Professional Development Assignment 2012-2013
Wanda Rushing, Professor of Sociology
My research focuses on social inequality, globalization, and place. The Professional Development
Assignment allowed me to continue working on projects related to Memphis and globalization, to
respond to invitations from scholars in the United Kingdom and the United States for writing book
chapters, and to accept an invitation to give a research presentation in Mannheim, Germany. The two
semesters were beneficial for many activities related to research and publication, data collection and
analysis, and presentation.
In response to invitations for contributing to two projects, I wrote and submitted two book chapters.
Both have been accepted for publication. The first book, titled Sounds and the City: Popular Music,
Place, and Globalization, edited by Brett Lashua, Stephen Wagg and Karl Spracklen will be published in
the UK by Palgrave in fall 2013 or early 2014. My chapter, “We’re Going to Graceland: Globalization
and the Reimagining of Memphis” looks at urban revitalization and reinvestment at two sites identified
with Memphis music. The second book project, Critical Terms for Southern Studies, edited by Brian Scott
Romine and Jennifer R. Greeson, will be published by the University of Georgia Press fall 2014. My
chapter is a critique of regionalism in the social sciences as applied to southern studies. I completed and
submitted two journal articles for review, and collaborated on a third. One sole authored article, now
under review, is titled “Segregation and its Discontents: Building Community in Post-Civil Rights
Memphis.” The second article submitted and under review is co-authored with a former graduate
student, Michele Scott. It is titled: “Barbecue Tofu and the Most Southern Food on Earth.” A third paper,
a collaborative project with a former graduate student, now a doctoral student at Rice University, is in
progress.
The PDA also allowed me to begin a new research project on urban leadership. Data collection can be
very time-consuming and interview transcription can be costly. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to
collect interview data from thirty Memphis leaders, transcribe it, and begin data analysis. Funding from
my Dunavant Professorship and the Hooks Institute helped cover research costs. I also completed
collecting data from archival materials from the Benjamin Hooks papers housed at the University of
Memphis. I am working on papers and a possible book from these data and will, of course, credit the
College of Arts and Sciences PDA on these publications.
I accepted an invitation from the American Studies program at the University of Mannheim to give a
guest lecture on my book, Memphis and the Paradox of Place: Globalization in the American South.
Some of the students and faculty had read my book, and the reaction to my lecture was very positive. I
enjoyed meeting with faculty and students on my first visit to Germany.