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University of California Press

About the Book

While considerable attention has been given to encounters between black citizens and police in urban communities, there have been limited analyses of such encounters in suburban settings. Race, Place, and Suburban Policing tells the full story of social injustice, racialized policing, nationally profiled shootings, and the ambiguousness of black life in a suburban context. Through compelling interviews, participant observation, and field notes from a marginalized black enclave located in a predominately white suburb, Andrea S. Boyles examines a fraught police-citizen interface, where blacks are segregated and yet forced to negotiate overlapping spaces with their more affluent white counterparts.

About the Author

Andrea S. Boyles is Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Tulane University. She is a feminist, race scholar, and author of You Can't Stop the Revolution: Community Disorder and Social Ties in Post-Ferguson America.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword, by Rod K. Brunson
Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction
1 • Race, Place, and Policing in the United States
2 • “You’re nothing but trash over here . . .”: Black Faces in White Places
3 • There’s a New Sheriff in Town: Th e Police Making Contact
4 • “It’s the same song . . .”: The Tragedies of Kevin Johnson and Charles “Cookie” Thornton
5 • The Road to Reconciliation
Conclusion and Discussion

Epilogue
Appendix: Study Participants
Notes
References
Index
 

Reviews

"Boyles brings two fresh perspectives to the table of policing literature. First, her focus is on suburbia rather than the more traditional policing milieu of cities. Second, she expands the conversation from the police to the body politic as a whole. This latter novelty is arguably the most important addition Boyles makes to the policing literature."
Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books
"Rarely do we scrutinize the persistent inequalities between white and black America at the root of these social problems. It is in this context that Andrea Boyles’ book Race, Place, and Suburban Policing is so timely... informative."
Contemporary Sociology
"Boyles presents a unique and innovative understanding of the relationship between race, place, and policing."
Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology
"Sounding the call for more research into suburbs is Andrea Boyles’s very timely Race, Place, and Suburban Policing."
Sociological Forum
"It is not serendipity that an academic engages a topic that suddenly enters the national conversation; rather, it is a reflection of Dr. Boyles’ attentiveness as a scholar and an author that she chose to write about one of the key civil rights issue of the twenty-first century, just as it was boiling under the national surface."
City & Society
"Contributes to the dialogue surrounding race, place, and policing as it challenges status quo assumptions by giving voice to black citizens and putting their experiences with police at the forefront of the narrative."—Amy Lubitow and Emma Deppa, Teaching Sociology

"The contribution this text makes lies in its devotion to capturing the stories of the people involved. Although the narratives are principally those of Meacham Park’s residents, the author does include pertinent stories from former Kirkwood leaders. This research required 2 years to complete. Few researchers would devote this much time to a study, preferring instead to merely collect quantitative data and produce statistical reports. Boyles’ attention to detail is impressive. Moreover, it is clear from her writing that she values the contributions made by each of the people she interviews."—Brian Withrow, Criminal Justice Review


Race, Place, and Suburban Policing is a timely and important book. Set in a suburb not far from Ferguson, MO, it is a must-read for those who seek a deeper understanding of the social and historical forces that led to the killing of Michael Brown and the protests that took hold of Ferguson in the months following his death.”—Nikki Jones, author of Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner-City Violence

“This book is a powerful and prescient investigation of police–African American community relations in suburban St. Louis. What makes Boyles’ work so compelling is her insistence that contemporary racialized policing be understood through a socio-historical lens. She balances a broad view, including the roots of American policing in slave codes and sundown towns, with the rich and careful analysis of the history of place to offer a groundbreaking contribution.”—Jody Miller, author of Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence and One of the Guys: Girls, Gangs, and Gender

Media

The Socialization and Comfortableness of Microaggressions | Andrea Boyles | TEDxLindenwoodU

Racial, ethnic and gender preconceptions in our social interactions are prevalent sources for microaggressions. Andrea Boyles, Ph.D. based on her own research and experiences exposes the comfortableness of what comes so natural to some while alienating many. Dr. Boyles received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Kansas State University with concentrations in Gender and Criminology. Dr. Boyles, author of Race, Place, and Suburban Policing; Too Close for Comfort, has also taught inmates and correctional officers within the Missouri prison system and presented research on the effects of incarcerated parents on children. This talk was given at Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO at TEDxLindenwoodU an independently organized event using the TED conference format. Learn more about the event at TEDxLindenwoodU.com

Dr. Boyles received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Kansas State University with concentrations in Gender and Criminology. Her research interests are social inequality; gender; the intersection of race, class, and gender; criminology; incarceration; race, place, and policing, ethnography, and community disorder. She has taught a broad series of courses in Anthropology, Sociology, and Criminal Justice ranging from Culture and Communication, Sociocultural Theory, and the Sociology of Poverty and Conflict to Policing, Victimology, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender and Public Policy in Criminal Justice. Dr. Boyles has also taught within the Missouri prison system and presented research on the effects of incarcerated parents on children. As author of Race, Place, and Suburban Policing: Too Close for Comfort, Dr. Boyles's current research hinges on community disorder with another manuscript under contract with the University of California Press. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx