Courtney Nava

Courtney Nava is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. Before her time at Grinnell, she held a professorship at the State University of New York. Her research centers around the study of white racial resentment, racial bias, stereotypes, social identity, political tolerance, social movements, and emotions in politics. She primarily utilizes experiments and surveys to apply concepts from psychology to the political space and to examine the causal mechanisms underlying political behavior.

In one study, she examines the extent to which white Americans are preferentially supportive of gun ownership for fellow white Americans, as compared to their support of gun ownership amongst Black Americans. She evaluates stereotypes as the primary mechanism underlying this relationship. In another piece, she examines racial bias in support for protest, white racial identity, and stereotype ascription.

In her work with collaborators, she has studied the effect of empathy on racial bias in support for refugees, the state of political tolerance in the United States, the ways in which "respectability" is racialized, the gender dynamics of white identity, and the effect of social networks on political tolerance.

She has taught college courses since 2017, including Political Psychology, Survey Research Methods, Quantitative Research Methods, Introduction to American Politics, and Congress and the Presidency. At Grinnell, she offers courses in Race and Ethnic Politics in the United States, Political Psychology, Marginalized Identities in the United States, and Introduction to Political Science.