Hello, and welcome to the Summer 2013 edition of the Member Profiles section of the DWC newsletter!

In this edition, we introduce you to Robert Jenkot, Associate Professor of Sociology at Coastal Carolina University and Aimee Wodda, PhD Student and Instructor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

We choose people to profile using a random number generator (really!), but if you have suggestions for DWC members or significant contributors to the field of women and crime that you would like to see profiled, please contact Venezia Michalsen at michalsenv@mail.montclair.edu or Alana Van Gundy at yoderal@muohio.edu. We would enjoy hearing from you!

Until next edition,
Venezia and Alana
Coastal Carolina University
University of Illinois at Chicago


ROBERT JENKOT

How did you become interested in the field of women and/or gender and crime?

I have always been interested in crime, why people do what they do & how we react to crimes. When I decided to return for graduate school, I knew that criminology would be key for me. I became interested in gender and crime during my first graduate course in deviant behavior with Dr. Diane Taub. In her class I realized that the bulk of the studies of deviant behavior focused on “deviants” which was easily read as males—I think it was the last section of readings that was actually titled “Feminist”. Then I took a course is the sociology of gender with Dr. Kathryn Ward and my eyes were really opened. In her course the inequality along gender lines was made more than readily apparent. When I asked her why all sociologists were not feminists, as inclusive studies were clearly more thorough and could potentially provide more predictive results, she replied that the more inclusive the study the harder it was to complete (additional variables to account for, etc.). With the pressure to publish or perish, it was somewhat “easier” to focus on the behavior of one group (males), as there was significantly more literature to draw from and rely upon to fill gaps in the literature. So, I was hooked on trying to be inclusive in my own work. Later, coursework with Dr. Jen Dunn and Dr. Michelle Miller reinforced my views and interest in women and crime.

After those classes, I actively worked to be inclusive in my own work. I wanted to hear the voices of non-white-heterosexual-males. This led to my dissertation on women involved with methamphetamine use, sales, distribution, and production. To this day I actively work to hear (and promote) the voices and experiences of all subjects of my studies, not just one group at the expense of another. Additionally, I think it is important to focus studies on members of those groups who are often marginalized in order to gain a fuller understanding of the phenomena at hand—as opposed to only one group’s experiences.

How do you define yourself as a scholar/activist/educator?

I work to bring my research into the classroom. What did I find in a study that connects to a particular lecture topic? How can I provide a real-life illustration of a phenomena to the class discussion? Recently I have been working on illicit drug use and underage drinking among college students, the findings from these studies appear to be interesting to my students—or at least they say that they help.

I try to be a feminist scholar and educator. I’ll let you decide if have made the grade to be considered a feminist. Through my scholarship and teaching, I hope that I can open people’s eyes to the inequity that exists between and among sexes, sexuality, races, ethnicities, abilities, and other divisions that hamper our shared progress. I have had my successes at this, students telling me that I have made them re-think positions they once held/etc. However, clearly I have not changed every student, nor colleague, or member of the community—but those successes help carry me on.

As a professor, I am able to use my position to speak to various groups in the community (I regularly speak to staff at homeless shelters & drug rehabilitation agencies on issues of sexuality, gendered needs for social services/etc.). Also, when I can (or when I think it might be useful) I send out emails to people to give them a “pat on the back” for their good work. I hope that my few words of encouragement can help them keep up the good fight. There is not enough of that out there. I also try to stand up for those that are unable to, or are not heard in a variety of social debates. Specifically, I work to stand up for LGBTQ issues the most. So that is a kind of activism, but maybe in a different way.

What are your current projects or interests?

My main line of research focuses on illicit drug using behavior, and that is ongoing. However, like all of us, I have multiple projects going on at any time. Some of my current projects focus on guns on college campuses and email scams. Right now I am very proud to have initiated an interdisciplinary anti-bullying working group on my campus. Through this working group, I am connecting scholars from various fields and interested groups to uncover and deal with bullying at various levels. I am encouraging junior scholars to get their hands in to assist them in reaching promotion and tenure, as well as students so that they can gain some research experience. My personal areas of interest in bullying is bullying against the LGBTQ community, and persons with disabilities. I am also getting more involved with the possible connections between bullying & dating violence and sexual assault. I think that many of the same processes that exist in a bullying relationship (power, control, dominance/etc.) can translate to our understanding of why men bully others (women and men) into sex and how these “pressures” can blur the line between consensual sex and sexual assault (see Raphael’s latest book, Rape is Rape, good stuff there).

I am also involved in working to make my teaching better. My goal is a more student centered, active teaching classroom. However, I have a way to go there and it is evolving each semester.

Who is your favorite person (or animal!) to spend time with, and what are your favorite things to do when you are with them?

My wife Jenni, and my sons are my favorite people, although one of my sons is out of college and off on his own so I don’t see him too often. While that sounds corny, it is true. I like my cat too—but he is ornery and usually likes to be left alone.

We like watching movies, and my youngest son and I build computers and play video games. When the weather is nice we spend some time at the beach.

How do you wind down after a stressful day?

A nap. Some claim the invention of the wheel was humanity’s greatest gift to civilization, I would counter that it was the pillow.

What obstacles do you feel you have overcome to be where you are today?

