policy Race/Ethnic Politics, Gender Politics, Intersectionality

Center, Institute & Lab Affiliations

  • Center for Feminist Research, Faculty Affiliate
  • Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, Associate Director
  • Program for Environmental and Regional Equity, Faculty Affiliate
  • Shoah Foundation / Genocide Resistance Research Cluster, Faculty Affiliate

Biography

Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro is Dean’s Professor and Chair of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California and a globally recognized scholar of intersectionality theory, the world’s leading analytical framework for analyzing and resolving inequality. She has written numerous articles and three books on the  intersections of categories of difference like race, gender, class, sexuality and citizenship and their impact on policy: the award-winning The Politics of Disgust and the Public Identity of the “Welfare Queen,” (2004), Solidarity Politics for Millennials: A Guide to Ending the Oppression Olympics (2011) and Intersectionality: An Intellectual History (2016). She is hard at work on her fourth book, African American Political Thought: Contestation and Change, a “scope and vision” book that covers more than 250 years of African American political thought.

In 1993, under the mentorship of NBA Hall of Famer Tom “Satch” Sanders, Hancock Alfaro conducted the original survey research and designed the business model for the Women’s National Basketball Association. The only women’s professional basketball league to succeed in the United States, the WNBA began its 21st season in May 2017. Her recent collaborative work includes service on the Board of the Liberty Hill Foundation and work with both Hispanas Organized for Political Empowerment (HOPE) and the Los Angeles African American Women’s Public Policy Institute (LAAAWPPI). 

The applied forms of her research focus racial and gender equity at the local and regional levels; she currently directs the USC Center for Feminist Research, the USC Dornsife Center for Leadership by Women of Color, and USC-IIST, the USC Institute for Intersectionality & Social Transformation.  Her current work includes new research projects on asylum requests by survivors of domestic violence, empirical applications of intersectionality, and The Kamala Harris Project, a collective of scholars dedicated to tracking all aspects of the first woman of color vice president in U.S. history. 

Education

  • Ph.D. Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000
  • M.A. Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1997
  • B.A. Politics, New York University, 1991

  • Tenure Track Appointments

    • Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Southern California, 08/2008 –
    • Assistant Professor, African American Studies & Political Science, Yale University, 07/2003 – 06/2008
    • Assistant Professor, Political Science & Women’s Studies, Pennsylvania State University, 07/2002 – 06/2003
    • Assistant Professor, Dept. of Politics, University of San Francisco, 08/1999 – 06/2002

  • Research Keywords

    American Politics
    Political Theory
    Public Policy
    Race/Ethnic Politics
    Gender Politics
    Intersectionality

  • USC Funding

    • College 2020. Taking the Next Step: Enhancing Graduate Education & Scholarship on Immigrant Integration $300,000, 2011-2012
    • New Directions in Feminist Research Directorship. The Pursuit of Intersectional Solidarity $40,000, 2009-2010

  • Conference Presentations

    • “Black Community Organizing in the Obama Era: The Case of Los Angeles” , National Conference of Black Political ScientistsRoundtable/Panel, National Conference of Black Political Scientists, Las Vegas, NV, 2011-2012
    • “Intersectional Representation or Representing Intersectionality? Reshaping Empirical Analyses of Intersectionality” , International Political Science Association ConferenceTalk/Oral Presentation, IPSA Research Group Women & Social Movements, Invited, Madrid, Spain, 2011-2012
    • “Large-N Intersectionality: Beyond the Parsimony vs. Complexity Debate” , Western Political Science Association ConferenceRoundtable/Panel, WPSA, Portland, OR, 2011-2012
    • “Panel on Teaching Intersectionality” , APSA Short Course on Women & PoliticsRoundtable/Panel, APSA Women’s Caucus, Invited, Seattle, WA, 2011-2012
    • “”Black Politics After Obama: Results from the Collaborative Multiracial Post-election Survey” ” , Western Political Science AssociationRoundtable/Panel, Western Political Science Association, Vancouver, BC, 2009-2010
    • “Intersectionality Research Embracing Causal Complexity, Building Deep Political Solidarity” , UCLA Critical Race Studies SymposiumTalk/Oral Presentation, UCLA Critical Race Studies Program, UCLA Law School , 2009-2010
    • “Intersectionality to the Rescue” , UCLA Critical Race Studies SymposiumRoundtable/Panel, UCLA Critical Race Studies Program, Invited, UCLA Law School, 2009-2010
    • “APSA Theme Panel: Barack Obama and the Election of 2008” , American Political Science AssociationRoundtable/Panel, Boston, MA, 2008-2009
    • “Intersectionality and the Oppression Olympics” , APSA Short CourseKeynote Lecture, APSA Women and Politics Section, Invited, Boston, MA, 2008-2009
    • “The Methods Café (Intersectionality Research)” , American Political Science AssociationRoundtable/Panel, Interpretive Methods Section of APSA, Invited, Boston, MA, 2008-2009
    • “Intersectionality, the Oppression Olympics, and Black Women Academics” , Black Women in the AcademyRoundtable/Panel, Rutgers University, Invited, New Brunswick NJ, 03/04/2009 – 03/06/2009
    • “Gender & Race in the 2008 Election” , Masha Dexter LectureRoundtable/Panel, Brown University Taubman Center for Public Policy, Invited, Providence, RI, 10/19/2008 – 10/20/2008
    • Research Project on African American Philanthropy in Los Angeles for Liberty Hill Foundation

  • Book

    • Hancock, A. (2011). Solidarity Politics for Millennials: A Guide to Ending the Oppression Olympics. New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan.
    • Hancock, A. (2004). The Politics of Disgust and the Public Identity of the “Welfare Queen”. pp. 210. New York, NY: New York University Press.

