Andrea S. Boyles

Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies

  • New Orleans LA UNITED STATES
  • Sociology
aboyles@tulane.edu

Dr. Boyles is an expert in race and social justice; Black citizen-police conflict; neighborhood disorder/crime; community; and resistance.

Contact

Spotlight

3 min

Tulane University experts available to discuss impact of historic Supreme Court abortion ruling

Tulane University has the following experts available to discuss the implications of the draft Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. For interviews, contact Keith Brannon at kbrannon@tulane.edu or 504-621-2724 or Barri Bronston at bbronst@tulane.edu or 504-352-2534.LEGAL IMPACTSStephen Griffin, the W.R. Irby Chair and Rutledge C. Clement Jr. Professor in Constitutional Law, is an expert in constitutional theory and history and can speak to: What the ruling means for Louisiana and other states that have a “trigger” law, immediately making abortion illegal once the ruling is overturned; How the ruling opens the door to state regulation of pregnancy in general and contraception;How unusual the ruling would be in terms of overruling precedent;What this means for the right to privacy and other protections, including gay rights and same-sex marriage. Keith Werhan, a professor emeritus, is a constitutional law expert and former attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice who can speak to:The process involved in bringing an opinion draft to an official ruling;The history of SCOTUS opinion drafts being leaked to the media;How unusual the ruling would be in terms of overruling precedent.David Meyer, the dean of Tulane Law School and Mitchell Franklin Professor of Law, is a constitutional law and family law expert. He also clerked at the Supreme Court for Justice Byron White. He can speak to:The draft opinion and constitutional privacy;Aspects of SCOTUS procedures and the unusual aspect of a leak;How the ruling could change family law;Unintended consequences of the ruling with regards to women, and the right of protected classes. Law professor Joel Friedman, an expert in labor and employment discrimination law, can speak about: Impact on companies’ health coverage policies. There are laws that prevent companies from discriminating on any pregnancy-related medical coverage. How would the court rule if a company provides full health coverage except coverage for abortion?The draft’s discussion of enumerated rights and how the shift could impact other rights like the access to contraception and protections for same-sex marriage.Law professor Amy Gadja, an expert in freedom of the press and privacy, is the author of Seek and Hide: The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy. She can speak about the nature of the leak and:The history of leaks at the United States Supreme Court;Leaked opinions go all the way back to the 1800s when journalists and judges were especially chummy;The impact on media coverage of the high court.IMPACT ON SOCIAL WORKMargaret Mary Downey, assistant professor of social work, is an expert in health disparities and the role frontline health workers play in responding to racial and economic reproductive and maternal health inequities. She can speak about:How the ruling will affect social workers and their clients;Abortion as a class/economic justice issue and social workers’ role in both struggles;Dual histories of social work as both supporting abortion and gatekeeping/restricting access;Reproductive justice versus reproductive rights.HISTORY/SOCIAL IMPACTKarissa Haugeberg, associate professor of history, and author of Women against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the Twentieth Century, can discuss:What this means in the context of the contemporary U.S. anti-abortion movement.How the ruling will shape the future of pro-life and pro-choice political landscape.What’s next — national law to ban abortion? Will the pro-life movement take aim at contraception next?Reproductive rights before Roe.Andrea Boyles, an associate professor of sociology and African studies, is an expert on race and social justice. Boyles, a delegate to the U.N. Economic and Social Council and the Commission on the Status of Women and, can speak to:The impact of the expected ruling on Black women, women of color and the poorHow the ruling will especially impact Black women as leaders of the progressive movement and whose communities are already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemicEnding the filibuster and the correlation of the decision with the rollback of voting rights and disenfranchisement happening simultaneously. What the ruling means nationally in terms of other civil and human rights threatened with rollbacks. International implications and the United States’ reputation as human rights leader.

Andrea S. BoylesStephen GriffinKeith WerhanKarissa Haugeberg

2 min

Biden’s nomination of a Black woman to high court is significant, even if political, says Tulane expert

President Joe Biden has chosen Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circruit as his choice for the next U.S. Supreme Court justice. If confirmed, she will become the first Black woman on the nation's highest court. Professor Nancy Maveety, a Supreme Court expert and chair of the Political Science Department at Tulane University, said Biden’s nomination of a Black woman to the high court is significant in two ways. “First, it will represent an appointment breaking another barrier based on race and gender, further diversifying the High Bench so that it ‘looks like America,’ ” said Maveety, author of Picking Judges, a book that examines the dynamics of screening and choosing judicial nominees and the confirmation process.Andrea Boyles, a Tulane sociologist, said the nomination of a Black woman to the Supreme Court is long overdue. "Black women in America have long been consistent, boots-on-the-ground galvanizers for all-things-civil and human rights," she said. "And it is past time to have that rich legacy recognized in every place, including the upper echelons of the federal government." The nomination of Jackson also continues a long practice of presidents making appointments to represent certain demographic interests—whether those be regional, religious or ethnic—as well as to reflect or cultivate the power of certain constituencies in the party’s electoral base, Maveety said.She likened the move to President Lyndon Johnson’s appointment of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black justice, and the importance of Black voters to the Democratic Party’s electoral success. President Ronald Reagan’s appointment of the first female justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, addressed the Republican party’s concerns about the gender gap in voting, Maveety said. As for the confirmation process, Maveety said it will be partisan and polarized, though not as intense as recent confirmations. “Because Biden’s nominee will presumably replace one liberal-voting justice with another and given that the Court’s current ‘liberal bloc’ is also a minority, the political stakes of this appointment are much lower than in the case of a swing seat.” Boyles called Jackson's credentials impeccable and worthy of celebration but said her advancement should not be treated as tokenism. "The Black community will be watching her confirmation and all actors involved intently, for what must be a protected, well-respected, fair and equitable process," Boyles said.

