Enobong Hannah Branch

Education and Interests

Curriculum Vitae

Enobong Hannah (Anna) Branch is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology. Her research focus lies primarily in the study of Blacks contemporarily and historically. Dr. Branch is interested in the heterogeneity of the black experience created by the intersection of gender, nationality, citizenship and economic class. Her book, Opportunity Denied: Limiting Black Women to Devalued Work, forthcoming at Rutgers University Press provides an overview of the historical evolution of Black women’s work and the social-economic structures that have located them in particular and devalued places in the U.S. labor market. Her interest in computer science/information technology arose due to the similarities with Black women’s historical exclusion from desirable jobs. A set of racist and deeply sexist assumptions existed as to why they were not competent to enter fields and their marginalization prevented them from challenging the stereotypes. Her current research investigates the ways in which race and gender influence the entry and persistence of women and minorities in information technology.

Areas of Expertise:

Race, racism, and inequality, intersectional theory (race, gender, and class), work and occupations, historical demography, and evaluation and applied research

Recent Publications:

Branch, Enobong Hannah. 2011. Opportunity Denied: Limiting Black Women to Devalued
Work. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.

Branch, Enobong Hannah and Caroline Hanley. 2011. "Regional Convergence in Low-Wage Work and Earnings," 1970-2000. Sociological Perspectives 54(4): 569-592.

Horton, Hayward Derrick, Enobong Hannah Branch, Lindsay Hixson and Edelmira Reynoso. 2008. "Redefining Whiteness: Who is White and Does it Matter?" in Racism in Post-
Race America: New Theories, New Directions. Chapel Hill, NC: Social Forces.

Branch, Enobong Hannah. 2007. "The Creation of Restricted Opportunity due to the Intersection of Race & Sex: Black Women in the Bottom Class." Race, Gender & Class
14(3-4): pp.247-264.