African and Afro-American Studies

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Brandeis University
Department of African and Afro-American Studies
MS 004 PO Box 549110
Waltham, MA 02454-9110

781-736-2090
781-736-2095 (fax)

Rabb, Rm 115

Academic Administrator:
Molly B. Krakauer
krakauer@brandeis.edu

Mingus Ulysses Mapps Location: Olin-Sang 122 Mail: Department of African and Afro-American Studies Brandeis University P.O. Box 549110, MS 004 Waltham, MA 02454-9110 Email: mmapps@brandeis.edu Phone: (781) 736-2748

Areas of Specialization

• Urban Politics
• Race and American Politics
• Race, Inequality and Public Policy
• Civil Rights Law and Politics
• Campaigns and Elections

Background and Description

Mingus Mapps is a political scientist and an Assistant Professor at Brandeis University, where he holds a joint appointment in the Politics and African and Afro-American Studies Departments. 

Professor Mapps’ research and teaching interests focus on issues at the intersection of race and American politics.  At Brandeis, he offers courses on “Urban Politics,” “Race, Ethnicity and American Elections,” and “Race, Inequality and Public Policy.”

Mapps received a B.A. in political science from Reed College and a Ph.D. from the Government Department at Cornell University Government Department. Mapps joined the faculty at Brandeis University in the Fall of 2007.  

Currently, Professor Mapps is working on several research projects.  He is finishing a book manuscript, Mapping Power: How Redistricting Shaped the Racial and Partisan Composition of Congress and State Legislatures, 1965-2006.  Mapps is also working on several scholarly articles. These include a paper on the impact controversial ballot initiatives (like plebiscites on same-sex marriage) have on voter turnout in presidential elections. Mapps is also revising several articles that explore the impact welfare reforms passed in 1996 had on public opinion toward spending on poverty programs.

Prior to joining the faculty at Brandeis University, Mapps served as:

• A FlorenceLevy Kay Fellow in Urban Politics and Lecturer in African and Afro-American Studies and Politics at BrandeisUniversity
  
  
• An Assistant Professor in the Department of Government and Legal Studies and the Africana Studies Program at Bowdoin College
  
  
• A Visiting Research Fellow in the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Professor Mapps is married to Kim Williams, an Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She is the author of the book, Mark One or More: Civil Rights in Multiracial America. Professor Williams received her Ph.D. from the Government Department at Cornell University.