Dr Matlon is an urban sociologist and scholar of race and colonial legacies in Africa and the African diaspora. Her scholarship interrogates the ways “Blackness” operates as a signifier, intersects with gender norms, manifests in popular culture, and illuminates our understanding of political economy. Her book, A Man among Other Men: The Crisis of Black Masculinity in Racial Capitalism (Cornell University Press) investigates the relationship between masculinity, work, and globalization in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. A Man among Other Men has won twelve awards from five associations across four disciplines, including the American Sociological Association's 2024 Distinguished Scholarly Book Award and the International Studies Association's John Ruggie ISA 2024 Best Book Award, the most prestigious publication awards in those disciplines. It also received an honorable mention for the African Studies Association Best Book Prize.