cultural studies

Shauna Rigaud

Wasiq Muhammad Muhammad Ali — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 21:19:03 +0000

Shauna Rigaud Wasiq Muhammad… Wed, 12/01/2021 - 16:19

Community Based Learning Coordinator Graduate Teaching Assistant, SOC Professional Development Co-Chair

Contact Information

Email: srigaud2@gmu.edu
Phone: 703.993.1110
Mail Stop: Honors College, MSN 1F4
Campus: Fairfax

Biography

Beginning her career in youth work as a young person herself, Shauna has a deep passion for supporting and empowering youth and urban communities. She holds a BA in African-American Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a MA in Gender/Cultural Studies and MS in Communication Management from Simmons College. Her interests include Black History with a focus on Caribbean American experiences, Black feminism, youth development and community organizing.

Shauna is one of the founders of and current Communications Chair for Mason's Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA). She is also a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated.

Selected Publications

Owen, J. E., Rigaud, S., & McCarron, G. (In Press). Hidden costs and commitments: Leadership, social class, and experiential learning. In S. Ardoin & K. Guthrie (Eds.), Leadership and Social Class. New Directions for Student Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Education

M.A. in Gender/Cultural Studies, Simmons College

M.S. in Communication Management, Simmons College

B.A. in African-American Studies, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Stephen Hickson

Wasiq Muhammad Muhammad Ali — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 16:03:36 +0000

Stephen Hickson Wasiq Muhammad… Mon, 11/29/2021 - 11:03

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Contact Information

Email: shickso@gmu.edu
Phone: 703.993.1110
Mail Stop: Honors College, MSN 1F4
Campus: Fairfax

Biography

Stephen completed a BA with a self-designed, interdisciplinary major in Comparative Literature at Sewanee: The University of the South. He taught middle and high school literature in Georgia before pursuing an MA in English at Georgetown University. Stephen has also taught freshman-level rhetoric and composition courses at Northern Virginia Community College and Howard University. Stephen is now a doctoral student in Cultural Studies at George Mason University.

Stephen is now a doctoral student in Cultural Studies at George Mason University. His current research interests include nineteenth-century transatlantic novels, working-class studies, graphic narrative representations of trauma, sociolinguistic theories of class coding, and developments of the taboo or the unspeakable in depictions of labor.

Education

MA in English, Georgetown University

BA in Comparative Literature, Sewanee: University of the South

Mason alum Liz Andrews named new director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

Colleen Rich — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 16:23:11 +0000

Mason alum Liz Andrews named new director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Colleen Rich Mon, 08/02/2021 - 12:23

Mason alum Liz Andrews was recently named executive director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. Photo provided

For Liz Andrews, being involved in cultural studies embraces the idea that you are versed in ways of seeing and thinking critically about the world.

That mindset has been invaluable for her work at the intersection of the arts and social justice, said Andrews, who earned her PhD in cultural studies from George Mason University in 2019.

The gifted artist, curator, and museum professional has worked for colleges and arts organizations across the nation. Spelman College in Atlanta recently named Andrews executive director of Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. She began her new role Aug. 2.

“It feels like the right thing at the right time because Spelman is at a moment where they are really investing in the arts in a beautiful way and making it a priority for all students,” said Andrews.

She pointed to the Atlanta University Center that includes Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Spelman, Morehouse and Clark Atlanta as one example, with the center offering a major across the three schools.

Andrews said she wants the museum to be accredited as part of the American Alliance of Museums, which would be a first as no HBCU museum has received that accreditation.

“I would like for the museum to be a premier collection,” said Andrews. “I want to have more shows that originate at Spelman and then travel to other museums across the country.”

Another goal is to create catalogues of the museum’s collections and increase historical publications.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the museum, and plans are underway to break ground in the fall on an arts facility that will include an innovation lab, classroom space, offices, and art storage, as well as nearly double the museums’ gallery space.

“The president of Spelman, Mary Schmidt Campbell, has described the future museum as wanting it to be the front porch of the college,” said Andrews, “a place where not only students feel welcome, but the greater Atlanta community feels welcome to come and see art primarily by women of the African diaspora—which is the charge of the museum.”

A 2015 study found that the museum field was overwhelmingly white, and most people who became directors came from wealthy backgrounds.

