{"id":2843,"date":"2019-12-05T10:31:08","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T16:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2843"},"modified":"2019-12-06T13:24:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T19:24:21","slug":"a-thick-year-for-tressie-mcmillan-cottom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2019\/12\/05\/a-thick-year-for-tressie-mcmillan-cottom\/","title":{"rendered":"A #Thick Year for Tressie McMillan Cottom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Tressie Mc Millan Cottom displays her essay collection Thick<\/em>, which was nominated as a National Book Award Finalist. Photo via Wikimedia Commons<\/a>. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In addition to being a formidable sociologist of technology and education, Tressie McMillan Cottom is an upender extraordinaire of class, race, and gender hierarchies throughout academia and the broader social world. Her book, Thick<\/em>, was recently nominated as a National Book Award Finalist. With over 100 thousand followers, she is the center of gravity of an ever-expanding Twitter community, and also writes an extremely influential blog<\/a>. Moreover, she has created a new program of study–Digital Sociology–at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she teaches as an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department.
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Even before making her mark in the sociology of higher education with her book, Lower ed: The troubling rise of for-profit colleges in the new economy<\/em><\/a>, McMillan Cottom had become an expert at using social media to assert and establish her legitimacy among scholars. As a graduate student she posted a critical analysis of arguments made by a more senior scholar on her blog, and this earned her the support of a wide and diverse readership. She carries on this tradition of bringing voice and legitimacy to Black women in Thick<\/em>. Through her essays, McMillan Cottom centers the Black women\u2019s intellectual tradition and their experiences while asking readers to get comfortable with some of the most uncomfortable topics: misogynoir<\/a>, child loss, sexual violence, to name a few. Her powerful blend of sociology and poignant, personal stories give voice and representation to so many, in a space where such stories so often go unheard.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n