Current Graduate Students
Nichole Bogarosh
Ph.D. candidate (ABD)
The making of meaning and perpetuation of dominant ideologies through popular culture, focusing on representations of women and other marginalized groups within U.S. society in entertainment media.
Tiffany Christian
Ph.D. graduate student
M.A., folklore, University of Oregon
M.F.A., creative writing, Chapman University
Apocalypse culture, specifically the manifestations of apocalypse as “lore” in popular culture, the worshipping of the “primitive,” and community building around survival/disaster preparedness. Other interests include cyber studies, vernacular religion, gaming culture and the LGBTQ community, women and “geek” culture, and cinema studies.
Leola Dublin MacMillan
Ph.D. candidate (ABD)
My scholarly work examines the connections between contemporary representations of Black women, and more specifically, Black women's bodies and the larger structures of teleological power within the context of the United States. I articulate these connections and then explore their potential impact on identity development in Black adolescent girls.
Rebecca Fowler
Ph.D. graduate student
Latin American diasporas, U.S. anti-immigration discourses and legislation, social justice movements, humanitarian aid groups, and globalization and empire.
Lizeth Gutierrez
Ph.D. graduate student
Popular Culture representations of gendered and raced Latinidades. Specifically, the commercialization of mainstream Latinidad as it pertains to U.S. discourses on second-class citizenship.
Joseph Herrera
Ph.D. graduate student
Racialization, digital democracy, political theory and resistance, issues of belonging and the (re)construction of citizenship, the politics of digital engagement, cognitive science and empathic development, global feminisms, post-Marxism, social movements, critical pedagogy, empire and globalization, and cyborg theory.
Darrell Hogge
Ph.D. graduate student
Negotiating hybrid self-determination among surrounded indigenous communities of the Northwest.
Frank King
Ph.D. American Studies, WSU Vancouver
Contemporary African Amercan culture and the impact of the prison industrial complex.
Shawn LameBull
Ph.D. candidate (ABD) [Yakama Nation]
Tribal sovereignty and Indian law; cross-cultural analysis of table top RPG's and MMORPG's; representation of "Indians" in popular culture, especially.
Annita Lucchesi
Ph.D. graduate student
The War on Drugs and the War on Terror, particularly in relation to regimes of colonial violence in "Indian Country" and the West Indies; rural land struggle & resources extraction; spatial theory, popular culture (hip hop and dancehall), & Third World politics.
Liz McNeill
Ph.D. graduate student (ABD)
Feminist and gender theory with the incorporation of queer subjectivities. Specifically, political ramifications with the advent of queer subjects.
Jorge Moraga
Ph.D. graduate student
Comparative ethnic studies, popular culture and social movement analysis, specifically centered around understanding the dynamics to U.S. imperialism and globalization.
Sompathana Phitsanoukanh
M.A. graduate student
Southeast Asian immigrants to the U.S., especially Cambodian and Laotian women; digital diversity.
Robert Richardson
Ph.D. graduate student
Punk philosophy and culture; queer studies; Foucauldian analyses of power and resistance in popular culture.
Raihan Sharif
Ph.D. American Studies (Fulbright Scholar)
Asian American studies and cultural studies.
Eric Sinha
Ph.D. graduate student
South Asian studies and political economy of India.
Joy Taylor
Ph.D. American Studies
Critical race, gender, feminist theories, and the representations of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexuality in popular culture as well as exploring their intersections. Previous research projects include fieldwork on the Obon festival as well as the Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) who came of age during the Second World War.
Alice Webber
Ph.D. graduate student
Cultural interaction between resident and immigrant populations and those populations with the environment such as pioneer cemeteries, issues of nationalism, immigration and migration especially in relation to the Canadian border, Scotland, Hawaii and the Kanakas, and other indigenous/Native Americans and how they are represented in the various 'public history' venues.
Sky Wilson
Ph.D. candidate (ABD), WSU Vancouver
Black nationalist social movements, especially Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.