Background/Objectives: Cisgender Black women in the U.S. face disproportionately high HIV rates due to systemic inequities rooted in institutional racism, not individual behaviors. These disparities are particularly severe in the southern U.S., driven by limited access to healthcare, economic instability, and unsafe social environments. Despite its proven effectiveness, PrEP remains significantly underutilized in this population. Methods: This systematic review followed PRISMA guidelines to identify and select relevant studies and used the CASP checklist to appraise the quality of the selected qualitative studies. The review focuses on individual and systemic barriers to PrEP access for cisgender Black women, aiming to guide equitable health interventions and improve HIV prevention efforts. Results: Key barriers include limited PrEP awareness, medical mistrust, and stigma. Financial, structural, and social determinants also hinder access. Facilitators, such as PrEP education, social normalization, trust building, and affordability, were identified as critical to improving uptake. Conclusions: The findings emphasize the need for culturally tailored strategies that build trust, provide education, and empower cisgender Black women to overcome barriers to PrEP access.

This essay uses autoethnography to examine how Islam shapes emotional experiences in the prayer ritual, focusing on kushu’: an emotion described as a state of fear, reverence, humility, and awe. Drawing on Hochschild’s (1983) theory of emotional labor, I argue that kushu’ is cultivated through emotional management to meet personal and collective religious expectations. Emotional labor is compelled by social scripts (Meng, 2008). Attaining the “correct” emotions reassures the individual of their own authenticity and fosters social solidarity with the collective group.

This chapter presents a case study on designing and implementing the undergraduate course AI and the Social Construction of Knowledge at a public university. The course was developed in response to students' growing reliance on AI-generated content and the rapid adoption of AI tools across disciplines, highlighting a cultural lag between technological innovation and institutional adaptation. By situating AI as a sociological object, the course emphasizes critical engagement, collaborative inquiry, and ethical knowledge production. The chapter details course rationale, learning objectives, assignments, and an Academic Integrity and AI Policy, while reflecting on key design decisions. It illustrates how social science educators can guide students in interrogating AI critically and ethically, positioning learners as active participants in the ongoing social construction of knowledge.

This chapter synthesizes qualitative research on how K–12 teachers experience emotional labor and identity negotiation in scripted classrooms. Drawing on 20 studies published between 2010 and 2024, it integrates interviews, ethnographies, and case studies through emotional labor and teacher identity frameworks. Four themes emerged: emotional dissonance between authenticity and compliance; adaptation as creative agency; moral labor in reconciling care with accountability; and emotional governance as systemic control. The synthesis reframes emotional labor as professional expertise and quiet resistance, calling for reforms