“The Mellon Foundation as well as the Ford and Walton Foundations have made some serious commitments to helping to diversify the ranks of the museum in the curatorial and leadership tracks,” said Andrews, citing Naomi Beckwith being named deputy director and chief curator at the Guggenheim as one example.

Andrews has a long-standing commitment to engaging undergraduate students through research and the arts. As a doctoral student at Mason, she co-taught the multi-year Mason Science of Diversity Project.

She continued to engage with undergraduate students as a guest instructor in art history at Mason. Her classes challenged students to reconsider the roles of art in society and develop critical research projects.

In Spring 2021, Andrews taught an online African art course at Mason and introduced her students to several African artists working today—Julie Mehretu, Zanele Muholi, Wangechi Mutu, and modern artist Maliki Sidibé. Her class developed an Instagram page, and each student was tasked with creating a post that had a compelling images and information.

“It was powerful for them to see that there are African artists working today who are at the top of the art world,” Andrews said.

Topics

Students

Alumni

cultural studies

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

museums

Recognition of a lifelong commitment to activism in photography

Melanie Balog — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 13:57:51 +0000

Recognition of a lifelong commitment to activism in photography Melanie Balog Thu, 07/22/2021 - 09:57

Deborah Willis. Photo provided

George Mason University alum Deborah Willis, PhD Cultural Studies '03, remembers wanting to be a photographer since she was 10 years old. Her mother worked as a beautician, and Willis said the images and stories that surrounded her in her mom’s shop had a lasting impact on her career and her view of activism.

“When she opened her own shop in 1957, my mom opened her doors to churchwomen, singers, dancers, domestic workers, bankers and business women, and their daughters,” she said. “Growing up in my mother’s shop introduced me to a world of women's stories that I didn’t hear being told anywhere else.”

The beauty shop was also where she saw photos in Ebony and Life magazines that helped shape her interests.

It wasn’t until the early 1960s when Willis said she saw a book of photographs of black people that changed her life. She was inspired and intrigued by a narrative by Langston Hughes called “The Sweet Flypaper of Life”—a story of families struggling to stay together and sweet moments of human existence.

The human connection drives Willis’s work, and through her photographs she seeks to structure a narrative about self-reflective beauty.

“As a black woman photographer, I use personal experiences to interrogate acts of injustices and moments in popular culture to introduce to new ways of viewing and discussing concepts that art matters,” Willis said.

Willis was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year in recognition of her life of activism as a photographer. The academy recognizes extraordinary people who help solve the world’s challenges, create meaning through art, and contribute to the common good. Willis is one of 250+ honorees included in the 2021 membership.

“What an incredible honor,” said Willis. “A true honor. I never thought I would be part of this year’s class.”

Willis is University Professor and chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where she manages 200 undergraduate students, teaches two classes a year, and helps faculty members stay current with photography and imaging.

Her leadership at NYU has led to a diverse set of course offerings reflecting on Black photographers, Black subjects and interdisciplinary practice, with an emphasis on resistance. In recent courses at the Tisch School of the Arts, Willis said she challenged her students to consider what it means to be Black in the lens.

“Today, Black is represented and misrepresented in popular and historical text. I engage students to be involved in current events,” said Willis, noting that they explored Black Lives Matter and the intersectionality of race and culture with the deaths of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor.

She said Mason’s unique program helped shape her work and career.

“Mason offered expansion of scholarship and an artistic research-based dynamic program,” Willis said. “I spent my student years compiling and collecting information on Black photographers and dedicated many hours in and outside of the classroom researching and writing looking to create and offer new narratives, hoping to counter the negative portrayals of black and brown cultures at large.”

Willis has authored or co-authored more than 20 books on the role of Black photographers throughout history. Her latest book, "The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship,” is one example of her efforts to make visible these previously absent histories.

“Black people fought for their freedom,” said Willis. “This book creates an inclusive visual history and includes stories we did not know existed about Black servicemen from the era, and Blacks active as nurses, teachers, doctors, cooks, children, and other community members.”

