The trailblazers in human, academic, scientific and religious freedom have always been in the minority… It will take such a small committed minority to work unrelentingly to win the uncommitted majority. Such a group may transform America’s greatest dilemma into her most glorious opportunity.
Background
Alethia Jones is a postdoctoral scholar in political science. She earned a BA in urban studies/cultural anthropology from Columbia University and a PhD in political science from Yale University.
Interests
Jones’ research interests include political dynamics of immigrant inclusion/exclusion in US economic and social institutions; urban politics; US immigration, race and ethnic politics; and social networks and public policy. Following her dissertation, which investigated the overlooked interaction between informal immigrant banking networks, public policy advocates, and government regulators as they re-make the financial system to create inclusive community banking institutions, she continued her research comparing the experiences of European immigrants in the early twentieth century with those of contemporary immigrants from the Global South. She employs interviews and archival research as well as census, public opinion and other statistical data.
As an MLK scholar at MIT, Jones was hosted by the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and affiliated with the Community Innovators Laboratory (CoLab). During the spring semester she taught Course 11.947: Race, Immigration, and Planning.
Sample Work
Dissertation
Bootstraps and Beltways: The State’s Role in Immigrant Self-Help
“Bootstraps and Beltways: The State’s Role in Immigrant Self-Help.” Yale University. 2005. (Dissertation)
Publication
Women of Color in the Eighties: A Portrait Based on Census Data
“Women of Color in the Eighties: A Portrait Based on Census Data.” Tamara Jones and Alethia Jones. In Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader. Eds. Cathy Cohen, Kathy Jones and Joan Tronto. New York: NYU Press.
Publication
Elm Haven: Historical Overview
“Elm Haven: Historical Overview.” In Case Study Materials: Community Renaissance Fellows Program. A concise history of one of the first public housing projects in the nation, constructed in New Haven,CT in the 1930s, steps away from Yale University.