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John L. Jackson Jr.

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John Jackson
Born1971 (age 52–53)
Education
SpouseDeborah A. Thomas
Children2

John L. Jackson Jr. is an American anthropologist, filmmaker, author, and university administrator. He is currently the Provost and the Richard Perry University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Jackson earned his BA from Howard University and his PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University. He served as a junior fellow at the Harvard University Society of Fellows before joining the Cultural Anthropology faculty at Duke University.

Early life and education

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Jackson was born in 1971. He hosted a comic radio show called "The Jackson Attraction" during his junior and senior years of high school in Brooklyn, New York.[1] In 1993, he graduated summa cum laude from Howard University with a BA in communications. While attending Howard, Jackson was supported by the University Merit Scholarship (1989-1993) and the Ronald E. McNair Scholarship (1992-1993). He received a National Science Foundation predoctoral fellowship to pursue graduate work at Columbia University, earning an MA (1994), an MPhil (1998), and a PhD. (2000) with distinction in anthropology. His dissertation was supported by the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.[2][3]

Career

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After getting his doctorate, Jackson spent two years as a Junior Fellow at the Harvard University Society of Fellows in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[4] From 2002 to 2006, he taught cultural anthropology as an assistant professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.[2] In 2006, he became the first Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.[5] Jackson served as the Richard Perry University Professor of Communication and Anthropology and Professor of Africana Studies.[6] In 2014, he was named Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice,[7][8] and in 2019, Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.[9] Since 2023, he has served as Provost of the University of Pennsylvania.[10]

Jackson is a founding member of CAMRA and PIVPE, two Penn-based groups dedicated to the creation of visual and performance research initiatives and the development of rigorous evaluation criteria.[11]

Research

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Real Black

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In Real Black, Jackson proposed a new model for thinking about "authentic" black culture issues: racial sincerity. Jackson asserts that the caricatures of identity that racial authenticity imposes on people lock them into stereotypes. Sincerity, he argues, treats authenticity as an analytical model that seeks to deny people's freedom of choice in the search for identities. The book is based on more than a decade of ethnographic studies around New York City, including stories from police officers, conspiracy theorists, and gospel choir singers.[12] Jackson's invented alter ego, Anthroman, finds ethnographic significance in everyday buildings, showing how race is defined, debated, imposed, and confounded every day.[13]

Racial Paranoia

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In this book, Jackson distinguishes racial paranoia (fear and suspicion of the hidden form of racism) from racism (observable acts of racism and prejudice). He argues that racism actually becomes more pronounced as explicit social discrimination subsides, using examples from current events and everyday interactions to show its serious impact on racially paranoid culture and the lives of all Americans. He explains how racism is cultivated, communicated, and strengthened—and how it complicates the goal of racial equality in the United States.[14]

Thin Description

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Thin Description: Ethnography and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem is based on the group of African Americans from varying backgrounds who sold their belongings and left the United States to relocate to Liberia in 1966.[15] It recounts the group’s journey from their relocation and eventual move to the modern state of Israel, where the community has lived since 1969. Through this, Jackson attempts to understand how African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem navigate questions about the links between race and spirituality. Additionally, he explores challenges in anthropology research, especially as it pertains to conducting research on groups already searching for themselves and their identities.[16]

Personal life

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Jackson is married to Deborah A. Thomas,[17] the R. Jean Brownlee Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.[18] They have two children and reside in South Philadelphia.[19]

Awards

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Works

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Books

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Films

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  • Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens (Third World Newsreel, 2012), co-directed with Deborah A. Thomas[40]
  • Making Sweet Tea: The Lives and Loves of Southern Black Gay Men, co-directed with Nora Gross and co-executive produced with E. Patrick Johnson[41]

