Yasser Arafat Payne

Yasser Arafat Payne is a Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware's College of Arts & Sciences, with a joint appointment as an associate professor in the Department of Africana Studies. His academic work focuses on street ethnographic research examining policing and reentry, economic well-being and educational inequality, and gun violence with street-identified Black Americans through the innovative Street Participatory Action Research (Street PAR) framework.

Payne earned his Ph.D. and M.Phil. from the City University of New York Graduate Center, an M.A. from Seton Hall University, and a B.A. from Wagner College. His educational background has informed his distinctive approach to studying marginalized communities through the lens of those who live within them.

Payne's research program challenges dominant arguments in the literature by asserting that all of the streets of Black and Brown America are resilient. His work focuses on racial identity, street identity, school violence, physical violence, Gangster Rap music and culture, and the methodology of street participatory action research. He has developed Street PAR as a framework that includes three essential features: research orientation, intervention for Street PAR members, and a vehicle for action and activism in local communities.

His recent publications reveal a consistent focus on violence exposure, police-community relations, reentry challenges, and resilience among street-identified Black populations. Payne's work spans multiple disciplines including criminology, sociology, public health, and urban studies, with particular attention to the intersection of structural inequality and individual experience.

Payne actively engages with media on issues of policing and structural violence, as evidenced by his July 2024 commentary on stop-and-frisk policies for NBC News and his August 2023 presentation to the Wilmington Reparations Task Force. He co-authored the book 'Murder Town, USA: Homicide, Structural Violence and Activism in Wilmington' (Rutgers University Press, 2023), which has become a key resource for understanding gun violence in urban communities.

As an educator, Payne teaches specialized courses on street ethnography, Gangster Rap Music and Culture, Racial Stratification, and core courses on Race, Class & Gender and Race, Gender & Poverty. His teaching philosophy centers on bringing the lived experiences of street-identified populations into academic discourse through innovative pedagogical approaches.

Payne leads a research lab focused on Street PAR methodology, training community members to document experiences of street-identified Black populations through surveys, interviews, and dual interviews. His approach emphasizes community ownership of research and the transformative potential of participatory methodologies in addressing structural violence.