Resources for Media
Arts and Culture Experts at Duke University
Note to editors: Duke provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. We are also equipped with ISDN connectivity for radio interviews. Please contact Cabell Smith at (919) 681-8067 (for radio or TV interviews) or Keith Lawrence at (919) 681-8059 if you need any additional assistance.
- Anne Allison, chairwoman of cultural anthropology; studies Pokemon, and more generally, the appeal of Japanese pop culture to Americans. Her book, "Millennial Monsters," about Pokemon, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon and Tamagotchi toys, was published in 2004. Allison's current research is on the recent popularization of Japanese children's goods in the global marketplace and how trends in cuteness, character merchandise and high-tech play pals are remaking Japan's place in today's capitalistic world. (919) 681-6257; anne.allison@duke.edu.
Story: Duke Professor Studies Pokemon's Appeal - Anthony Kelley classical composer, also an expert on the history of hip hop and minorities in classical music. Former composer-in-residence with the Richmond Symphony, where he also was instrumental in founding the Richmond Boys Choir. (919) 660-3328; antk@duke.edu.
Stories: Ciompi Quartet Premieres Sports-Theme Piece
Duke Holds Global Hip-Hop Festival - Frank Lentricchia and Jody McAuliffe Lentricchia -- a professor of literature, and McAuliffe, an associate professor of theater, have explored the link between art and terrorism -- for example, do killers, artists and terrorists need one another? In "Crimes of Art and Terror," published on the eve of the Sept. 11 first anniversary, they explore how political extremism and avant-garde artistic movements have fed upon each other for at least two centuries. McAuliffe: (919) 660-3363; mca@duke.edu Lentricchia: (919) 684-6172; frll@duke.edu.
Story: Being Frank - Mark Anthony Neal, is a professor of African American Studies and Women’s Studies, specializing in black popular culture, hip-hop and African-American literature and music. He is also the director of Duke’s Institute for Critical U.S. Studies. The author of four books, including /New Black Man/, Neal regularly blogs and writes Critical Noir, a column for Vibe.com.. (919) 684-3987; dr-yogi@att.net.
Stories: Rutgers Coach Vivian Stringer Should Be Celebrated
Saggin’ on the Down Low?
- Henry Petroski, professor of engineering and history at Duke University, an expert on engineering, especially engineering failure. He has written about the World Trade Center collapse and the shuttle disaster, the evolution of pencils, bookshelves and bridges. His most recent book is "Small Things Considered: There Is No Perfect Design"(2004). (919) 660-5203; petroski@duke.edu. Story: Duke Engineer's Latest Book Focuses on Design of Everyday Things
- Suzanne Shanahan, Associate Director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics and Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Sociology. Can discuss dating and the hook-up culture, gender relations, Corporate Social Responsibility and associated international policies, international adoption law and practices, racial violence and riots, and the effect of immigration policies on national movements (focus on Europe) as well as how immigration affects racial tension within populations. (919) 660-3033; suzanne.shanahan@duke.edu
- Priscilla Wald, an English professor whose specialty is seeing how science, specifically genetics, is represented in the popular culture. She analyzes popular movies such as "Planet of the Apes," and sci fi books, such as "Darwin's Radio." She also has studied the representation of disease and contagion (including typhoid, SARS and AIDS) and its interaction with culture. (919) 684-6869; pwald@duke.edu
Story: Genetics Conference Examines Science and Popular Culture
- Richard J. Powell, an expert on African-American Art and theories of race and representation in the African diaspora. He is the author of a cultural history of black art, black culture and modernism and Harlem Renaissance painter William H. Johnson. He is John Spenser Bassett Professor of Art History and the former chair of Duke's Department of Art and Art History. (919) 684-2473; rp2@acpub.duke.edu.
Story: Art and the Black Aesthetic - Tom Rankin, director of the Center for Documentary Studies and Associate Professor of the Practice of Art and Art History. Expert on documentary photography and film, Ranking is a photographer, filmmaker, and folklorist who has been documenting and interpreting American culture for nearly twenty years. His books include Sacred Space: Photographs from the Mississippi Delta, 'Deaf Maggie Lee Sayre': Photographs of a River Life, Faulkner's World: The Photographs of Martin J. Dain and Local Heroes Changing America: Indivisible.
Ranking comments on Abu Ghraib Prison photos: News Tip: Photographs of Iraqi Prisoners Convey Truth, Symbolism for Arabs and Americans, Duke Professors Say (919) 660 3613; tsr2@duke.edu.
- John V. Brown, director of the jazz program at Duke University and assistant professor of the practice of music. Brown is an accomplished jazz and classical musician who has performed with such artists as Wynton and Ellis Marsalis and received a Grammy nomination for his performance and co-writing on Nnenna Freelon's 1995 release, "Shaking Free."
More on John Brown: John Brown Named Director of Duke's Jazz Program 660-3385; jbrown@duke.edu. - Anthony Kelley, a classical composer, and expert on the history of hip hop, as well as minorities in classical music. Kelley is the former composer-in-residence with the Richmond Symphony, where he also was instrumental in founding the Richmond Boys Choir. Kelley can be reached at (919) 660-3328; antk@duke.edu.
Stories: Ciompi Quartet Premieres Sports-Theme Piece
Duke Holds Global Hip-Hop Festival - Mark Anthony Neal, is a professor of African American Studies and Women’s Studies, specializing in black popular culture, hip-hop and African-American literature and music. He is also the director of Duke’s Institute for Critical U.S. Studies. The author of four books, including /New Black Man/, Neal regularly blogs and writes Critical Noir, a column for Vibe.com.. (919) 684-3987; dr-yogi@att.net.
Stories: Rutgers Coach Vivian Stringer Should Be Celebrated
Saggin’ on the Down Low?
