Aisha Durham, Assistant Professor (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Email: aishadurham@neo.tamu.edu
Office Phone: 979-845-3592

Office: 203 Bolton
Department of Communication
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX  77843-4234

Aisha Durham is a cultural studies scholar who holds a joint appointment in Communication and Africana Studies. Much of her work examines controlling images to theorize identity and power. Her general research areas intersect interpretive methods with Black feminist cultural criticism. Current research on hip hop feminism will be featured in her forthcoming book, Hip Hop Feminism & Communication Studies (Peter Lang, 2010). This book extends earlier discussions about hip hop culture and the Black American body in her co-edited volumes, Home Girls Make Some!: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology and Globalizing Cultural Studies: Ethnographic Interventions in Theory, Method & Policy.

Dr. Aisha Durham teaches the following: COMM 340 – Popular Culture, COMM 420 – Gender and Communication, COMM 460 - Hip Hop Feminism and Popular Communication, COMM 489 – Black American Popular Culture, AFST 201— Introduction to Africana Studies.

AISHA S. DURHAM
(PDF version)

EDUCATION

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

2008-present              Assistant Professor
                                    Department of Communication & Africana Studies Program
                                    Texas A&M University

2007-2008                  Visiting Assistant Professor
                                    Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow
                                    Institute for Women’s Studies
                                    University of Georgia

PUBLICATIONS

Durham, A. (forthcoming, 2010). Hip Hop Feminism and Communication Studies. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Group.

Ellis, C., Adams, T., Ellingson, L., Bochner, A., Denzin, N., Durham, A., Madison, D. S., Alexander, R., Pelias, R., Defenbaugh, N., and Richardson, L. (2009) “Mentoring Relationships: Creating a Future for Qualitative Inquiry.” In Qualitative Inquiry and Social Justice, edited by N. Denzin and M. Giardina. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, pp. 279-302

McCarthy, C. Durham, A., Elavsky, C.M., Filmer, A., Giardina, M., Harewood, S., Kim, S., Logue, J., Malagreca, M., & Mowatt, R. (2009). “Introduction. Contesting Identities, Contesting Nation,” Policy Futures in Education, 7(2), pp. 138-144.

Durham, A. (2009). “Behind Beats and Rhymes: Working Class from a Hampton Roads Hip Hop Homeplace.” Policy Futures in Education, 7(2), pp. 217-229.

Durham, A. (2008). “Between Us: A Bio-Poem.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 8(2), pp. 177-182.

Durham, A. (2007). Recalling the Ethnographic Displacement of Hip-Hop/Home/Bodies. In Cameron McCarthy, Aisha Durham, Laura Engel, Alice A. Filmer, Michael D. Giardina, Jennifer Logue, Miguel Malagreca (eds.), Globalizing Cultural Studies: Ethnographic Interventions in Theory, Method, & Policy. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Group, pp. 153-166.

Durham, A. (2007). Using [Living Hip-Hop] Feminism: Redefining an Answer (to) Rap. In Gwendolyn Pough, Rachel Raimist, Elaine Richardson and Aisha Durham (eds.), Home Girls, Make Some Noise!: Hip-Hop Feminism Anthology. New York: Parker Publishing, pp. 304-312.

Durham, A. and J. Baez (2007). “A Tail of Two Women: Exploring the Contours of Difference in Popular Culture,” In Stephanie Springgay and Debra Freedman (eds.), Curriculum and the Cultural Body. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Group, pp. 130-145.

Durham, A. (2004). “Verbal Exchange.” Qualitative Inquiry, (10)4, pp. 493-495.

Durham, A. (2003). “Holloween: The Morning-After Poem.” Qualitative Inquiry, (9)2, pp. 300-302.

Durham, A. (2003). “For Teri.” Qualitative Inquiry, 9(1), pp. 18-20.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Conference Presentations

“Black Womanhood and the Memoir, a Remix,” The Conference on College Composition and Communication, National Council of Teachers of English, Louisville, KY, March 18, 2010

“From 'Nobody Knows My Name' to 'Say My Name': A Decade of Hip-Hop Feminism,” (Roundtable), National Women’s Studies Association, Atlanta, GA, November 13, 2009

“Emerging Racial Categories and Concepts,” (Roundtable), National Communication Association, San Diego, CA, November 21-24, 2008

“Duke, Don Imus and Tip Drill: Hip-Hop and the African American Female Body,” Association for Cultural Studies Crossroads Conference, University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, July 3-7, 2008.

“Muted Voices: A 15-Year Review of Black Female Audiences in Communication Studies on Hip Hop,” International Association for Communications, Ethnicity and Race in Communication Interest Group, Montreal, Quebec, May 22-26, 2008

“All Up in My Kitchen!: Fingerwaves, Sistercurls and Extensions of Hip-Hop Feminism,” Feminist and Women’s Studies Division, National Communication Association, Chicago, IL, November 17, 2007.

“The (Auto)Ethnography of Textual Analysis: Redefining Experience in Interpretive Research,” Ethnography Division, National Communication Association, Chicago, IL, November 16, 2007.

“’You’re So Angry and Strong, and I Love it!’: A Black Woman’s Matrix in Academic Mindfields,” Third International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, May 2-5, 2007.

“Beauty as the Beast: Un/Desirable Iconic Black Female Bodies in Popular Culture,” Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities Ninth Annual Conference, Beauty, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, March 30, 2007.

“Sexual Politics of Spectacular Booties: Comparative Case Study of Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé,” 31st Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association, Port of Spain, Trinidad, May 29-June 2, 2006.

“A Tail of Two Women: Exploring the Contours of Difference in Popular Culture,” Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, May 4-6, 2006.

“Toward a Hip-Hop Feminist Cultural Criticism,” First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, May 5-7, 2005.

