Biography
Erica Chito Childs joined the Sociology Department as an Assistant Professor in September 2005. She received her BA in Sociology and African American Studies at San Jose State University and received her MA and PhD in Sociology from Fordham University.
Her research interests focus on issues of race, gender and sexuality in relationships, families, communities and media/popular culture. For the past five years she has studied black-white couples, and the attitudes and responses of black and white families and communities to interracial relationships. Her book, Navigating Interracial Borders: Black-White Couples and Their Social Worlds was published in July 2005. Other recent publications include a related article in the August 2005 issue of Gender & Society., "Looking Behind the Stereotypes of the 'Angry Black Woman,'" which critiques the way black women's voices have been overlooked in the discourse on interracial relationships Currently she is working on her second book Fade to Black and White, which explores the images and meanings attached to interracial sexuality in media and popular culture. Beyond this, she is also working on a number of other qualitative research projects including an ethnography of racial and ethnic divisions in neighboring communities in Rhode Island.
Professor Chito Childs teaches courses on families, race and ethnic relations and qualitative research methods. Any students who are interested in the issues that she teaches or researches are invited to contact her about the possibilities of doing an independent study or working as a research assistant.
Publications
