Academic Bio

Alex J. Moffett-Bateau (she/they) holds a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago and their academic research and writing focus on extra-systemic and subversive politics. She also has a BA in political science and African American Studies from the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor. She is an Assistant Professor of political science at John Jay College – CUNY. Her forthcoming book Redefining the Political, is based on her original ethnographic research (Temple University Press, 2024). In it, Dr. MB argues in order to accurately recognize and document the political engagement of Black women living in poverty, a fundamental expansion and redefinition of what is considered, “political” is needed

Dr. Moffett-Bateau has won multiple grants and fellowships for her research on poverty and resistance politics. This includes, a University Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Moffett-Bateau was awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at UConn as a part of the Collaborative for Equity Through Research on Women and Girl’s of Color. The City University of New York awarded her the BRES Research Faculty Fellowship as part of the BRES Collaboration Hub at the CUNY Graduate Center. Prior to her arrival in New York they were a Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia Carter G. Woodson Institute.

Dr. Moffett-Bateau’s research was recently published in Urban Affairs Review,“‘I Can’t Vote if I Don’t Leave My Apartment:’ The Problem of Neighborhood Violence and its Impact on the Political Behavior of Black American Women Living Below the Poverty Line.” For a free PDF copy, please see the preprint available here. Professor Moffett-Bateau’s book, Redefining the Political: Black Women Living Below the Poverty Line in Chicago, Black Feminism, and the Politics of Everyday Life, is forthcoming from Temple University Press in 2024.

Alex’s research agenda is centrally concerned with the external forces shaping individual political capacity. Specifically, she is invested in thinking about the intersections of race, class, gender, and geography, and the resulting structural vulnerability within Black marginalized communities. Ultimately, structural vulnerability makes Black marginalized communities who also manage identities with high-stigma especially vulnerable to the spaces they live in, their workplace conditions, and government activity within local neighborhoods and cities. The sum total of Alex’s research argues spatial and governmental realities can have a significant impact on the extent an individual can imagine political possibilities for herself or others. Violent, isolated and toxic environments, all function to limit the citizenship development of citizens in a way troubling to the functioning of democracy in the United States.

Her commentary and analyses have also been featured in RH Reality Check, The Feminist Wire, and Rooflines.

In addition to their research, scholarship, writing, and podcasting, Alex volunteers for grassroots’ organizations committed to transformative justice. Using her experience as a researcher and writer, they work to support organizations who engage in socio-political outreach to local communities.

Updated June 2023

Scholar. Writer. Teacher. Storyteller.