Prof. Eschmann Joins BU Center for Antiracist Research as Assistant Director of Research

The new Boston University Center for Antiracist Research has named BUSSW faculty member Robert Eschmann to its inaugural leadership team as the assistant director of research.

The Center for Antiracist Research, launched in June 2020, was founded by race scholar Ibram X. Kendi to address pervasive problems of racial injustice guided by a world-class, multi-disciplinary group of researchers and practitioners. As the Center develops its first programs and partnerships, Eschmann will work on building the affiliate program, a network of experts and innovators that will form a core component of the Center.

Dr. Eschmann is an assistant professor of human behavior at Boston University School of Social Work, faculty affiliate in BU’s Department of Sociology, and faculty affiliate at BU’s African American Studies Program. He is also a 2020-2021 fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society where he is working on his upcoming book, When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Era (University of California Press), which will systematically explore the ways online communication has changed the expressions of racism, its effects on communities of color and society, and resistance to racism at individual and structural levels.

Eschmann writes on educational inequality, community violence, racism, social media, and youth wellbeing. His research investigates the effects of online experiences on real-world outcomes and seeks to uncover individual, group, and intuitional-level barriers to racial and economic equity. He pays special attention to the heroic efforts everyday people make to combat those barriers. From his work on the relationship between online communication and community violence, to his current focus on race and racism in the digital era, Eschmann’s research bridges the gap between virtual and face-to-face experiences.

Notably, his work has earned him appearances in numerous major media publications, from The New York Times to Bustle, and in top academic journals including Social Problems, Annual Review of Sociology, and Youth & Society.

The Center for Antiracist Research

The mission of the Center is to convene researchers and practitioners from various disciplines to figure out novel and practical ways to understand, explain, and solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice. It fosters exhaustive racial research, research-based policy innovation, data-driven educational and advocacy campaigns, and narrative-change initiatives. The Center is working toward building an antiracist society that ensures equity and justice for all.

What is Antiracist Research?

Whereas racist research historically has posed the question, “What is wrong with people?” antiracist research now asks a different question, a better question: “What is wrong with policies?” Our belief is that framing research on race and racism around antiracist questions leads to antiracist narratives, effective policy solutions, and impactful advocacy campaigns that cut to the root of racial inequality: racist policy.