Meet the New Faculty: Elizabeth Ananat
New professor examines dynamics of poverty, welfare
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Durham, NC -- Assistant professor of public policy studies Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat first became interested in inequality when she was a girl growing up in Evanston, Ill.
“It was a diverse community, a lot like Durham,” she says. “At school, I saw that my friends and other students had different experiences depending on what was going on for them outside of school, and it challenged me to think about why.”
Today Ananat researches the causes and effects of poverty that persists from generation to generation and examining the role that neighborhoods and families play in maintaining inequality.
“I’m fascinated with the dynamics of poverty -- how and why inequality perpetuates itself. I want my research to identify places where policies can intervene, where we can change that process.”
Ananat joined the Sanford Institute this year after completing her Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she examined ways that divorce, legalized abortion and racial segregation affect intergenerational poverty. Her current research investigates ways that birth control affects family planning as well as ways that poverty drives marriage and divorce.
She is especially interested in how women make decisions that affect both their economic situation and the circumstances into which their children are born.
In her public policy studies seminar, “Poverty Policy after Welfare Reform,” Ananat challenges students to scrutinize welfare reform and its consequences.
“I ask them to think about why we give money to women, and why we feel ambivalent about it,” she said. “Also, there are a lot of very poor men who are victims of globalization and the shift to a technology-based economy. They have a big influence on children and families, but no one really talks about them.”
Ananat enjoys her students because they are engaged in the class.
“They have different backgrounds, and a variety of experiences with poverty,” she said. “Some have worked with homelessness, some with international refugees and some with neighborhood advocacy. There is plenty they know that I don’t, which is great for me, because I like learning from my students.”
In her favorite assignment, she asked students to recommend a change in anti-poverty policy, and then present the idea as if they were in a Congressional hearing.
“What should poverty policy look like?” she said. “The subject is dynamic, and people don’t have answers to all the problems. It’s great to teach students the basics of how to do research, and then see them tackle this question. With their different skill sets, they can already see so clearly some answers that others like me can’t see.”
Ananat credits her mother, an advocate for early investment in children, with inspiring her interest in public policy.
“She went to graduate school and ran a child care center, and eventually shaped policy at the state level. She translated theory into direct action to benefit kids. I grew up thinking this is the way to do things.”
Ananat lives in downtown Durham where she likes walking through neighborhoods, watching them change from street to street.
“I was fascinated with this as a kid, and it still inspires my interest today,” she said. “You know it when a neighborhood changes – everyone knows it – but how do we know it, and what do we know as a result?”