- Negar Mottahedeh, an expert on Iranian film and one of the organizers of the "Reel Evil" 2002 film festival at Duke, which featured movies produced in countries George Bush identified as "the Axis of Evil". It included the first U.S. screening of the film, "11'09"01," a collective film inspired by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (919) 681 3461; negar@duke.edu.
Story: Cultural close-up - Priscilla Wald, an English professor whose specialty is seeing how science, specifically genetics, is represented in the popular culture. She analyzes popular movies, such as "Planet of the Apes," and sci fi books, such as "Darwin's Radio." She also has studied the representation of disease and contagion (including typhoid, SARS and AIDS) and its interaction with culture. (919) 684-6869; pwald@duke.edu.
Story: Genetics Conference Examines Science and Popular Culture
- Story: Being Frank
Karla FC Holloway, the Arts & Sciences professor of English and a professor of law at Duke has specialties in African American literature, gender, sexuality and law. Her current interests are the cultural histories between white and black women and the meaning of race and privacy in the 21st century. She is the author of six books including Codes of Conduct: Race, Ethics, and the Color of Our Character (1995), an examination of the connections between literature, politics, ethics and race, Passed On: African American Mourning Stories (2002) and her most recent BookMarks: Reading in Black and White--A Memoir (2006). karla.holloway@duke.edu.
Stories: One Drop: Race, Science and Medicine
The Problem With Cosby
Anthony Kelley, a classical composer, also an expert on the history of hip hop, as well as minorities in classical music. Former composer-in-residence with the Richmond Symphony, where he also was instrumental in founding the Richmond Boys Choir. (919) 660-3328; antk@duke.edu.
Stories: Ciompi Quartet Premieres Sports-Theme Piece
- Mark Anthony Neal, is a professor of African American Studies and Women’s Studies, specializing in black popular culture, hip-hop and African-American literature and music. He is also the director of Duke’s Institute for Critical U.S. Studies. The author of four books, including New Black Man, Neal regularly blogs and writes Critical Noir, a column for Vibe.com.. (919) 684-3987; dr-yogi@att.net.
Stories: Rutgers Coach Vivian Stringer Should Be Celebrated
Saggin’ on the Down Low? - Richard J. Powell, an expert on African-American Art and theories of race and representation in the African diaspora. He is the author of a cultural history of black art, black culture and modernism and Harlem Renaissance painter William H. Johnson. He is John Spenser Bassett Professor of Art History and the former chair of Duke's Department of Art and Art History. (919) 684-2473; rp2@acpub.duke.edu.
Story: Art and the Black Aesthetic
- Doriane Lambelet Coleman, law professor, on the faculty of the Center for Sports Law and Policy, and expert on doping in sports. A former top track-and-field athlete, Coleman is the former legal counsel to the Athletes Advisory Committee of The Athletics Congress (now USA Track & Field) and helped to conceive the drug testing program for the sport. Together with her husband, James E. Coleman, she also wrote the appellate procedures under which drug cases would be adjudicated at USA Track & Field. Currently she serves as co-counsel to Mary Decker Slaney in her fight against charges by USA Track and Field and the International Amateur Athletic Federation that she used endogenous hormones. (919) 613-7075; dcoleman@law.duke.edu.
- James E. Coleman, law professor, on the faculty of the Center for Sports Law and Policy, and expert on doping in sports. As a practicing lawyer, Coleman together with his wife, Doriane Lambelet Coleman, wrote the appellate procedures under which drug cases would be adjudicated at USA Track & Field. Currently he serves as co-counsel to Mary Decker Slaney in her fight against charges by USA Track and Field and the International Amateur Athletic Federation that she used endogenous hormones. (919) 613-7057; james.e.coleman@duke.edu.
- Grant Farred, a literature professor, does cultural and political criticism of sports. He has written about the globalization of soccer, the language of ESPN, cricket and Muhammad Ali, among other topics. He also teaches on hip hop, focusing on its role in American society, as well as its commercial side, the culture of break dancing and hip hop-related films. (919) 668-1754; farred@duke.edu.
- Paul Haagen, law professor and co-director of Duke's Center for Sports Law and Policy. His principal academic interests are contracts, legal history and sports law and he is involved in Duke's program to help collegiate athletes make the transition to professional sports.
Haagen comments on Maurice Clarett case: News Tip: NFL Faces Difficult Fight in Clarett Case (919) 613-7088; phh.law.duke.edu. - Chris Kennedy, senior associate director of athletics, oversees compliance and academic support. Kennedy is a Peer Reviewer for the NCAA Certification Committee and served as Duke's athletic department liaison as it went through the process from 1997-98. He also is an adjunct assistant professor of English. (919) 668-5702, (919) 684-2120; ckennedy@acpub.duke.edu.
- Orin Starn, associate professor of cultural anthropology, specializes in sports and culture and the anthropology of sports. His interests are golf, soccer and sports in general.
Release on the Olympics: News Tip: Olympics Reflect Culture of Times, Duke Professor Says (919) 684-3221; ostarn@duke.edu.
Ian Lekus, visiting assistant professor of history, specializes in the history of the gay rights movement and has written about homosexuality and American anti-war activism during the Vietnam era. (919) 681 5746; ian.lekus@duke.edu.
Janie Long, is the Director of the Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Life at Duke. The focus of her academic career has been on addressing social justice issues. She has worked to create safe spaces for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) members on campus, mentored international students, conducted research related to underserved and invisible populations and taught about power and privilege in the classroom. Janie has also made a multitude of national and international presentations on LGBTQ issues and published numerous related articles and book chapters. (919) 684-6607; janie.long@duke.edu
Stories: Proud Parade
Duke Named A Top Campus for LGBT Students