Andrea S. BoylesNancy Maveety

2 min

Tulane scholar decries state of race relations in America

Race relations in the United States will continue to deteriorate until there are clear, concise and decisive actions taken at all levels in disavowing racial bias, intolerance and violence, a Tulane University sociologist says. “There are no ‘two sides’ to this,” said Andrea S. Boyles, an expert in race and social justice and Black citizen-police conflict. “As long as the dominant or White America continues the ‘we all’ and ‘both sides’ rhetoric — dressed as law and order — there will be no change or improvement in race relations.”Boyles called the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin as “more of the same,” saying Black citizens continue to be stereotyped as criminal and supporters of lawlessness. Blake, who was unarmed, was shot seven times and is paralyzed from the waist down. “These suggestions are racist,” Boyles said. “It is also true that this kind of discriminative characterization of Black people has been repeatedly used to scare, promote and justify less restraint and increased violent responses toward them.” She said Blake’s shooting and other forms of violent policing of Black people continue to happen because such occurrences are being politicized, “as if the debate could go either way.” “This translates to ‘both sides’ narratives and nods for commissioned and noncommissioned people to continue killing or victimizing Blacks on impulse — whether directly intended or not,” Boyles said. “The unwritten understanding is that if White citizens just say that they were afraid or felt threatened by Black people, there will be sympathy and clearing for racialized actions. “People are being taught to do this through the countless cases of Black shootings, where there have been no consequences,” she said. Boyles is new to Tulane but was on the faculty of Lindenwood University-Belleville in southern Illinois when Michael Brown, 19, an unarmed Black teen, was shot and killed by a police officer in nearby Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The killing, for which the police officer was not charged, led to protests for more than 400 days and sparked fierce debate about the relationship between police and African Americans. Boyles, who was a participant observer/ethnographer during the protests, subsequently wrote Race, Place, and Suburban Policing: Too Close for Comfort in 2015 and You Can’t Stop the Revolution: Community Disorder and Social Ties in Post-Ferguson America in 2019. Both books were published by the University of California Press. Boyles is available to speak to the media. To schedule an interview, contact Boyles at aboyles@tulane.edu or Tulane assistant director of public relations Barri Bronston at bbronst@tulane.edu.

Andrea S. Boyles

Social

Biography

Andrea S. Boyles, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, is an expert in social inequality; the intersection of race, gender, and class; community and neighborhood disorder; race, place, and policing; segregation and racial-spatial politics; social movements and collective action; and qualitative methods/ethnography.

As a social justice feminist and race scholar, Boyles has served on numerous diversity task forces and committees, as a Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63), and in various capacities with corporations and organizations, including American Airlines, Amnesty International and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement (NOBLE). Boyles has taught within the Missouri prison system and presented research on the effects of incarcerated parents on children.

Areas of Expertise

Qualitative Methods
Neighborhood Disadvantage and Disorder
Intersections of Race, Class and Gender
Social Inequality
Police-Citizen Relations
Community Development and Engagement
Resilience and Collective Action

Accomplishments

"You Can't Stop the Revolution: Community Disorder and Social Ties in Post-Ferguson America"

"You Can’t Stop the Revolution" is a vivid participant ethnography conducted from inside of Ferguson protests as the Black Lives Matter movement catapulted onto the global stage.

"Race, Place and Suburban Policing: Too Close For Comfort"

"Race, Place, and Suburban Policing" tells the story of social injustice, racialized policing, nationally profiled shootings, and the ambiguous nature of black life in a suburban context.

Scholar of the Year Award

Awarded in 2016 by Lindenwood University in Belleville, Illinois

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Education

Kansas State University

PhD

Sociology, with concentration in Criminology and Gender

2012

Lincoln University of Missouri

Master of Arts

Sociology

2004

Lincoln University of Missouri

Bachelor of Arts

English

1997

Affiliations

  • Sociologists for Women in Society
  • Association of Black Sociologists
  • American Sociological Association
  • American Society of Criminology
  • Midwest Sociological Society
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Media Appearances

The future of policing

On Good Authority  radio

2021-06-29

Tulane University Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies Andrea Boyles, a race scholar, ethnographer and author, discusses what we have learned about police interactions and in the year that has passed since George Floyd died in Minneapolis.

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