Xavier University of Louisiana professor of political science Pamela Waldron-Moore, Ph.D., has received both a spring 2022 United Negro College Fund (UNCF)/Mellon Faculty Residency Award and a RAND National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. Dr. Waldron-Moore, who is currently on sabbatical, is working on a project book, entitled "Knowledge Economy and Sustainable Development in Post-Disaster Societies of the Black Diaspora." The UNCF/Mellon grant will cover her full salary for the spring 2022 semester. She also received a distinguished scholar award at New York University (NYU) in New York for the period of her sabbatical, which will help cover the costs of her research and travel. 

Dr. Waldron-Moore's paths first crossed with the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit global policy think tank, after Hurricane Katrina. Representatives from RAND and the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School visited New Orleans and spoke to Dr. Waldron-Moore about advancing their relationship with Xavier.

To help faculty understand the importance and role of policy analysis, Dr. Waldron-Moore recommended that RAND invest in training for the faculty of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Following her recommendations, RAND and the Pardee Graduate School later reached out and offered support and funding for a faculty leadership program. She was invited to participate in the inaugural program in 2013 and has recommended a faculty member from XULA to attend every year since. 

For the past few years, Dr. Waldron-Moore has been a part of the RAND advisory board, and in 2020, they approached her about being involved in a research project regarding the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the gulf coast. The research proposal was written and submitted to NSF for funding, which was granted and implemented in fall 2021. The project is titled "How Built and Social Environments Affect COVID-19 Disaster Impacts in the Gulf of Mexico."  

The three-year grant, which will conclude in 2024, allows Dr. Waldron-Moore to work with her students to engage in data collection and analysis about the different ways that the pandemic has impacted Louisiana and the wider Gulf Coast. Though the research still needs to be processed and finalized, she and her students are already noticing trends of disparate impact on people of color and those with less socioeconomic resources. 

"COVID has only built on past injustices," Dr. Waldron-Moore said.  

Despite being on sabbatical, Dr. Waldron-Moore remains very involved in both the research analysis of the RAND award and her writings on the knowledge economy.

Though Hurricane Ida derailed her plans to relocate to New York for the duration of her sabbatical, Dr. Waldron-Moore has still been given access to vast digital references and two consultant editors through the awards. Dr. Waldron-Moore expressed how the collaboration and communication with her academic peers through the program's networking opportunities has been an excellent experience.   

As part of the research conducted for her book, Dr. Waldron-Moore is reviewing the post-disaster phase of three distinct regions, Louisiana, Haiti, and Rwanda, to formulate potential long-term and sustainable solutions for dealing with the aftermath of disasters. Each of the locations that Dr. Waldron-Moore is analyzing hosts a concentration of the Black diaspora and has or is currently facing some type of post-disaster relief effort and recovery. Louisiana has an impactful relationship with climate change. Haiti is facing political unrest and climate-related natural disasters. Rwanda is also facing political disaster and healing after the infamous 1994 genocide of the Tutsi ethnic group.  

According to Dr. Waldron-Moore, an idea economy, or communal trade of ideas, based on the culture and heritage of the Black diaspora, can lead to more sustainable recovery efforts in the face of disaster. She explains that the "first disaster" of slavery, the root cause of the diaspora itself, has had a profound and lasting impact with social and economic implications. A huge gap in development between the displaced diaspora and the developed "global north" has led to a trend in the diaspora depending on the global north's idea economy and trade products. That dependence then cyclically further deepens the divide. 

The Black diaspora, having faced injustice and prejudice, has had little choice but to fall into a trend of relying on the global west during times of disaster, according to Dr. Waldron-Moore. 

"Technology is not transferred; it is sold," said Dr. Waldron-Moore. "We think we are participating in equal trade, but it is unequal because of the growth that the [global north] has gained from it, while we [the diaspora] are not yet on our own two feet. We cannot yet challenge the north and say 'we deserve more' [for the materials we provide].'" 

She uses an example from her home country of Guyana in the Caribbean to explain further how the global north engages in an unfair profit margin. Bauxite, an essential component of aluminum, is mined from the soil in Guyana and other regions that are a majority Black and brown. The companies turn the mineral into more "in-demand" products, earning disparate and much higher profit margins than what is paid for the raw mineral.   

Dr. Waldron-Moore clarifies that this phenomenon is not just isolated to materials but also labor. 

"Labor moves easily from one place to another. When a migrant comes here from one part of the world, they are not gaining the full value for their knowledge and skills," said Dr. Waldron-Moore." They are the ones with the intellectual capacity, but that is essentially stolen from them for a small fee because of the need to survive, to eat and find shelter." 

Dr. Waldron-Moore suggests that engaging in the global knowledge economy, starting from the ground up, can lead to positive change. Using the example of a dam, she points out that the global north often provides "aid" for the global south but does not share the knowledge of how to build the technology providing the "aid." At times, she argues, this "aid" even harms the local population while enriching globalization.  

Dr. Waldron-Moore's research and subsequent book challenge the diaspora to find a different solution that will lead to more equity. Utilizing the African concept of "Sankofa" in her writings to encourage the community to learn from history, she hopes moving forward that the diaspora will develop and create new, more sustainable paths.