DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

Interests

Research Interest(s): American Politics, Black Political Thought, Social Movements, Presidential Leadership, American Political Development

Program Area(s): Political Theory; Methods; American Politics

Regional Specialization(s): United States

Subfield Specialties: American Political Development; Critical Theory; Feminist and Gender Studies; Public Opinion, Political Communication, and Political Participation; Race, Ethnicity and Politics

Joint Appointment

African American Studies

Biography

Alvin B. Tillery, Jr.'s research and teaching interests are in the fields of American politics and political theory. His research in American politics focuses on American political development, racial and ethnic politics and media and politics. His research in political theory focuses on American political thought and critical race theory. His book Between Homeland and Motherland: Africa, U.S. Foreign Policy and Black Leadership in America (Cornell University Press, 2011) won the W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists. His papers have appeared in Studies in American Political Development, Political Research Quarterly, and Journal of Black Studies. He is currently completing a book that examines African-American attitudes toward immigration between 1850 and 1965. 

Books

• Between Homeland and Motherland: Africa, U.S. Foreign Policy and Black Leadership in America (Cornell University Press, 2011).

Select Publications

• Bonilla, Tabitha, and Alvin B. Tillery, Jr., “Which Identity Frames Boost Support for and Mobilization in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement? An Experimental Test” American Political Science Review, 114 (4): 947-962.
• Tillery, Jr., Alvin B. “Tweeting Racial Representation: How the Congressional Black Caucus used Twitter during the 113th Congress.” Politics, Groups, and Identities, 9(2): 219-238.
• Tillery, Jr., Alvin B. “What Kind of Movement is Black Lives Matter? The View from Twitter.” Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics 4(2): 297-323.
• "Tocqueville as Critical Race Theorist: Whiteness as Property, Interest Convergence, and the Limits of Jacksonian Democracy." Political Science Quarterly 62 (2009): 639-652.
• "Model Blacks or 'Ras the Exhorter': A Quantitative Content Analysis of Black Newspapers’ Coverage of First Wave Afro-Caribbean Immigration to the United States." Journal of Black Studies 44 (2012): 798-828.

Courses taught

Undergraduate

• PoliSci 220: Introduction to American Politics
• PoliSci 101: First Year Seminar: American Political Thought

Graduate

• PoliSci 490: Race and American Political Thought