Dr. Sherri Lawson Clark (Ph.D., American University), an applied cultural anthropologist, has conducted ethnographic fieldwork for over 25 years with low-income urban and rural African American, Latino, and white families across the United States. Dr. Clark’s research specialty surrounds housing instability among poor families and examines the intersections of housing policy with health and welfare policies, marriage initiatives, migration, and the effects of residential mobility on the well-being of poor children and families. Her research is guided theoretically through the lens of the built environment in which spaces where the poor live, work, shop, entertain and relax are seen as socially produced, constructed, contested, and embodied. Dr. Clark has discussed her research in both academic settings and at the local level with community-based organizations, social service employees and others who provide direct services to those in need.
Dr. Clark teaches courses in cultural anthropology and social stratification in America surrounding her research foci. In the classroom, she uses her teaching and scholarship to equip students with the necessary knowledge, training, and cultural sensitivities to aid them as future problem-solvers in our global world. Her pedagogy is praxis-oriented whereby students are able to deconstruct and comprehend conceptual arguments by applying them in real life contexts.
Latest Posts
- “Why some people receiving federal benefits don’t consider themselves poor − even though poverty rates have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic” – Dr. Clark’s New Article in The Conversation
- Drs. Clark, Friederic, Gitzen, and Gurstelle Awarded FellowshipsSherri Lawson Clark, Lam Family Endowed Faculty Fellowship in Anthropology Karin Friederic, McCulloch Family Faculty Fellowship Tim Gitzen, Zachary T. Smith Faculty Fellowship Andrew Gurstelle, Shively Family Faculty Fellowship
Publications
Book Manuscripts
Virgil, Steven M. and Sherri Lawson Clark
2021 Poverty Law and Advocacy in America. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
Virgil, Steven M. and Sherri Lawson Clark
2021 Poverty Law and Advocacy in America: Teacher’s Manual with Field Exercises. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, in press.
Smith-Ruiz, Dorothy, Sherri Lawson Clark, and Marcia J. Watson, eds. 2017 Contemporary African American Families: Achievements, Challenges, and Empowerment Strategies in the 21st Century. New York, NY: Routledge.
Peer-reviewed articles
Lawson Clark, Sherri.
2012 In Search of Housing: Urban Families in Rural Contexts. Rural Sociology, 77(1): 110-134.
Lawson Clark, Sherri, Linda M. Burton, and Chenoa A. Flippen.
2011 Housing, Power, and Intimate Relationships in the Lives of Low-Income Puerto Rican Mothers. Journal of Family Issues, 32(3): 369-393.
Burton, Linda, Donna Marie Winn, Howard Stevenson, and Sherri Lawson Clark
2004 Working with African American Clients: Considering the “Homeplace” in Marriage and Family Therapy Practices. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 30(4): 113-129.
Lawson Clark, Sherri
2002 Where the Poor Live: How Federal Housing Policy Shapes Residential Communities. Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development 31(1):69-92.
Book chapters
Lawson Clark, Sherri
2017 Home is Where the Wealth Is: African Americans and the Housing Debacle. In Contemporary African American Families: Achievements, Challenges, and Empowerment Strategies in the 21st Century, eds. Dorothy Smith-Ruiz, Sherri Lawson Clark, and Marcia J. Watson. Pp. 109-122. New York: Routledge.
2006 Separate and Unequal: Housing Policy in Action on the Periphery of Our Nation’s Capital. In Homing Devices: the Poor as Targets of Development Policy, eds. Mark Schuller and marilyn m. thomas-houston. Pp. 59-79. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Burton, Linda and Sherri Lawson Clark
2005 Homeplace and Housing in the Lives of Low-Income Urban African American Families. In Emerging Issues in African American Family Life, eds. V.C. McLoyd, N. Hill, and K. Dodge. Pp. 166-188. NY: Guilford Press.
Book Reviews
2023 The Love Jones Cohort: Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class. By Kris Marsh, CHOICE 61(3).
2023 Yes to the City: Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing. By Max Holleran, CHOICE 60(9).
2022 Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance. By Moya Bailey, CHOICE 59(12) (Commissioned long form review).
2021 Feminist Trouble: Intersectional Politics in Postsecular Times. By, Éléonore Lépinard, CHOICE 58(10).
2020 Invisible Americans: The Tragic Cost of Child Poverty by Jeffrey G. Madrick, CHOICE 58(6).
2020 Hobo Jungle: A Homeless Community in Paradise by Michele L. Wakin, CHOICE 58(2).
2020 Struggling in the Land of Plenty: Race, Class, and Gender in the Lives of Homeless Families by Anne R. Roschelle, CHOICE 57(8).
2018 The Poverty of Privacy Rights by Khiara M.Bridges, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, American Anthropologist, 120(2): 370-71.
2017 Surviving Poverty: Creating Sustainable Ties Among the Poor by Joan Maya Mazelis, CHOICE 54(11).
2017 No Simple Solutions: Transforming Public Housing in Chicago by Susan J. Popkin, CHOICE 54(9).
2016 Blaming the Poor: The Long Shadow of the Moynihan Report on Cruel Images about Poverty by Susan D. Greenbaum. Rutgers, CHOICE 53(7).
