Marcus Johnson publishes on Black cultural studies

Marcus Johnson is an M.A. in Cultural Studies alum (’16) and Ph.D. candidate at the UW Department of Communication. He recently co-authored the article “Black Cultural Studies is Intersectionality” with Dr. Ralina Joseph, which was published in the International Journal of Cultural Studies.

The article argues that Black cultural studies must be understood as an intersectional intervention of praxis. “Grounding our field in the past, speaking from the present, and projecting to the future, we examine the transformational influence that Black feminist theory has had on cultural studies, from Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw’s defense of 2 Live Crew, to the #SayHerName and Protect Black Women rally and marches,” write Johnson and Joseph.

Johnson earned a B.A. in Global Studies and minor in Human Rights at UW Bothell (’13). As a Cultural Studies student, he worked with IAS faculty member Ben Gardner on “The Multi Dimensions of Blackness: Cultural Hegemony in the United States and Abroad.” Johnson’s research stems from a “disquieting” encounter he had while visiting family in the Dominican Republic that catalyzed his interest in different formations of “blackness” in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the United States.