Rae Baker

Rae Baker is a community-based researcher and assistant professor whose work is dedicated to building anti-oppressive relationships and communities. Their areas of research include community land use and food systems, racism and racial capitalism in settler colonial contexts, transformative and restorative justice, feminist and queer studies, trauma informed approaches to research, and housing politics and tenant activism. At UC, Dr. Baker excitedly instructs courses in qualitative research, applications of qualitative methods, critical pedagogy, and feminist research methods. 

Finding outlets for action is an important part of their practice, from labor organizing and tenant activism, to building partnerships for community safety. They were a member of the Tricycle Collective (2015-2019), a Detroit-based foreclosure support group serving households at risk of property tax foreclosure, and later served as a director in one of Detroit’s housing legal aid non-profits throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With fellow tenants, they co-founded Detroit Renter City (2019-2021), a city-wide tenant action group working to stop evictions and the displacement of Black Detroiters. 

Dr. Baker holds a teaching credential in Adult Education from the Canadian College of Educators, a certificate in Decolonizing Education from the Centre for Indigegogy, and has completed the First Nations Indigenous Data Governance OCAP data sovereignty training. 

Dr. Baker recently co-edited an Urban Studies Foundation-funded volume about tenant activism and perspectives emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. They are a member of the Decolonizing Cities Collective, Urban Praxis Workshop, a Fulbright alum, and a first-generation university graduate. They are an assistant professor in the Education and Community Action Research doctoral program at the University of Cincinnati, and a past instructor with the Prison Mindfulness Institute.

In pursuit of ongoing learning, they recently completed a post-graduate certificate in trauma informed practice from the School of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University (Ontario, Canada). They have a PhD in critical geography from York University (Toronto, Canada), and an MA in labor studies from McMaster University (Hamilton, Canada).

Dr. Baker is available to supervise graduate students and to join research collaborations. 

Grant: #Baker ACLS 07-01-2024 -09-30-2025 American Council of Learned Societies Assessing Surveillance Efficacy and Fostering Visions for Community Safety for Social Justice in Detroit, MI Role:PI 93450.00 Hold Level:Non Profit

Grant: #Baker ACLS 07-01-2024 -09-30-2025 American Council of Learned Societies Assessing Surveillance Efficacy and Fostering Visions for Community Safety for Social Justice in Detroit, MI Role:PI 93450.00 Hold Level:Non Profit