References

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  1. ^ "Episode 2: Which GIF with John Jackson | Episodes | Pop and Play | Podcasts | Digital Futures Institute (DFI) | Teachers College, Columbia University". Teachers College - Columbia University.
  2. ^ a b c d e https://www.sp2.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Jackson-2017.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ "John L. Jackson, Jr., Ph.D." www.asc.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  4. ^ "Listed by Field". socfell.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  5. ^ "Penn names new dean of school for communication". AP News. February 9, 2018.
  6. ^ "John L. Jackson Jr. | Penn Arts & Sciences Endowed Professors". web.sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  7. ^ "John L. Jackson, Jr., Ph.D." www.asc.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  8. ^ "John L. Jackson Jr. | Africana Studies". africana.sas.upenn.edu. University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  9. ^ "John L. Jackson, Jr. Named Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication | Annenberg School for Communication". 6 February 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
  10. ^ "John L. Jackson Jr. named Penn's next provost". Penn Today. 2023-01-25. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  11. ^ "Faculty/Alumni". CAMRA at Penn. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  12. ^ Anyabwile, Thabiti (29 August 2012). "Performing "Race" Sincerely: A Review of John L. Jackson's "Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity"". The Gospel Coalition. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  13. ^ "The future of Annenberg, with John L. Jackson Jr. at the helm". Penn Today. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
  14. ^ https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/bdr/article/download/1178/1241/5087 [bare URL PDF]
  15. ^ Rouse, Carolyn M. (2015). "Thin Description: Ethnography and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. John Jackson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013. 394 pp". American Ethnologist. 42 (1): 176–177. doi:10.1111/amet.12124_2. ISSN 1548-1425.
  16. ^ Jackson, John L. Jr. (2013-11-04). Thin Description. Harvard University Press. doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674726253. ISBN 978-0-674-72625-3.
  17. ^ "John L. Jackson, Jr. | Samuel S. Fels Fund". www.samfels.org. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  18. ^ "Deborah Thomas | Penn GSE". www.gse.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  19. ^ "Ultimate Anthropologist: John Jackson, Dean of Penn's School of Social Policy & Practice". Penn Today. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  20. ^ "04/24/12, School of Arts & Sciences Teaching Awards - Almanac, Vol. 58, No. 31". almanac.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  21. ^ "Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty | Penn Faculty Fellows". Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  22. ^ "AAA President's Award - Connect with AAA". www.americananthro.org. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  23. ^ "Critics' Choice Book Awards". www.educationalstudies.org. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  24. ^ "John Hope Franklin Prize | ASA". www.theasa.net. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  25. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity by John L. Jackson, Jr., Author University of Chicago Press $20 (298p) ISBN 978-0-226-39002-4". PublishersWeekly.com. November 2005. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  26. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: HARLEMWORLD: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America by John L. Jackson, Jr., Author Univ. of Chicago $30 (299p) ISBN 978-0-226-38998-1". Publishers Weekly. September 24, 2001. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  27. ^ Heynen, Nik; Moore, Toby; Smith, Jonathan M. (2005-03-01). "Harlemworld: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America. John L. Jackson; Race, Ethnicity, and the Politics of City Redistricting. Joshua G. Behr; Place: A Short Introduction. Tim Cresswell". Urban Geography. 26 (2): 193–196. doi:10.2747/0272-3638.26.2.193. ISSN 0272-3638. S2CID 144989172.
  28. ^ Cha-Jua, Sundiata Keita (2003-03-01). "Harlemworld: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America". Journal of American History. 89 (4): 1623. doi:10.2307/3092702. ISSN 0021-8723. JSTOR 3092702. Archived from the original on 2017-10-04.
  29. ^ Smalls, Krystal A. (2013-10-01). "Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity. A1 - John L. Jackson, Jr . Chicago, IL, and London, UK: PB - The University of Chicago Press, 2005. [vii] + 298 pp. (Cloth US$59.00; Paper US$20.00)". Transforming Anthropology. 21 (2): 205–207. doi:10.1111/traa.12015_6. ISSN 1548-7466.
  30. ^ Young, Vershawn Ashanti (2006-09-01). "A Review of: "Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity by John L. Jackson"". Souls. 8 (3): 204–206. doi:10.1080/10999940600890296. ISSN 1099-9949. S2CID 145404777.
  31. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity by John L. Jackson, Jr., Author University of Chicago Press $20 (298p) ISBN 978-0-226-39002-4". Publishers Weekly. October 31, 2005. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  32. ^ "RACIAL PARANOIA The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness: The New Reality of Race in America by John L. Jackson Jr". Kirkus Reviews. May 20, 2010. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  33. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness by John L. Jackson, Jr., Author Basic $26 (274p) ISBN 978-0-465-00216-0". Publishers Weekly. February 11, 2008. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  34. ^ Doss, Adeyemi (2010). "John L. Jackson, Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness". Black Diaspora Review. 1 (2): 39–41. ISSN 2334-1521. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26.
  35. ^ Withrow, Brian L. (2010-03-01). Book Review: Jackson, J. L. Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness New York, NY: Basic Civitas, 2008, 278 pp. Vol. 35. pp. 127–128. doi:10.1177/0734016809349168. ISBN 978-0465002160. ISSN 0734-0168. S2CID 146502808. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  36. ^ "Nonfiction Book Review: Impolite Conversations: On Race, Politics, Sex, Money, and Religion by Cora Daniels and John L. Jackson Jr. Atria, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4767-3911-3". Publishers Weekly. June 2, 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  37. ^ Bass, Patrik Henry (2014-09-18). "She Say, He Say: Cora Daniels' Provocative New Book". Essence. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  38. ^ "IMPOLITE CONVERSATIONS On Race, Politics, Sex, Money, and Religion by Cora Daniels; John L. Jackson Jr". Kirkus Reviews. June 19, 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-08-26. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  39. ^ Raymond, Emilie (January 2019). "Televised Redemption: Black Religious Media and Racial Empowerment. By Carolyn Moxley Rouse, John L. Jackson, Jr., and Marla F. Frederick". Journal of Social History. 52 (3): 1011–1013. doi:10.1093/jsh/shx054. S2CID 148749586.
  40. ^ "Bad Friday". badfridaythemovie.com. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  41. ^ "Making Sweet Tea". Making Sweet Tea. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
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