2015 The Hero’s Fight: African Americans in West Baltimore and the Shadow of the State, by Patricia Fernández-Kelly. Princeton University Press. CHOICE.
2015 Behind the White Picket Fence: Power and Privilege in a Multiethnic Neighborhood, by Sarah Mayorga-Gallo. University of North Carolina Press. CHOICE.
2014 Pauperland: Poverty and the Poor in Britain, by Jeremy Seabrook. Hurst & Company. CHOICE.
2013 The Specter of “The People”: Urban Poverty in Northeast China, by Cho Mun Young. Cornell University Press. CHOICE.
2013 Driven from New Orleans: How Nonprofits Betray Public Housing and Promote Privatization, by John Arena. University of Minnesota Press. CHOICE.
2012 Women and Poverty in 21st Century America, by Paula vW. Dáil. McFarland & Company, Inc. CHOICE.
2012 Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race, and Finding Home, by Anita Hill. Beacon Press. CHOICE.
2011 Cheating Welfare: Public Assistance and the Criminalization of Poverty, by Kaaryn Gustafson. New York: New York University Press. CHOICE.
2011 Tierra y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing, by Steven W. Bender. New York: New York University Press. CHOICE.
2011 Dangerous or Endangered? Race and the Politics of Youth in Urban America, by Jennifer Tilton. New York: New York University Press. Teachers College Record.
2010 “Housing the Homeless.” Review of Hard Lives, Mean Streets: Violence in the Lives of Homeless Women, by Jana L. Jasinski, Jennifer K. Wesely, James D. Wright, and Elizabeth E. Mustaine. Boston: Northeastern University Press. CHOICE.
Policy Reports
2019 “Ethnographic Evaluation of the Strong@Home Program.” Final Evaluation Report. Family Services Forsyth County, Winston-Salem, NC.
2010 “Housing Instability: Toward a Better Understanding of Frequent Residential Mobility Among America’s Urban Poor.” Final Policy Report. Center for Housing Policy, Washington, D.C.
2007 “Migration for Housing: Urban Families in Rural Living.” Final Policy Report. Center for Rural Pennsylvania.
2002 “Ethnographic Overview and Assessment at Brown v. Board.” Report. Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Topeka, KS.
Conference Presentations/Speaking Engagements
2023 Leadership Winston Salem, Galilee Baptist Church, Winston Salem, NC
Invited Speaker: “Access to Safe, Affordable and Available Housing in Winston Salem”
2022 Meharry Medical College, Annual Speakers Conference, Nashville, TN
*Invited Speaker: “The Role of Inequality in the Collapse of Civilizations – What the Past Tells Us About Where We Are and Where We’re Going”
2021 Race, Inequality and Policy Initiative, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC. Moderator: “Housing Loss and Discrimination: The Impact of Evictions on Communities of Color”
2021 New Canaan Society, Winston Salem, NC. Webinar.
Invited Speaker: “What’s RACE Got to Do with It? Understanding the Roles of Patriarchy, Whiteness, and Power in Community Building”
2020 New America, Future of Property Rights, Washington, D.C.
Webinar Panelist Facilitator: “Displaced in Forsyth County: Economic Mobility, Concentrated Poverty & Home Loss”
2018 Institute for Educational Governance and Leadership, Equity Summit, Lebanon Valley College (Pennsylvania)
Invited Keynote Speaker: “Reimagining Equitable Spaces in K-12 Education in Pennsylvania and Beyond.”
2018 Women’s Leadership Council, BB&T, Winston-Salem, NC
Invited Speaker: “Engaged Communities: Demystifying the Complexities of Poverty.”
2017 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, D.C.
*Invitation to Expert Convening: – Pilot Housing Insecurity Survey Module, American Community Survey (ACS)
2015 Lifelong Learning class: “Let’s Play: Theatre as a Mirror of our Lives and Culture.”
Guest Speaker: UNIVERSES Live! – From the Edge Discussion – Race, Politics, & Poetry.
2015 Summit School, Winston-Salem, NC
Lecture: “Acting out Social Stratification: ‘12 Angry Men’”
2015 Teaching and Learning Center, WFU
Workshop: “Facilitating Difficult Discussions in the Classroom.”
2014 Clybourne Park, WFU Department of Theatre
Invited Panelist: “Not in My Neighborhood: Racism and Real Estate.”
2014 Education for a Better World, WFU Office of Admissions
Mock Lecture: “Poverty across Race, Gender & Space”
2014 The State of Fair and Affordable Housing conference, City of Winston-Salem Human Relations Commission, Winston-Salem, NC
Invited Panelist: “Moving toward More Equity in Homeownership.”
2013, 2014 CNS 360: Professional and Life Skills, Wake Forest University
Guest Lecturer: “Assessing & Understanding Workplace Culture & Relationships.”
2013 Contemporary African American Families: Achievements, Challenges, and Empowerment Strategies in the 21st Century conference, University of North Carolina-Charlotte
Invited Speaker: “Home is Where the Wealth Is: African Americans and the Housing Debacle.”
