Research interests: Cultural studies; media representations of older women, particularly Jewish and African American women; women’s studies; advocacy for the homeless
Research Scholar since 2001
Hant received her Ph.D. in Higher Education from UCLA. She was a college administrator as well as an instructor in Women’s Studies at Chapman University. Presently she teaches Women’s Studies courses at Chapman as well as courses focusing on later life issues.
In 2006, Dr. Hant donated funds for an annual CSW award called The Renaissance Award that rewards the rebirth of academic aspirations among women whose college careers were interrupted or delayed by family and/or career obligations and encourages achievement in the pursuit of a bachelor’s degree at UCLA. Recipients include Sheretta Thomas, Michelle Monet Farrar, Griselda Rodriguez, Shirelle Ruby Alexander, Beverly Ann Woodard, Gabrielle M. Thomas, Christine Diane Coe, and Iris Lucero.
Her research project, tentatively titled “Television’s Female Pioneers: New Narratives of Aging,” concerns the politics of representation of again, particularly on television and specifically Six Feet Under, Brothers and Sisters, and Damages. A second project focuses on African-American women and their historical and cultural positions in the United States, examining the lives of several iconic women from four periods of American black history: slavery, reconstruction, the 1950s and 1960s, and the twenty-first century. These women include Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Mary McLeod Bethune, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, and bell hooks.
ASSOCIATIONS
President of the Board of Directors, P.A.T.H. (People Assisting the Homeless)
Board Member, International Society for Retirement Planning
Board Member, California Council on Gerontology and Geriatrics
Board Member, Los Angeles Airport Industry/Education Council
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“Ageism, Stereotypes, Television”
“Creation of the ‘Yiddishe Mammeh’ Stereotype”
“TV Jewish Mothers: The Creation of a Multiethnic Antiheroine”
“African American and Jewish Mothers/Wives on Television: Persistent Stereotypes,” Media/Cultural Studies: A Critical Approach (2009),
“Judaism and Motherhood” and “Jewish Mothers” in The Encyclopedia of Motherhood (2010)
“Attitudes Toward Aging” and “Orthodox Judaism” in The Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today’s World (2011).