
Education
Ph.D. 2022, Northwestern University, Evanston IL
M.A. 2019, Northwestern University, Evanston IL
B.A. 2017, The City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York NY
Short Biography
Andrene Wright-Johnson is social scientist interested in Black political behavior and urban politics at the intersection of race, gender, and class. She currently serves as an Anna Julia Cooper Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and will begin her appointment as an Assistant Professor in the department of African American Studies in Fall of 2024. She is also a faculty affiliate in the Political Science department, a faculty affiliate at the University of Wisconsin Election Research Center, and a Senior Research specialist at the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Wright’s work seeks to advance our understanding of identity politics, explore the internal dynamics of Black politics more precisely, and situate a Black feminist consciousness in political decision-making. She continues to champion techniques that best account for intra-group differences within marginalized communities and is working on a book project that’s committed to the workings of Black racial groups within an urban context. Her work has been supported by the American Political Science Association, the Center for American Women and Politics, the Association for the Study of Black Women and Politics and the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy.
Publications
Wright, Andrene (2023). Telling the Tale: Black Women Politicians and their Use of Experiential Rhetoric. Politics & Gender, 1-28. doi:10.1017/S1743923X23000077
Wright, Andrene, Crawford, Claire and Lenear, India. (2023). “The Legacy of Dr. Mae C. King: NCOBPS Founders Symposium, 2023”. A Tributary piece in the National Review of Black Politics. 1-2
Book Chapters
Wright, Andrene and McNeely, Natasha. (2023) “I’m a Mother First: How Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ Intersecting Identities Inform her Criminal Justice Reform Policies” in Distinct Identities: Minority Women in U.S Politics, Vol.2. Nadia E. Brown and Sarah Allen Gershon (editors) New York, NY. Routledge
Public Scholarship
Wright, Andrene Z. May 7, 2022. “Black Motherhood Shapes Leadership in Unique Ways” The Washington Post
Block Jr. Ray, Wright, Andrene and Angelica Powell, Mia. March 6, 2023. “Americans Remain Hopeful about Democracy Despite Fears of its Demise—and are acting on that hope” The Conversation