2013 Latino Awareness Week, Wake Forest University
Invited Speaker: “Black-Brown Race Relations.”
2013 Brown Girls Get Real: Feminism in Communities of Color, Wake Forest University,
Discussant.
2012 Minorities in Islam/Muslims as Minorities conference, Wake Forest University
Chair: “Narratives, Memories, and Imaginaries among Muslim Americans.”
2012 Society for Applied Anthropology, Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD.
Roundtable Discussant: “Applied Anthropology, Poverty Research, and Welfare Policy in the Post-Welfare Reform Era.”
2011 Wake Forest University, Museum of Anthropology
Lecture: “Journeys through Housing: Privacy, Protection, and Place.”
2011 Social Change Exchange: A Community Forum Exploring the Intersections of Race, Gender, and Poverty, The Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Panelist: “How Many Hours are in Your Day: The Daily Rhythms of Mothers Living in Poverty.”
2010 Women’s & Gender Studies Research, Development and Advancement Committee Colloquium Series
Speaker: “When a Man Needs a Woman: Housing, Power, and Relationships.”
2009 The American Anthropological Association, Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
Discussant: “Urban Anthropology, Scholarship, Social Justice and Brett Williams.”
Pubic Media
New America asks Sherri Lawson Clark ‘What Would You Do with Good Eviction Data?’ YouTube Video, 1:15, December 6, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsuOCBy4-YE
Quoted in “The Americans Most Threatened by Eviction: Young Children.” New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/upshot/evictions-children-american-renters.html.
Teaching
- ANT 111 – People and Cultures of the World
- ANT 325 – Roots of Racism: Race and Ethnic Diversity in the U.S.
- ANT 335 – Anthropology of Space: Social Stratification of the Built Environment
- ANT 390 – Student-Faculty Seminar
- FYS 100 – Poverty across Race, Gender & Space
Mentored Research
Doctoral Candidates
Shannon Telenko, (expected 2016), Anthropology, American University, Committee Member, “Forced Out: Migration of the Urban Poor to Rural Pennsylvania.”
Boniface Noyongoyo, (expected 2016), Sociology, University of Central Florida, Research Incubator Mentor, “Dietary Acculturation of International Students in the United States.”
Sarjo S Patrick, 2015, Sociology, Benedict College, “Sociocultural Impact on Black Women`s Body Size Preference: A Cross Cultural Comparative Analysis.”
Master’s Student
Erica Bullock, M.A., 2014, Communications, Wake Forest University, Committee Member, “Black Identity and Representation in Film.”
Undergraduate Students
- Choi, Annie (2023) Honors Senior Thesis advisor, “Health Disparities in East Winston-Salem: A Comparison Between Access and Quality of Care between East and West Winston-Salem.”
- Wong, Meg (2023) Independent Study, “Informed Consent of Reproductive Care for Incarcerated Persons Capable of Pregnancy: Organized Abandonment, Forgotten Places, and Social Death in North Carolina.”
- Menzies, Chloe (2023) Mentored Research, “The Existence of Environmental Racism in Spain and How to Begin to Combat It: With Comparison to the United States.”
- Ray, Roxanna (2023) Mentored Research, “Synthesizing Cultural Competency and Reproductive Justice: a case study of Afghan, Refugee, Mothers.”
- Menzies, Chloe (2022) Independent Study, “Environmental Racism in Nevada.”
- Milon, Josh (2022) Honors Senior Thesis reader, “Interpreting the Trestle Site (31AN19) through Ceramic Analysis.”
- Portman, Jack (2021) Honors Senior Thesis advisor, “All You Can Holler About is Rent: The Politics and Precarities of Housing in East Winston.”
- Portman, Jack (2021) Mentored Research advisor; co-researcher, “Displaced in America Project.”
- Amen, Zakary (2020) Honors Senior Thesis advisor, “Innovation Quarter and Bailey Park Memories: Legacy, Place, and Race in a Divided Winston-Salem.”
- Towery, Kara (2020) Honors Senior Thesis advisor, “Token Black Women?: Narratives of Black Women in White Greek Letter Sororities.”
- Guercio, Anna Grace (2019) Honors Senior Thesis advisor, “Language and the Built Environment among Women in Strong@Home.”
- Adams, Kyle (2018) URECA advisor, “Investigating the Racial Rhetoric of South Africa.”
- Henriksen, Gabrielle (2017) Honors Senior Thesis advisor, “Shifting Contours of Space: Boston-Thurmond and the Built Environment.”
- Henriksen, Gabrielle (2016) URECA advisor, State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research & Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS) mentor. “Shifting Contours of the Built Environment (Vienna, Austria): How Events Impact the Movement of People.”
- Rubin Professor and Director, American Ethnic Studies, 2021-2024
- Steering Committee, Center for Research Engagement and Collaboration in African American Life (RECAAL)
- Steering Committee, Race, Inequality and Policy Initiative (RIPI)
- 2018 Martin Luther King, Jr. Building the Dream faculty award winner