August 2008
Imani Kai Johnson
University of Southern California Department of American Studies & Ethnicity
3470 Trousdale Pkwy WPH 300 Los Angeles, CA 90089
Mobile 917.365.1075; Fax 866.503.9255
ikjohnso@usc.edu
EDUCATION
Fall 2003present
PhD Candidate University of Southern California, Department of American Studies
and Ethnicity
Dissertation Title: “Take Me Higher: Blackness, Kinesthetic Knowledge, and Global
Connection in B-Boying Cyphers”
Committee: Dorinne Kondo, Frederick Moten, Ruth Gilmore, Lanita Jacobs-Huey,
Curtis Marez
Fall 2000Summer 2002
MA Candidate New York University, Gallatin School of Individualized Study
Master’s of Arts with a concentration in African-American and Afro-Caribbean
Literature and History
Masters Thesis Title: “Carnival Lineage: ‘The Afro-American Carnivalesque from
Pinkster to Hip Hop”
Committee: Kamau Brathwaite, Clyde Taylor, Sharon Friedman
Fall 1994-Fall
1998
University of California at Berkeley BA in English and Economics with a minor in
African-American Studies
RESEARCH AREAS
African American Studies; African Diaspora; Cultural Anthropology; Performance Studies; Cultural
Studies; Critical Theory; Popular Culture and Dance
PUBLICATIONS
Johnson, Imani Kai. Review of Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar’s Hip Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007) for H-Amstdy (July 2008). URL: http://www.h-net.
msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=153421215794075.
Johnson, Imani Kai. “Canboulay” for ed. Anand Prahlad’s Encyclopedia of African American Folklore:
Three Volumes, Missouri: Evergreen Press, 2005.
Johnson, Imani Kai. “Tricia Rose” for ed. Anand Prahlad’s Encyclopedia of African American Folklore:
Three Volumes, Missouri: Evergreen Press, 2005.
Johnson, Imani Kai. “People of Color Unite Against Racial Scapegoating,” Washington Square News,
Brownstone Supplement 3.1: 3 (2 Oct. 2001)
Johnson, p. 2
GRANTS & ACHIEVEMENTS
Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship Dissertation Award 2008-2009
Irvine Foundation Graduate Fellowship August 2003-May 2008
Certificate in Experimental Critical Theory, “Present Tense Empires, Race, Bio-Politics” University
of California at Irvine, August 2005
University of Southern California Urban and Global Summer Fellowship Initiative 2005
Scholar-in-Residence, City University of New York, Hunter College Center for Puerto Rican
Studies Grant for research on early representations of Hip Hop in Puerto Rican community and
youth activist archives, June-August 2005
Participant in University of California, Berkeley Advanced Regional Oral History Summer Institute
2004
University of Southern California Center for Feminist Research Travel Grant for research on the
Fiesta de Vejigante in Loíza Aldea, Puerto Rico July 2004
New York University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Summer Research Grant
for Study in the Non-Spanish Speaking Caribbean for research on Carnival in Trinidad July 2001
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Primary Research
May 2006
-August 2007
Conducted archival research at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dance Holdings.
Examined representations of Hip Hop culture in film, photography, dance journals,
newspapers, and niche-market publications geared towards Black youth from 19741985. Collected oral histories of Hip Hop dancers in the New York, New Jersey,
Philadelphia, Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Thun, London, and
Braunschweig.
Research Assistantships
Summer 2008
Researched for Professor Dorinne Kondo in the University of Southern California
Department of Anthropology. Assisted in compiling bibliographies on artisanal
epistemology, Film Studies, and Theatre Studies. Compiled bibliographic sources
on playwrights Anna Deavere Smith and David Henry Hwang, and theatre troupe
Culture Clash. Transcribed interview with Public Theatre Director Oskar Eustis.
Spring 2005
Researched for Professor Lanita Jacobs-Huey in the University of Southern
California Department of Anthropology. Assisted in data analysis, coding, and
preliminary research on themes pertinent to the language of “truth” and racial
authenticity by African American stand-up humor, African American women’s
linguistic and cultural hair practices, and African American families raising child
Johnson, p. 3
survivors of brain trauma. Digitized footage from fieldwork for From the Kitchen to
the Parlor.
Fall 2004
Researched for Professor Roberto Lint-Sagarena in the University of Southern
California Department of Religious Study. Assisted in preliminary research on the
“All Mexico” Movement and representations of crossroads in African diasporic
religious practices. Researched at the Getty Conservation Institute for photographic
representations of the Mexican Centennial Fiesta between the 1910s and the 1920s.