“From Hip-Hop Queen to Hollywood’s Hot Mama Morton(s): Latifah as the Sexual Un/Desirable,” International Association for Communications, Popular Communication Division, New York, NY, May 26-30, 2005.

“Rep’n the Real: Reading African through a Double Door,” Fifth International Crossroads Conference in Cultural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 25-28, 2004.

“Space Invaders: Examining the Black Threat to White Space(s) in Todd Haynes’ Films Far From Heaven and Safe,” Film Division, Popular Culture Association/American Cultural Association, San Antonio, TX, April 11-12, 2004.

“Using/Living/Hip-Hop Culture,” Black Feminisms Conference, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, March 12, 2004.

“Space Invaders: A Microanalysis of Movement in the Matrix and The Black Threat to Carol’s [W]hite Space(s) in Todd Haynes’ Safe,” Midwest Graduate Communications Conference, Indiana University School of Journalism and Department of Telecommunications, Bloomington, IN, April 12, 2003.

“’Blak iz Blak’: Characterization in Bamboozled–Who Has the Authority to Speak about the Black Experience?” Media Forum Series, National Communication Association, Atlanta, GA, Nov. 3, 2001.

PRESENTATIONS
Selected Invited Presentations

“A Tail of Two Women: Exploring the Contours of Difference in Popular Culture,” Guest Lecturer with co-author, Jillian Baez, “Curriculum and the Cultural Body,” Pennsylvania State University Institute of Arts and Humanities, Palmer Museum of Art, February 18-19, 2008.

“Home Girls and Hip-Hop Feminist Studies,” Guest Lecturer, Friday Speaker Series, Institute for Women’s Studies, University of Georgia, October 19, 2007.

“Selling Virtual Bodies: Black Women and the Music Video,” Guest Lecturer, Language and Gender, Speech Communications 432, Maria Mastronardi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, November 2, 2006.

“Sexism and Hip-Hop: A Hip-Hop Feminist Response,” Guest Lecturer, Sex, Women and Hip-Hop Symposium, Phi Eta Rho Fraternity, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, March, 28, 2006.

“Love, Lessons, Looking: Hip-Hop and Black Feminism at the Crossroads,” Featured Panelist, Hip-Hop Conference, University of Illinois at Springfield, Nov. 2-4, 2005.

“From the News Wire: My Life Script[ed],” College of Communications Brown Bag Lecture Series, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, January 2005.

CERTIFICATIONS

Cultural Studies and Interpretive Research Certificate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007

Gender and Women’s Studies Graduate Certificate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007

Graduate Teaching Certificate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007

Women’s Studies Graduate Certificate, University of Georgia, 2002

TEACHING INTERESTS AND COMPETENCIES

COURSES TAUGHT

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE (Abbreviated)

Disciplinary

Guest Reviewer, Critical Studies - Critical Methodologies, 2002 to present

Guest Reviewer, Mass Communication and Society, 2008 to present

Guest Reviewer, Qualitative Inquiry, 2002 to present

Guest Reviewer, Journal of Children and Media, 2008

Departmental

Program coordinator, Spring Africana Studies Research Symposium, Africana Studies Program, Texas A&M University, 2009

University-wide

Speaker, "Hip Hop Matters: Poetics, Politics and Possibilities of Hip Hop on Campus," Hip Hop Society, Texas A&M University, September 17, 2009

Workshop facilitator, “In Her Image: Reading Representations of Black Women in Hip Hop Dreamworlds,” Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference, Texas A&M University, January 22-25, 2009.

Conference Planning Committee, “Women, Hip Hop and Social Change,” Institute for African American Studies and Institute for Women’s Studies, University of Georgia, March 29, 2008.

National and International

Co-Associate Director, First International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2004-2005

Conference Planning Committee, Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference, Association for Cultural Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003-2004

FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS

Stipendiary Faculty Fellow, Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M University, 2009-2010

Fellow, Women of Color: Theory, Scholarship, and Activism, Spelman College and the Ford Foundation, Atlanta, GA, Summer 2009

Honorable Mention, Illinois Distinguished Qualitative Dissertation Award (Experimental Category), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008

Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and Institute of Higher Education, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, University of Georgia, 2007-2008

Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006-2007

Conference Travel Grant, Graduate College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005

Graduate College Fellowship, The Graduate College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002-2004

Feminist Scholarship, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003

Minority Graduate Fellowship, The Graduate College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002-2003

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Member, International Association of Qualitative Inquiry (IAQI)

Member, Ethnicity & Race in Communications Interest Group (ERIC), International Communications Association (ICA)

Member, Association for Cultural Studies (ACS)

Member, Black Caucus, National Communication Association (NCA)

Member, Popular Culture Association (PCA)

Member, Women of Color Caucus, National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA)

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Panelist, “Town Hall Discussion on Rap Music and Community Values” (with filmmaker Byron Hurt), WILL-TV Youth Media Workshop, Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, March 13, 2007.

Program participant, SOL/HOT (Saving Our Lives/Hearing Our Truths), performance workshops designed for at-risk girls, Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club of Champaign, 2006-2007

“Women in Hip-Hop Scholarship,” Panelist, B-Girl Be Summit: A Celebration of Women in Hip-Hop, Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, MN, June 3, 2005.

“Hip-Hop Feminism,” Panelist, Progressive Women’s Caucus, National Hip-Hop Political Convention, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, June 2005

“Politics of Hip-Hop,” Guest Speaker, Black Perspectives, WILL-TV, Champaign, IL, April 2004

Fundraiser and Creator, Aisha Durham Book Scholarship Award (for college-bound Diggs Town residents), 2001 to present

<< Back to the complete faculty listing

<< Back to Department of Communication home page