Topics

cultural studies

Students

Alumni

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Richard Todd Stafford

rstaffo2 — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 21:43:23 +0000

Richard Todd Stafford rstaffo2 Thu, 02/11/2021 - 16:43

Director of Communications, Honors College

Contact Information

Email: rstaffo2@gmu.edu

Phone: 703.993.1110

Mailstop: Honors College, MSN 1F4

Campus: Fairfax

Office: Buchanan Hall 205

Personal Websites

richardtoddstafford.com

Biography

Richard Todd Stafford is the director of communications in the Honors College, co-organizer of the Center for Humanities Research Environmental Justice reading group, and a scholar studying culture, energy, and the environment. He has been institutionally recognized for his work teaching classes concerning climate change; science, technology, and society; and multidisciplinary research.

Education

PhD, Cultural Studies, George Mason University (2022)

MA, English, Virginia Tech (2011)

BA, English, College of William and Mary (2001)

Awards

David W. Rossell Quill Award, George Mason University (2021)

Exceptional Support Award, George Mason University (2015)

XCaliber Award with ePortfolio for English team, Virginia Tech (2011)

Carol Chermside Award for Best Master's Thesis, Virginia Tech (2011)

Publications

(2019) "Response to Caroline West’s 'From Company Town to Post-Industrial: Inquiry on the Redistribution of Space and Capital with a Universal Basic Income'," Lateral 8.1. https://doi.org/10.25158/L8.1.11

(2015) "The politics of space in Joe Sacco's representations of the Appalachian coalfields" in The Comics of Joe Sacco: Journalism in a Visual World ed. Daniel Worden (University of Mississippi Press).

(2011) "Towards an epistemological theory of comics journalism: Case studies in Joe Sacco's war reportage" Public Knowledge Journal (now-defunct online grad student journal out of Virginia Tech) 3.1.4

Cultural Studies Podcast

(13 September 2018) John Cook and Richard Todd Stafford. "Episode 01 – Climate Science Denial and Information Inoculation." (role: interviewer)

(27 September 2018) Imre Szeman and Amy Zhang. "Episode 02 – Petrocultures and the Energy Humanities." (role: transcription)

(11 October 2018) Merlin Chowkwanyun and Tauheeda Yasin Martin. "Episode 03 – Toxic Risk, Corporate Negligence, Public Reckoning." (role: audio editing and transcription)

(25 October 2018) Jason W. Moore and Richard Todd Stafford. "Episode 04 – Cheap Nature; or, the Cultural Logic of Historical Capitalism." (role: interviewer, audio editing, and transcription)

(8 November 2018) Toby Miller and Pavithra Suresh. "Episode 05 – Greenwashing Culture." (role: audio editing and transcription)

(31 January 2019) Leigh Phillips and Richard Todd Stafford. "Episode 06 – Planning the Good Anthropocene." (role: interviewer, audio engineering, audio editing, and transcription)

(14 February 2019) Christian Parenti and Richard Todd Stafford. "Episode 07 – The Storm State: The Political Economy of Government in the Age of Climate Crisis." (role: interviewer, audio engineering, audio editing, and transcription)

(28 February 2019) Ashley Dawson and Richard Todd Stafford. "Episode 08 – Just Urban Futures." (role: audio engineering, audio editing, and transcription)

(18 April 2019) Sheila Watt-Cloutier and Christine Rosenfeld. "Episode 09 – Everything is Connected: Environment, Economy, Foreign Policy, Sustainability, Human Rights, and Leadership in the 21st Century." (role: audio engineering, audio editing, and transcription)

(25 October 2022) Chris Nealon and Richard Todd Stafford. "Episode 12 - Colloquium series interview." (role: interviewer)

Cultural Studies Colloquium Positions and Interventions Blog

(26 January 2017) Chris Newfield and Richard Todd Stafford. "Interview: Christopher Newfield on Higher Education."

Courses Taught

Multidisciplinary Topics: Multidisciplinary Research and Creative Projects Seminar
Contemporary Social Issues: Responses to Climate Change
Multidisciplinary Topics: Climate Change and Culture
Community Connection Practicum: College Application Coaches
Research, Technology, and Online Community
Technology in the Contemporary World: Clean Coal and Culture
Technology in the Contemporary World: Science, Technology, and Power
Globalization and Culture
Inquiry to Action
Principles of Research and Inquiry