Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Three Mississippi State sociologists will sign copies of their recently published books at Barnes & Noble at MSU this Saturday [Jan. 12].

Beginning at 10 a.m., Department of Sociology assistant professors Rachel Allison, Margaret A. Hagerman and Braden Leap will meet with the public and answer questions.

Adele Crudden, department head, said the books are “just one way that our faculty respond to emerging social concerns,” and she encouraged members of the community to meet the authors this weekend to learn more about their work.

“The sociology department is fortunate to have incredibly talented faculty as evidenced by the recent publication of three books addressing important and timely topics: climate change, racial inequality and gender issues in sports,” Crudden said.

Rachel Allison’s book, “Kicking Center: Gender and the Selling of Women’s Professional Soccer,” is a 200-page work published by Rutgers University Press which analyzes the challenges and opportunities for a women’s soccer league breaking into the male-dominated center of U.S. professional sport. Allison’s work examines how those working with and for the sport address these challenges in selling and marketing their league.

Margaret A. Hagerman’s book, “White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America,” is a 280-page, research-based volume published by New York University Press. Over a two-year period, Hagerman conducted in-depth interviews with affluent white children and their families to observe how they make sense of privilege, unequal educational opportunities and police violence. Based on these dialogues, Hagerman’s work provides a detailed examination of the role that children and families play in the reproduction of racism and racial inequality in America.

Braden Leap’s book, “Gone Goose,” a 256-page manuscript published by Temple University press, examines how Sumner, Missouri residents adapted as shifting climatological conditions eliminated more than 100,000 geese from their traditional wintering ground in the local community. Near the Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri, shifting climates and changes in land-use forced the geese to relocate from what residents had proclaimed to be the “wild goose capital of the world.”  Leap’s book explores how losing the geese created a new and unfamiliar landscape for the residents of Sumner. 

MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,300 students, 300 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs and 25 academic majors offered in 14 departments. Complete details about the College of Arts and Sciences or the sociology department may be found at www.cas.msstate.edu or www.sociology.msstate.edu.  

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.