Psyche Williams-Forson


Psyche Williams-Forson is an American scholar and writer from Virginia. She is currently the associate professor and chair of American Studies at the University of Maryland.

Education

Williams-Forson, who is African-American, holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland, which are also the fields and institutions related to her Master's work in. Additionally, she completed a certificate in Women's Studies. In 1997, she received her bachelor's degree in English and African-American Studies.

Career and research

She primarily focuses on 19th and 20th century U.S. History - specifically social and cultural history dealing with race, gender, material culture, and food.
Currently, Williams-Forson is working on several projects: food shaming and policing, economic availability of rural Virginian black women, African American class through interiors.
She has participated in various interviews. In 2004, she was interviewed by the Mississippi-based Southern Foodways Alliance. The Food and Society Video Project recorded an interview of Williams-Forson's presentation at Institute of Advanced Study Interdisciplinary Symposium on "How We Talk About Feeding the World." In 2004, MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry interviewed her on the interdisciplinary nature of food history - "History of Food, Race, and Identity in America."

Awards and fellowships

Scholarly work

Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing World edited with Carole CounihanBuilding Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, & Power
  • "Other Women Cooked for my Husband: Negotiating Gender, Food, and Identities in an African-American/Ghanaian Household."
  • "African Americans and Food Stereotypes."
  • "More Than Just the 'Big Piece of Chicken': The Power of Race, Class, and Food in American Consciousness."
  • "Suckin' the Chicken Bone Dry: African American Women, History, and Food Culture."