The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
Cook Center Postdoctoral Associate Elizabeth Degefe coauthored a piece in The Fulcrum. In the piece titled, The propaganda of ‘meritocracy’, Degefe and her co author, Jelani Ince, discuss current interpretations of merit and its effect on discussions of diversity, inclusion, equity and opportunity. Elizabeth is a Postdoctoral Associate in Duke University’s Samuel Dubois Cook Center…
Cook Center Doctoral Fellow Arko Dasgupta recently wrote a piece for the India International Centre Quarterly Journal. This piece, titled “Kala Bagai: An Early Indian Woman in America”, is an exploration through the life of Kala Bagai and the complexities immigrants starting a life in the United States face. Dasgupta was also featured in the…
Cook Center Core Faculty Keisha Bentley-Edwards was interviewed for the “Silence in Sikeston” documentary and in the “Silence in Sikeston” podcast episode, Racism Can Make You Sick. These projects tell the story of the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright and the ensuing failure of the first federal attempt to prosecute a lynching. In the episode,…
Founding Director William Darity Jr. co-authored a new literature review in The BMJ that directly addresses one of the most persistent critiques of reparations: the claim that no feasible plan exists. The proposal outlines direct monetary payments as the clearest economic measure of the cumulative and intergenerational effects of white supremacy. The article argues that…
Cook Center Director William A. Darity Jr. will be among the featured speakers at an upcoming public hearing hosted by the New York State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies (NYSCCRR) on Saturday, March 21st, 2026, in Staten Island, New York. The hearing, titled “Economic Development: Quantifying Harms,” is part of the Commission’s statewide effort to…
New research co-authored by Faculty Affiliate Sarah Gaither, Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, explores how something as routine as demographic forms can influence feelings of inclusion and identity among marginalized communities. Published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the study—“Enumeration or Exclusion? Demographic Forms and Latine Identity”—investigates how demographic questions may…
