The American Ingredient Eric McDaniel

Part 2 of Prof. McDaniel's conversation with Prof. Irizarry.

Any discussion of race is a discussion about experiences. While there are some experiences that tie racial groups together, their experiences are not monolithic. The failure to understand the complexity of the racial experience has led to false conclusions and contributed to bad policy. In this episode I speak with Prof. Yasmiyn Irizarry about how the social sciences have overlooked the complexity of the racial experience and what can be done.

Any discussion of race is a discussion about experiences. While there are some experiences that tie racial groups together, their experiences are not monolithic. The failure to understand the complexity of the racial experience has led to false conclusions and contributed to bad policy. In this episode I speak with Prof. Yasmiyn Irizarry about how the social sciences have overlooked the complexity of the racial experience and what can be done.

Recently television pundit Tucker Carlson suggested that the influx of Latinos into the U.S. is an attempt on the part of the Mexican government to influence American elections. This view of the rise of Latino politics may represent a fringe view, but it also represents many of our blind spots in relation to understanding Latino Politics. In this episode, I speak with Prof. Matt Barreto who discusses his Latino Decisions polling firm and how his work on Latino politics has illuminated the intricacies of the Latino political experience and helped advance how political scientists understand political behavior.

A growing number of social scientists have focused on historical events to test theories with historical data to see if there is something missing from the historical narrative. In this episode, I interview Prof. Trevon Logan, an economist who uses economic theories and methods to shed light on the historical experience of Blacks. His work updates and corrects many of the beliefs we had about Black experience and highlights the various ways Black Americans have expressed empowerment culturally and politically.

This episode presents the work of Prof. Anthony Brown (University of Texas), who examines how the narrative of dysfunctional Black families has influenced education policy. As a historian of the social sciences, Prof. Brown demonstrates how both Black and White scholars in the early 20th century advanced the image of the absent Black father. Further, he highlights that the image of the Black male as being both simple and beastly has dictated policy since the first slaves were brought to America. Even though these assumptions about Black families and Black men have been proven false, they continue to shape how we approach racial disparities in a variety of policy realms. Prof. Brown’s work demonstrates how certain narratives can be powerful, long lasting, and harmful.

This episode presents the work of Prof. Christopher Parker (University of Washington), who has examined the role of race in explaining the rise of the Tea Party and the election of President Trump. Prof. Parker highlights how these groups have been able to tap into deep seated feelings about race to mobilize support and attempt to drastically change American policy. He further highlights the difficulties the social sciences have had in understanding the centrality of race in American politics.