Richard King
Professor
Ph.D., University of Illinois
Born in the Land of Oz, Dr. King resided in Alaska and Portland before settling in Kansas City for his wonder years. Attending the University of Kansas, he earned a B.A. and an M.A. in cultural anthropology, but more importantly drank schnapps with Fishbone, celebrated a national championship in basketball, became obsessed with the writings of Foucault, flirted with undertaking fieldwork in Polynesia, and fell in love with a rare jewel, who continues to dazzle him with her wit and beauty.
In 1992, he stepped off the yellow brick road, venturing to the University of Illinois. There, confronted with Chief Illiniwek and cultural studies, he became a bad anthropologist. He came to WSU after teaching at Drake University in Des Moines for six years.
His two daughters alternately delight, challenge, entertain, and inspire him. He especially enjoys rediscovering the world with them.
Publications
Dr. King has written extensively on the changing contours of race in post–Civil Rights America, the colonial legacies and postcolonial predicaments of American culture, and struggles over Indianness in public culture. His work has appeared a variety of journals, such as American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Public Historian, and Qualitative Inquiry. He is also the author/editor of several books, including Team Spirits: The Native American Mascot Controversy (a CHOICE 2001 Outstanding Academic Title), Postcolonial America, Native American Athletes in Sport and Society, Animating Difference: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Films for Children, and Commodified and Criminalized: African American Athletes and New Racism.
Research Interests
Dr. King's research concentrates on the racial politics of culture. He is particularly interested in theories of race and racism, white supremacist movements and ideologies, and the forms of memory, representation, identity, and power animating race relations. He has explored these themes in the context of expressive culture (museums, sports, films, music) and political struggles (indigenous activism concerned with representation, naming, and history).
While continuing to think about the Native American mascot controversy, Dr. King has expanded his inquiry into the racialization of sporting worlds, examining on the one hand the rich heritage and lasting significance of athleticism in Native America, while on the other hand interrogating mainstream and extreme accounts of race and sport. More recently, he has moved his inquiry to address intersectionality in animated films and racism in children’s culture, the use and abuse of the Holocaust in contemporary politics, and white power and/as popular culture.
Teaching Interests
The intersections of race, culture, and power center the classes taught by Dr. King. He teaches many of the core courses in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies. He also regularly offers courses in the area of Native American studies and cultural studies.
Contact Dr. King
crking@wsu.edu
509-335-5113
Wilson-Short 111B
Office Hours
By appointment only
Links
Course Materials
Past Courses
- Am St 520
- Am St 526 (was 503)
- CES 101
- CES 222
- CES 280
- CES 301
- CES 308
- CES 379
- CES 404
- CES 440
- CES 444
- CES 491
- CES 494
- U H 370
- Am St 514 (no longer offered)
- CES 198 (no longer offered)
- CES 303 (no longer offered)