    Book Chapter

    • Hancock, A. Intersectionality: Intellectual Property or Meme?.
    • Hancock, A. Intersectional Representation or Representing Intersectionality? Reshaping Empirical Analyses of Intersectionality.
    • Hancock, A. “An Intersectional Analysis of Masculinity in the Political Thought of Frederick Douglass.”. A Political Companion to Frederick Douglass
    • Hancock, A. (2008). DuBois, Race and Diversity. pp. 86-101. London: Cambridge Companion to W.E.B. DuBois / Cambridge University Press.
    • Hancock, A. (2005). Overcoming Willful Blindness: Building Egalitarian Multicultural Women’s Coalitions. Greenwood Press: Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge: African Women in Imperialist Discourses.

    Book Review

    • Hancock, A. (2009). Dangerous Frames. How Ideas About Race and Gender Shape Public Opinion. International Journal of Public Opinion.
    • Hancock, A. (2008). Intersectionality, Multiple Messages and Complex Causality: Commentary on Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins. 1 pp. 14-31. Philadelphia, PA: Studies in Gender and Sexuality / Routledge. Vol. 9 (1),

    Journal Article

    • Hancock, A. (2012). Empirical Intersectionality: Two Approaches. Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine Law Review.
    • Hancock, A. (2012). Trayvon Martin, Intersectionality and the Politics of Disgust. 15 Theory and Event.
    • Hancock, A. “Intersectionality, Empirical Research, and Social Justice”. Cambridge, MA: DuBois Review: Social Science Research on Race.
    • Hancock, A. (2009). An Untraditional Intersectional Analysis of the 2008 Election. 1 pp. 96-105. New York, NY: Politics and Gender / Cambridge University Press. Vol. 5 (1),
    • Hancock, A. (2008). Intersectionality as a Normative and Empirical Research Paradigm. pp. 248-254. New York, NY: Politics and Gender / Cambridge University Press.
    • Hancock, A. (2007). When Multiplication Doesn’t Equal Quick Addition: Examining Intersectionality as a Research Paradigm. 1 pp. 63-79. New York, NY: Perspectives on Politics / Cambridge University Press. Vol. 5 (1),
    • Unah, I., Hancock, A. (2006). Supreme Court Decision-Making, Subissue Salience and the Attitudinal Model. 3 pp. 295-320. New York, NY: Law and Policy / Blackwell Publishing. Vol. 28 (3),
    • Hancock, A. (2005). W.E.B. DuBois: Intellectual Forefather of Intersectionality?. 3-4 pp. 74-84. New York, NY: SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society / Taylor and Francis. Vol. 7 (3-4),
    • Hancock, A. (2003). Contemporary Welfare Reform and the Public Identity of the ‘Welfare Queen’. 1 pp. 31-59. New Orleans, LA: Race, Class & Gender. Vol. 10 (1),

    Other

    • (2011). The Politics of Intersectionality. 5 New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillan.
    • (2011). Mini-Symposium: Intersectionality Research: New Directions for Scholarship in Political Science and its Applied Use Across Fields. 1 pp. 185-243. New York, NY: Political Research Quarterly / Sage Publications. Vol. 64 (1),
    • Hancock, A. (2009). Righting Feminism: Conservative Women and American Politics & Political Women and American Democracy. 4 New York, NY: Perspectives on Politics / Cambridge University Press. Vol. 7 (4),
    • (2008). Intersectionality Symposium. Thousand Oaks, CA: Political Research Quarterly / SAGE.
    • (2005). W.E.B. DuBois and the “Scientific” Study of Race. 3-4 pp. 72-139. New York, NY: SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society / Taylor and Francis. Vol. 7 (3-4),
    • (2003). UBUNTU: Humane Solutions and Success Stories from Africa. 3 pp. 251-316; 357-368. San Francisco, CA: Peace Review / Taylor and Francis. Vol. 15 (3),
    • Best Book, National Conference of Black Political Scientists, 2006-2007
    • Best First Book, APSA Organized Section on Race, Ethnicity & Politics , 2006-2007

  • Office Hours

      Mondays and Wednesdays : 12:30 – 1:45 PM, Appointments are required. Sign up sheets posted weekly.

  • Administrative Appointments

    • Associate Director, 08/16/2010-08/15/2013
    • New Directions in Feminist Research Seminar Director, 2009-2010

    Committees

    • USC Government and Civic Engagement Faculty Advisory Committee, 2010-CONT
    • University Strategic Planning Committee, 2011-2012

    Media, Alumni, and Community Relations

    • Local Media Expert: President Obama,
    • Local Media Expert: Women & Politics,
    • Panel Presentation to African American & Latino Leaders for Tomorrow, CA State Legislature,

    Other Service to the University

    • Meeting Facilitation: Provost’s Leadership Retreat, Spring Fall
    • Research Talk, Give to USC Campaign Kick-Off, Spring Fall
    • Meeting Facilitation: Strategic Planning Committee Retreat, Spring Spri

  • Committees

    • “USC Government and Civic Engagement Faculty Advisory Committee”, 2010-CONT
    • “University Strategic Planning Committee”, 2011-2012

    Conferences Organized

    • Lead Convener, PRIEC (Politics of Race, Immigration & Ethnicity Consortium)”,
    • Co-Chair, APSA Short Course on Intersectionality”,

    Editorships and Editorial Boards

    • Lead Editor, The Politics of Intersectionality”, 09/01/2010 –
    • Co-Editor, Politics, Groups & Identities”, 03/01/2011 – 03/01/2016

    Professional Offices

    • Executive Council Member, Western Political Science Association”, 2009-2010

    Media, Alumni, and Community Relations

    • Community Funding Board, Liberty Hill Foundation,