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I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University. My specialties include black politics, racial politics, urban politics, public opinion, and American political thought. I am primarily interested in studying and contesting the production and reproduction of inequality. My work has appeared in both academic journals (including the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Political Analysis, the WEB Dubois Review, and the National Political Science Review), and in the popular press (Urbanite Magazine, Salon.com, Africana.com, TheRoot.com, the Washington Post, thegrio.com). My first book Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-hop and Black Politics was published in June 2011, and was one of the first books to empirically examine the political effect of hip-hop on black communities. Of my teaching one student wrote:
“Professor Spence is one of the most influential professors I have ever encountered at Hopkins. He was an amazing professor for several reasons: his practical yet brilliant insights on racial politics, his uncanny ability to dissect any issue both inside and outside the classroom, and his unique teaching style. His lectures were always engaging and I often walked away from class more interested and more motivated than I was before.”
I received my bachelor’s and doctoral degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A proud native of the Detroit area, I am also a husband and a father of five (I am “incredibly productive”).
