Cornell in Buffalo and the Cornell High Road Fellows Present:
“Health Equity and Democracy”
featuring Jamila Michener
Thursday, June 28th 6-8pm, TR Inaugural Site
Jamila Michener will be speaking at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site about her book Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics:
“Medicaid is the single largest public health insurer in the United States, covering upwards of 70 million Americans. Crucially, Medicaid is also an intergovernmental program that yokes poverty to federalism: the federal government determines its broad contours, while states have tremendous discretion over how Medicaid is designed and implemented. Where some locales are generous and open handed, others are tight-fisted and punitive. In Fragmented Democracy, Jamila Michener demonstrates the consequences of such disparities for democratic citizenship. Unpacking how federalism transforms Medicaid beneficiaries’ interpretations of government and structures their participation in politics, the book examines American democracy from the vantage point(s) of those who are living in or near poverty, (disproportionately) Black or Latino, and reliant on a federated government for vital resources.”
Jamila Michener is an Assistant professor in the department of Government at Cornell University. Her research focuses on poverty and racial inequality in American politics. More specifically, her work explores two overarching themes: the conditions under which economically and racially disadvantaged groups engage in the political process, and the role of the state in shaping the political and economic trajectories of marginalized communities. Centering on these concerns, her research has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
