Death by Design

20 November | Sanyu A. Mojola Seminar

Thursday

November

2025

6:00 pm

7:30 pm

- Death by Design: Producing Racial Health Inequality in the Shadow of the Capitol -

Presentation of a research project as part of the "Jeudis de la Maison Suger", a residents' research seminar.

This session will welcome Sanyu A. Mojola for a presentation on the production of racial health inequalities in Washington, D.C., analysed through history, urban policies, and social dynamics, as part of the “Jeudis de la Maison Suger” research seminar.

Presentation of the project

Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, has the largest racial life expectancy gap in the country. It has also been the site of some of the nation’s worst epidemics: maternal and infant mortality, homicides, heroin overdoses, and HIV/AIDS. These public health crises have disproportionately affected African American communities. Why and how do racial health inequalities persist? Tracing the city’s history from its founding in the late eighteenth century, and drawing on a range of sources—including archival records, life history interviews, census data, vital statistics, and epidemiological surveillance—this work highlights how the city’s physical, social, and political design contributes to the production and reproduction of Black mortality.

Sanyu A. Mojola Death by Design — © Sanyu A. Mojola

Speaker

Sanyu A. Mojola is Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where she holds the Maurice P. During Chair in Demographic Studies. She directed Princeton’s Office of Population Research from 2020 to 2024. She has been a visiting fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute (Hutchins Center for African and African-American Studies) as well as at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. She is currently a research fellow in residence at the Centre for International Research (CERI) at Sciences Po.