LaTiana Ridgell , MPH

LaTiana Ridgell is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, Camden. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from Drexel University. Prior to her doctoral studies, LaTiana worked at a non-profit organization as a public health nurse supporting first-time mothers in Philadelphia. She also taught classes for a non-profit that introduced high school students of color to college-level courses. These courses included Reimagining the Child and The Bluest Eye, which placed a focus on the child at the center of social, historical, and psychological interest. Through this work, she gained an appreciation for multigenerational narratives. This led her to the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, which focuses on the social, cultural, and political aspects of childhood and children’s experiences. Within this field, LaTiana’s research interests include Black girlhood studies, visual and material culture, and children’s consumer culture. She has presented on #BlackGirlMagic as a digital artifact at the American Anthropology Association. Currently, LaTiana is completing her dissertation titled “Just For Me!: The Interpellation of Black Mothers and Black Girls Through Children’s Hair Relaxer Advertisements.” This research explores how hair care corporations employed culturally specific representations of Black girlhood that appealed to Black mothers and Black girls. Her project broadly explores these advertisements as cultural artifacts of Black girls’ consumer culture.