The Ralph J. Bunche Award is presented annually by the American Political Science Association (APSA) to honor the best scholarly work in political science that explores the phenomenon of ethnic and cultural pluralism.
Citation from the Award Committee:
In this bold and compelling book, Shatema Threadcraft brings our attention to that what has been hidden and purposely covered up: Black femicide. Threadcraft examines what this means for how we think about the future of democracy, social movements, and Black politics. In doing so, she plows new ground in REP specifically, and in American politics more broadly. While much of American politics research is justifiably focused on the actions of political actors when they are alive and the aftermath of death when it is high profile/spectacular; Threadcraft asks us to consider what the ‘unspectacular’ death of Black women has obscured. Specifically, Threadcraft points us in the direction of unruly and courageous Black women who have performed the labor of resurrecting democracy. In doing so, she centers the practices of women like Ida B. Wells, Mamie Till-Bradley, and Toni Morrison (among others) in the larger story of democracy making and of democratic renewal in the United States. Not only is this a theoretically rich book; it is methodologically sophisticated as Threadcraft brings a deft understanding of the modes of analysis in multiple fields (Black Studies, English, Gender Studies, American Studies) into conversation with political theory and REP.
This committee felt Threadcraft’s book was especially deserving of the award because it follows the tradition of Ralph J. Bunche in being unflinching in presenting research—sometimes uncomfortable but always focused on laying bare the sharp contradictions between American democratic ideals and the lived realities of racial minorities.
Photo Credit – Mabo Djedje Serge
Shatema Threadcraft is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of the multi award winning books The Labors of Resurrection: Black Women, Necromancy and Morrisonian Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2025) and Intimate Justice: the Black Female Body and the Body Politic (Oxford University Press, 2016). Her articles “Anti-Black Violence and Toni Morrison’s Democratic Storytelling” (American Political Science Review) and “Intimate Justice, Political Obligation and the Dark Ghetto” (Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society) were awarded the Foundations of Political Theory’s 2026 and 2015 Okin-Young Award, respectively. The award recognizes the best article on feminist political theory published in an English language academic journal in the previous year. She co-convenes the Black Politics/Theory/History Workshop with Juliet Hooker, Minkah Makalani and Deva Woodly. Her work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, Political Theory, Contemporary Political Theory, The Du Bois Review, Signs, Politics & Gender, Race and Social Problems, Philosophical Topics, Theoretical Criminology and The Washington Post.
APSA thanks the committee members for their service: Andy Aoki (Chair) of Augsburg University, Lafleur Stephens-Dougan of Princeton University, and Megan Ming Francis of the University of Washington