Publications

Research Interests & Projects

Dr. Carla’s research interests include women’s and girls’ health, sexuality, and relationships; black girlhood in America; hip hop and youth culture; 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 published study of black adolescent girls’ social networking profiles, 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 girls from the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Fellowships & Grants

In November 2006, Dr. Carla completed a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship appointment at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, where she further explored the ways in which adolescent girls use media and hip hop culture to negotiate their sexuality, construct identity, and navigate adolescence. Her research has been supported by a number of institutions, fellowships, and grants, including:

• Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
• University of Michigan (U-M) Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health / National Institutes of Health Doctoral Training Fellowship
• U-M Collaboratory for Advanced Research and Academic Technologies
• U-M Institute for Research on Women and Gender
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation Health Policy Research Fellowship Program
• Woodrow Wilson Foundation/Johnson & Johnson Dissertation Grants Program in Women’s Health

Selected Publications by Dr. Carla

Stokes, C.E. (2010). “Get on my level!”: How black American adolescent girls construct identity and negotiate sexuality on the Internet. In Sharon R. Mazzarella (Ed.). Girl Wide Web 2.0: Revisiting girls, the Internet, and the negotiation of identity. Peter Lang Publishers.

Stokes, C.E. (2007, March-April). Representin’ in cyberspace: Sexual scripts, self-definition, and hip hop culture in black American adolescent girls’ home pages. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 9(2): 169-184.

Stokes, C.E. (2004) Representin’ In Cyberspace: Sexuality, Hip Hop, and Self-Definition In Home Pages Constructed By Black Adolescent Girls In The HIV/AIDS Era. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Stokes C.E. & Gant L.M. (2002). Turning the tables on the HIV/AIDS epidemic: Hip hop as a tool for reaching African-American adolescent girls. African American Research Perspectives, 8(2), 70-81.

Book Projects

Dr. Carla is writing a book based on her research and experience working with young women and girls.

Curriculum

Dr. Carla is developing a curriculum and educational materials based on her pioneering research and extensive work with young women and girls.