Mignon R. Moore
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Ph.D., University of Chicago
Office: 290 HAINES HALL
Phone: 310-206-9678
Fax:
310-206-9838
E-mail:
moore@soc.ucla.edu
Mailing Address:
264 Haines Hall - Box 951551
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1551
Subfield
Family, Gender, Aging, Race, Sexuality, Adolescence
Research Interests
Moore is a family sociologist whose research examines within-group variation in processes and outcomes among disadvantaged groups. She is finishing a manuscript based on her intensive ethnographic, survey and interview study of racial minority same-sex couples. The book will be titled Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships and Motherhood among Black Women. This work explores how initial self-understandings based on race influence subsequent practice of same-sex desire, processes of union formation, routes to motherhood, and the enactment of gendered power relations in families headed by two women. The practice of lesbian sexuality is also explored through a context of racial group membership and involvement in racially similar communities.
The distinctiveness of the group under study, racial minority women with same-sex practice, is neither accidental nor arbitrary. Moore argues that more general processes of group formation and identity development occur in a variety of contexts but are most salient in a group whose race and sexuality are hyper-visible. For example, the social construction of gender might be difficult to recognize in a heterosexual couple, but really stands out when same-sex partners are wearing clothing that suggests gender complimentarity. Moreover, studying statuses such as motherhood from the behaviors of women in a same-sex union offers a new vantage point from which to analyze more general processes of mothering.
There are very few empirical sociological studies of family formation and same-sex practice within the context of racial/ethnic minority populations. Exploring these and other issues in a sample where biological sex is held constant, where individuals have similar self-understandings of racial identification, and where individuals live in similar neighborhood racial contexts offers new insights, not just to family sociologists, or gender or race specialists, but also to all scholars interested in the importance of ideology and identity.
Other on-going projects include an examination of the relationships African-American lesbians and gay men in Los Angeles have with their racial communities and religious institutions. And Moore recently began an NIH/NIA-funded pilot study to assess the physical and mental health outcomes that might be related to sexual identity, social support, community institutions, and regular sources of medical care for African-American lesbian and gay elders in New York and Los Angeles. A different component of this work will gather social histories of this population, looking at the social context of entering into a gay sexuality for black LGBT people during the 1960s and 1970s political movements, and current experiences with racial communities as they age.
NPR Network interview “To the Point” with Warren Olney , KCRW News, May 11 2009 on the black community’s response to Proposition 8.
Selected Publications
Moore, Mignon R. in press. “Black and Gay in L.A.: The Relationships Black Lesbians and Gay Men Have with their Racial and Religious Communities,” in Black Los Angeles: American Dreams and Racial Realities, edited by Darnell Hunt and Ana-Christina Ramon. NY: New York University Press.
Moore, Mignon R. 2008. "Gendered Power Relations among Women: A Study of Household Decision-Making in Black, Lesbian Stepfamilies." American Sociological Review vol 73,2(Apr.): 335-356. To download you or your university must subscribe to this journal.
Moore, Mignon R. 2006. “Lipstick or Timberlands? Meanings of Gender Presentation in Black Lesbian Communities.” SIGNS: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 32, 1: 113-139.
Moore, Mignon R. 2003. “Socially Isolated? How Parents and Neighborhood Adults Influence Youth Behavior in Disadvantaged Communities.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 26, 6: 988-1005.
Moore, Mignon R. and P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale. 2001. “Sexual Intercourse and Pregnancy among African-American Girls in High-Poverty Neighborhoods: The Role of Family and Perceived Community Environment.” Journal of Marriage and Family 63: 1146-1157.
Smith, Sandra and Mignon R. Moore. 2000. “Intraracial Diversity and Relations among African Americans: A Case Study of Feelings of Closeness among Black Students at a Predominantly White University.” American Journal of Sociology 106, 1: 1-39.
Moore, Mignon R. and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. 2003. “Healthy Sexual Development: Notes on Programs that Reduce the Risk of Early Sexual Initiation and Adolescent Pregnancy.” In Reducing Adolescent Risk: Toward an Integrated Approach, D. Romer (ed.), pp. 284-292. The American Academy of Political and Social Science. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Moore, Mignon R. and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. 2002. “Adolescent Parenthood.” In Handbook of Parenting, Second Edition, Volume 3: Being and Becoming a Parent, M. Bornstein (ed.), pp. 173-214. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Moore, Mignon R. 2001. “Family Structure and Adolescent Sexual Debut in Alternative Household Structures.” In Social Awakening: Adolescents’ Behavior as Adulthood Approaches, R. Michael (ed.), pp. 109-136. NY: Russell Sage.
Grants
National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institutes on Aging (NIA)Grant #P30-AG02-1684 Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research. “Physical Health Outcomes, Social Histories and Social Support among Racial and Sexual Minority Elders: A Two-City Study.” Pilot study awarded through the UCLA School of Medicine Center for Health Improvement of Minority Elderly.
Awards
National Award, Human Rights Campaign
Editorial Board, American Sociological Review
Editorial Board, Journal of Marriage and Family
Editorial Board, Contemporary Sociology
Visiting Scholar, Russell Sage Foundation
Woodrow Wilson Foundation Career Fellowship
Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
UNC-Chapel Hill Mellon Undergraduate Research Program renamed the "Mignon Moore Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program"
Visiting Scholar, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin
Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
Grad Students
Doctoral Students: Erica Morales, Anthony Ocampo, Chinyere Osuji, Pamela Prickett, Danielle Wondra
Master's Students: Taquesha Brannon
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