Going to graduate school later in life, married, and with one child wasn’t an easy road. I felt that I was the “old man” of the cohort, and I also felt that I was always trying to catch up. After I earned my bachelors degree, I was in the business world for several years and re-entering school was a shock to me. I’ll never forget one student who would often bring up comments like, “Didn’t Hagel say…” or “As Nietzsche stated…” and scare the heck out of me because that was not one of the assigned readings! Did the other students know this stuff? Why don’t I know this? As many of you probably experienced, dealing with child care and other parental responsibilities regularly took priority over classwork leading to many late nights and generally being tired-out.

What would you like to be remembered for?

Doing something good.

What is one of your lifelong goals?

Doing something good that is worth being remembered.

Is there a website where we can send people for more information about you?

Just email me! rjenkot@coastal.edu I am pretty open about what I have done and am doing, I’d be happy to help anyone if I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AIMEE WODDA

How did you become interested in the field of women and/or gender and crime?

A number of years ago I was managing a nightclub in Chicago, and we had a Monday night drag show.  I noticed that performers were often called onto stage by the use of an inmate number—it seemed tongue-in-cheek, but when I asked the announcer about it, he explained that many of the performers (mostly people of color who came from structurally challenged areas of the city) tended to get caught up in the criminal justice system for petty crimes, and some had been arrested for their participation in the sex economy due to the difficulty of attaining a legitimate job. When I entered graduate school, I recalled those performers and their circumstances and decided to devote myself to exploring the complicated intersections between gender, race, class, sexuality, (dis)ability and crime.

How do you define yourself as a scholar/activist/educator?

I am deeply committed to social justice activism.  I think that bringing up sensitive topics in the classroom is a great way to have conversations in a safe space.  Because I view myself as a scholar who is committed to feminist/queer/trans* perspectives and methodologies, I see no reason to leave these standpoints out of the classroom.  I try to make my syllabus as comprehensive as possible by including topics that might not ordinarily be included in discussion, such as LGBTQ issues, exploration of (dis)ability, and attention to gender (including masculinities). I try to bring these topics to life for my students as creatively as possible by bringing in guest speakers, poetry, documentaries, and feature films in order to deliver a deeper and more nuanced presentation of topics under discussion.

What are your current projects or interests?

Although I am currently preparing for preliminary examinations, with my dissertation proposal soon to follow, I am also engaged with several exciting projects and collaborations.

One project explores media representation of violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people. I am exploring the media’s use of direct and indirect victim-blaming language, investigating the public’s response to online news stories (via the comments section), examining whether cases of violence against trans* and gender nonconforming persons are contextualized as an individual problem or fall within the broader social issue of gender based violence.

I am also revising a collaborative piece that imagines how performance ethnography can be used as a teaching tool. My collaborator and I feel that performance pedagogy can help instructors and students destabilize, challenge, and deeply explore topics in the classroom. Trying to position ourselves away from overreliance on the traditional lecture model of performance which privileges voices and neutral bodies in positions of dominance and authority, we model a different way of knowing through the creation of visual and aural pieces intended to encourage students to become self-reliant and resourceful knowledge gatherers.

Who is your favorite person (or animal!) to spend time with, and what are your favorite things to do when you are with them?

Hanging out with my husband Jim always makes me feel less stressed.  There have been numerous times that he’s saved me from myself by insisting that we simply take a walk.  We mostly spend time together at a coffee shop working, decompressing on the couch, and taking weekend getaways when we can. Our cat is a great example that life is not all work.  I’m trying to learn more about relaxing from her, because she’s definitely gotten that life skill nailed.

How do you wind down after a stressful day?

Although almost everyone I know in grad school laments the fact that they had to give up reading for pleasure, I can’t do it.  I can always find a few minutes to escape into another world. Lately, I have been reading my way through Swedish authors such as: Henning Mankell, Håkan Nesser, and Åsa Larsson.  I’ve also been returning to old favorites like Jorge Luis Borges, Haruki Murakami, and Vladimir Nabokov.  Also, lots of hot tea. I also try to meditate and do Bikram yoga.

What obstacles do you feel you have overcome to be where you are today?

It took me some time to figure out where I fit in the world. The tremendous possibilities of this discipline make me glad I took my time to determine my life path.

What would you like to be remembered for?

I am a proponent of bringing a queer criminology to life, and I would like to be considered as someone who helped make that happen.  I would also like to be thought of as someone who not only made a difference in my students’ lives, but also helped them understand that they, too, can make a difference.

What is one of your lifelong goals?

One of my lifelong goals is to spend some time living outside the U.S. I love to travel, and it would be amazing to spend time getting to know another culture.

Is there a website where we can send people for more information about you?

http://uic.academia.edu/AimeeWodda

What are one or two of your publications that you feel best represent your work?

Bhat, M. and Wodda, A. (2013). “Examining legal responses to sexual violence: A review of court systems in India” in Crime and Justice in India. Unnithan, P.N. ed. New York: Sage Publications, Inc.

LINK: http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book240708?siteId=sage-us&prodTypes=any&q=Crime+and+Justice+in+India&fs=1

Wodda, A. & Kelly, B. (2012). REVISION: Composing an aesthetic of performance pedagogy.

LINK: https://vimeo.com/60915658