Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow Profile: Aliyah Abu-Hazeem ‘17
Interview with Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF) Aliyah Abu-Hazeem in March, 2017. Interview by Brian Smith, OUR Student Assistant. Photo by Afia Ofori-Mensa, Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Research at Oberlin College.
Brian: Could you tell me your name, year, major, and faculty mentor?
Aliyah: Aliyah Abu-Hazeem, Class of 2017, Law & Society/Sociology double major, Africana Studies/Politics double minor. Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department, Daphne John, is my MMUF faculty mentor.
Brian: What did your research consist of?
Aliyah: Broadly, my research project examines causal factors for gun violence and crime in urban, impoverished, communities of color, using the Southside of Chicago as my case study. My project began with examining and isolating the social structures and institutions behind the perpetuation of gun violence and crime. Now, my research project focuses specifically on the actors behind the proliferation of gun violence as a means to privilege and give nuance to their rationales for engaging in illicit behaviors, which has not been a focus of the exploitative stories in the media coverage on issues of gun violence in Chicago. In an attempt to make sense of why Chicago has substantial rates of gun violence, compared to other similar urban locales, it is critical to examine what individuals are using gun violence in response to - what lack of access to resources or frustration with the current criminal justice system leads them to believe that gun violence is their only means to gaining support and/or visibility.
Brian: What do you find to be most meaningful about your research?
Aliyah: One of the most meaningful rewards to engaging in my research project is knowing that it has the ability to change lives positively. I firmly believe that my research project can contribute to substantive changes in contemporary, lax gun laws and social welfare policies that do more harm than help within marginalized, impoverished communities. Moreover, I am thrilled to be in a position that allows me to give voice to groups that continue to be relegated to the margins and really dismantle society’s preconceived, derogatory notions about the worth and value of Black men.
Brian: What do you hope to gain from conducting your research?
Aliyah: I hope that my research will contribute to the expansion of discourse in and out of academia such that Black men become more than a stigma and second-class participant in civil society. Time and time again, we see Black men suffering from neo-slavery (mass incarceration) and unable to provide a sustainable livelihood for themselves or their families. In turn, gun violence becomes the only viable option for them to gain access to resources. I want my research project to dismantle the notion that Black men are innately deviant and predisposed to committing crime and illicit behaviors. Instead, I want to move the discourse within scholarship to trying to understand why the enactment of gun violence becomes a social reality for Black men disproportionately than any other demographic.
Brian: Will you continue your research beyond undergraduate education?
Aliyah: Yes, I intend to enter into a PhD program in Sociology in the Fall of 2017 to continue pursuing my current research project as well as seek out avenues for its expansion. Moreover, I have had the opportunity to present my research in various high schools in Chicago, including my alma mater, as well as presented my research to broader academic communities via conferences and the Celebration of Undergraduate Research.
Brian: What is it like to do research at Oberlin over the summer?
Aliyah: Personally, it was quite challenging conducting my research project in Oberlin for the first summer of the MMUF program. Back home in Chicago, gun violence had peaked and reach a record high since 2010. I felt displaced from my community and that I was not able to be doing meaningful work at home. However, I do feel like the summer nurtured my understanding of the extant literature on urban violence and inequity and really provided me with a focused lens and entry point to ongoing discussions not only in the sociological field, but in contemporary political debates and policy as well.
Brian: What are your future goals at this point?
Aliyah: At this point, I intend to enter a PhD program in sociology, probably at Notre Dame. In addition, I intend to work on efforts to improve and expand crime intervention/social welfare services on the Southside of Chicago, making them accessible to the people who need to utilize their services the most.
Brian: What are some other activities, interests or hobbies that you pursue?
Aliyah: I appreciate any opportunity to write and express my feelings, dreams, fear, and motivations via prose, specifically poetry and stream-of-consciousness. In addition, I love music and dancing as well as spending time with my loved ones. I deeply enjoy making others laugh and feel good, too.
Brian: What has been your favorite moment of your time in MMUF?
Aliyah: One of my favorite moments during MMUF was presenting my research project and preliminary findings at our annual conference. This past semester (Fall 2016), we went to Washington University in St. Louis. It was an absolutely amazing opportunity to represent Chicago in a positive way as well as be close to Ferguson and hear about social justice activism and its intersections with scholarship from current Wash U students. It was an experience that affirmed the validity and importance of my research. Although I did not need this external validation, I was still appreciative to feel that people valued the narrative I was offering and wanted to learn more about what is really going on within my community and others like it.
Brian: What advice would you give an Oberlin student interested in applying for MMUF or OCRF?
Aliyah: I would definitely encourage future MMUF/OCRF applicants to propose a research project that they’re passionate about and that is resonant to them, but one that can also lead to wide-scale social change. Indeed, it is important to be able to contribute your findings to the field and expand discourse within academia; however, it is crucial to also love the work you’re doing and to feel connected to the outcome that your project can have on certain communities and even the world. That is the work of transformative scholarship, producing knowledge comes with the territory.
