JOY JAMES Professor of Africana Studies, holds a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Fordham University and a postdoctorate degree in religious ethics from the Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University. Her work focuses on political and feminist theory, critical race theory, and incarceration.
Her publications include: Resisting State Violence: Gender, Race, and Radicalism in US Culture (Minnesota, 1996); Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals (Routledge, 1997); Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics (St. Martin's, 1999). Co-edited works include Spirit, Space and Survival: African American Women in (White) Academe (Routledge, 1993), which received the 1994 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book on Human Rights Award; The Black Feminist Reader (Blackwell, 2000); and Warfare in the "Household" of the American Archipelago (forthcoming).
Her edited collections on radical politics and incarceration include: States of Confinement: Policing, Detention and Prisons (St. Martin's, 2000, revised edition 2002); Imprisoned Intellectuals: America's Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003); and, The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings (SUNY Press, 2005).
James has received research grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (NY Public Library) and the Rockefeller Bellagio Center (Italy). She works with various human rights organizations and is the founder of The Harriet Tubman Literary Circle.
Her courses at Brown include "Black Feminist Thought"; "The Black Panthers"; "Women in the Civil Rights Movement"; "Gender, the State, and Violence"; and "Race, Culture and Incarceration."