Psyche Williams-Forson is an American scholar and writer from Virginia. She is currently the associate professor and chair of American Studies at the University of Maryland.
Education Williams-Forson, who is African-American, holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland (completed in 2002), which are also the fields and institutions related to her Master's work in (1994). Additionally, she completed a certificate in Women's Studies (1994). In 1997, she received her bachelor's degree in English and African-American Studies.
Career and research She primarily focuses on 19th and 20th century U.S. History - specifically social and cultural history dealing with race, gender, material culture, and food.
Currently, Williams-Forson is working on several projects: food shaming and policing, economic availability of rural Virginian black women, African American class through interiors.
She has participated in various interviews. In 2004, she was interviewed by the Mississippi-based Southern Foodways Alliance. The Food and Society Video Project recorded an interview of Williams-Forson's presentation at Institute of Advanced Study Interdisciplinary Symposium (2001) on "How We Talk About Feeding the World." In 2004, MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry interviewed her on the interdisciplinary nature of food history - "History of Food, Race, and Identity in America."
Awards and fellowships Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Diversity Fellowship Foxworth Creative Enterprise Initiative Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2023 James Beard Award in Food Issues and Advocacy
Scholarly work Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing World (2011) edited with Carole Counihan Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, & Power (2006) "Other Women Cooked for my Husband: Negotiating Gender, Food, and Identities in an African-American/Ghanaian Household." (2010) "African Americans and Food Stereotypes." (2009) "More Than Just the 'Big Piece of Chicken': The Power of Race, Class, and Food in American Consciousness." (2007) "Suckin' the Chicken Bone Dry: African American Women, History, and Food Culture." (2000)
Further reading The New York Times, Sunday Book Review: "The Gospel Bird" The Huffington Post, "What's Really in that take out box?" Written by Psyche Williams-Forson Food, Fatness, and Fitness Critical Perspectives: "Black Lives Matter, Even in Food Justice." Written by Psyche Williams-Forson
References