Hyacinth Miller

Hyacinth Miller is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Rutgers University–Newark, where she teaches in both the Department of Africana Studies and the Department of Political Science. She also lectures in Latino and Caribbean Studies and Political Science at Rutgers–New Brunswick. She teaches courses on Africana Studies, Caribbean studies and politics, and comparative politics. Her research interests explore Black immigrant political incorporation, Caribbean political development, and race/ethnicity/identity politics.

Hyacinth also directs the Public Service Leadership Program at the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America and is a co-founder of the Rutgers University Atlantic Reparatory Justice Research Lab. Her extensive professional background includes roles in government affairs, criminal justice reform, and development, with experience at the JEHT Foundation, the Association for Paroling Authorities International, New York City Council and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Also a PhD candidate in the Joint PhD Program in Global Urban Studies and Urban Systems at Rutgers, Hyacinth’s doctoral research focuses on Black women in elected office. Her previous scholarly work includes a refereed journal article on West Indian political representation in New Jersey and various research projects in Colombia, Panama, the USVI and South Korea.

Her commitment to advancing the understanding of Black women in politics [locally and globally] and the political dynamism of the Caribbean and African region and diaspora is evident through her research, teaching, and service.

https://www.njspotlightnews.org/video/nj-spotlight-news-november-7-2024/

Publications:

• Miller, Hyacinth. (2018). “Black, Foreign-Born and Elected: West Indians in New Jersey’s Political Offices.” National Political Science Review, 19(1), 79-96.

Media Appearances/Speaking Engagements:

• Panelist and moderator, “Decoloniality as Pedagogy” Roundtable, defying inequalities and coloniality, an interdisciplinary perspective, Musée d’ethnographie de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

• Presenter, So you think you know civics: “What is Civic Participation” Morven Museum and Garden, Princeton Public Library and New Jersey Council for the Humanities

Latest Media: 

• Did unconscious racial bias contribute to Harris’ defeat?

Previous Organizations: 

• Sheila Y Oliver Center for Politics and Race

• JEHT Foundation

• U.S. House of Representatives

Accomplishments:

• Rutgers Global Faculty Innovation in Global Learning

• Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program [Waitlist]

• Nomination, Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching

Upcoming Projects:

• Black Women in New Jersey Politics

• Sawyer Seminar - Reparations

• Atlantic Reparatory Justice Lab

Through my research, I attempt to center and amplify Black women's political voices. I also seek to platform the contributions of Caribbean and African descended people in the Diaspora. Lastly, using a critical lens, I seek to unpack and deconstruct the colonial mechanisms that have lead to the call for reparative justices.

"Just Takes" is an Op-Ed/thought piece/writing initiative at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice. Affiliated-faculty and Rutgers Researchers on Race can submit pieces of writing of 500 words or less pitched to orient their research towards a more public audience and/or as relevant for a current issue in the broad area of global racial justice. 

See Hyacinth Miller's "Just Take" here: https://globalracialjustice.rutgers.edu/Just-Takes