Research Interests & Projects

Dr. Carla’s research interests include black adolescent girls’ sexuality, health, and relationships; hip hop and youth culture; black girlhood in America; and Internet-based gender and sexuality research.  Her work explores intersections of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and age with mass media, youth culture, and the Internet. 

Dr. Carla has examined these topics through a number of scholarly and community-based sexuality education activities, including her dissertation research study, which investigated sexuality, hip hop, and self-definition in Internet home pages constructed by 216 black adolescent girls residing in southern states with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS.  As the first study of black adolescent girls’ home pages, this research won honorable mention in the University of Michigan 2004 Distinguished Dissertation Awards competition in recognition of exceptional and unusually interesting scholarly work produced by doctoral students  (selected from 660 eligible dissertations). Dr. Carla conducted her dissertation study in consultation with an expert panel of black adolescent girls from the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Dr. Carla is following the girls in her dissertation study to investigate further the ways in which black adolescent girls use media and hip hop culture to negotiate their sexuality, construct identity, and navigate adolescence.