Research & Publications

Critical Mixed Race Studies

Over the past 30 years social scientists and activists in the United States and many other countries have sought to bring to light the uniquely racialized experiences of mixed-race people. My research within CMRS examines how others' perception of a mixed-race person - as a given race, as ambiguous, as attractive- influences their lived experiences and racial identity.  My most recent project in this area focused on how race, gender,  and sexuality intersect for LGBTQ+ mixed-race people.

Book

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice and Chinelo Njaka. 2020. Mixed-Race in the US and UK: Comparing the Past, Present, and Future (Emerald Publishing)

Winner of the 2020 Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award

from the Mid-South Sociological Association

Journal Articles

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice and Remi Joseph-Salisbury. 2019. “‘We were all just the black kids:’ Black mixed-race men and the importance of adolescent peer groups for identity development.” Social Currents 6 (1): 51-66.

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice. 2018. “It represents me:’ Tattooing mixed-race identity.” Sociological Spectrum 38 (4): 243-255.

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice. 2016. “Reevaluation of the influence of appearance and reflected appraisals for mixed-race identity: The role of consistent inconsistent racial perception.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 2 (4): 569-583.

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice. 2012. “Beautiful Stereotypes: The Relationship between Physical Attractiveness and Mixed Race Identity.” Identities 19 (1): 61-80.

Guest Edited Special Issue

• "Multiracial Identities and Experiences In/Under White Supremacy" Social Sciences, 2022, co-edited with David Brunsma.

Critique of Science and Knowledge

My third line of work heeds the call of Bourdieu (1988) to keep an analytical lens on our own institution, Academia.  I work with colleagues to interrogate how knowledge, especially about race/ethnicity, is produced and disseminated.

Book

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice.  2024. The Fallacies of Racism (Polity Press)

Book Chapter

• Buggs, Shantel Gabrieal and Jennifer Patrice Sims. 2024. "Strategizing Fit and Legibility." Ch 39 in Doing Good Qualitative Research, edited by J. Cyr and S. Goodman. Oxford University Press.

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice. 2017. “An open letter to the black woman in the front row.”  Pp. 49-51 in Stories From the Front of the Room: How Higher Education Faculty of Color Overcome Challenges and Thrive in the Academy, edited by M. Harris et al., Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Journal Articles

• Gaither, Sarah E. and Jennifer Patrice Sims. 2022. “How cross-discipline understanding and communication can improve research on Multiracial populations.” Social Sciences, 11(3): 90. 

• Sims, Jennifer Patrice, and Cassandra Nolen. 2020. “I Wouldn’t Trust the Parents To 'Do No Harm' To a Queer Kid": Rethinking Parental Permission Requirements for Youth Participation in Social Science Research.” Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 16 (1-2): 35-45. 

• Buggs, Shantel Gabrieal, Jennifer Patrice Sims, and Rory Kramer. 2020. “Rejecting White Distraction : A Critique of the White Logic and White Methods in Academic Publishing.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43 (8): 1384-1392.