August 2002April 2003
Researched for Anthropologist, Ethnomusicologist, and Scholar-in-Residence
Kenneth Bilby at the New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in
Black Culture. Conducted archival research, making use of the extensive Rare
Books and Manuscripts Division at both the Schomburg and at the New York
Humanities and Social Sciences Library in research on slave-era and colonial
representations of African-derived, Anglo- and Francophone Caribbean healing and
faith-based practices.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Adjunct/Lecturer Positions
Spring 2007
African Caribbean Literature: Centering the Caribbean, City University of New York
Hunter College Department of African and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies. Course of
40-50 students focused on literary and theoretical representations of the Caribbean
with a focus on themes of nationalism, class, race, gender, sexual politics, ancestral
roots, and imaginings of Africa.
Summer 2004
African American Literature: Challenging The Black Experience, City University of New
York Hunter College Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies.
Course of 55 students disrupting notions of African Americans as a cultural
monolith. Focused on visual, musical, and literary narratives that open up the
possibilities of black lives.
Fall 2003
African American Literature, City University of New York Hunter College
Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies. Course of 55 students
exploring the church, class and color, legacies of slavery, and gender politics.
Included texts by Caribbean American writers.
Fall 2002
Afro-Caribbean Literature, City University of New York Hunter College Department
of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies. Literature course of 40-50 students
for non-majors focused on themes immigrant and exile, class and color, colonialism
and imperialism, and gender politics.
Fall 2002
College Writing, Long Island University Brooklyn Campus, English and Writing
Program. Writing intensive introductory course of 15 first year students, with a
focus on critical reading and argumentative writing skills. Focused on drafts and
revisions that accumulated into a final portfolio.
Johnson, p. 4
Spring 2003
Non-Western Literature, Long Island University Brooklyn Campus, English and
Writing Program. Upper division English course. Class of 35 students. Fulfilled
requirement for Writing and Literature. Focused on definitions and literary
representations of colonialism in pan-Caribbean texts.
Spring 2003
African American Literature, St. Joseph's College, School of Adult and Professional
Education. Elective Saturday seminar of 8 students focused on major themes in
African American Literature.
Teaching Assistantships
Spring 2008
Deviant Behavior for Professor Karen Sternheimer, University of Southern California
Department of Sociology. The development of the study of deviance in Sociology
with a focus on key theoretical concepts and topics including drug use, mental
health, eating disorders, and criminality.
Spring 2008
Social Inequality: Class, Status, and Power for Professor Karen Sternheimer, University
of Southern California Department of Sociology. The study of class in theories of
social inequality and the development of functional, structural, and conflict theories
in analyses of the homeless, the working poor, working, upper-middle class, and the
rich.
Fall 2007
Exploring Culture Through Film for Professor Lanita Jacobs-Huey, University of
Southern California Department of Anthropology. Explored key anthropological
concepts though an analysis of visual and written representations of different
societies worldwide, emphasizing issues of identity, language, culture change, power,
and resistance through theoretical ethnographic, and filmic texts.
Spring 2006
Los Angeles: The Fiction for Professor Thomas Gustafson, University of Southern
California Arts and Letters. Analyses of filmic and literary representations of Los
Angeles as both utopia and distopia.
Fall 2005
Race and Class in Los Angeles for Professor Leland Seito, University of Southern
California Department of American Studies and Ethnicity. Examined the
importance of race in relation to major political, economic, gender, social, and
economic issues in contemporary Los Angeles, with particular attention given to
systemic forms of power.
CONFERENCE PAPERS & LECTURES
Panelist “The Practice of Belonging in B-boying Cyphers,” paper to be presented at the American
Studies Association panel “Troubling Citizenship: Belonging, Community and Resistance in an Age
of Migration,” October 17, 2008 (forthcoming).
Invited Moderator “Breaking In Its 30s: The Maturing of Hip Hop’s Dance Art” ALOUD Lectures,
Readings, Performances and Discussions Series at the Los Angeles Central Public Library July 30,
2008.
Johnson, p. 5
Invited Panelist “Battling in the Circle: Competition and Collaboration in B-Boying Cyphers” given
at the City University of New York Baruch College Conference “Battling: Dueling In and Over
African Diaspora Culture,” May 2, 2008.
Panelist “Dark Forces of in Dance Circles: Race and B-Boying in Global Hip Hop Culture” given at
The Black Humanities Collective and the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies Conference
“Bodies in Motion: Diaspora, Difference, and Discursive Performances,” March 27-28, 2008.
Guest Lecturer Series “Ethnography of B-Boying: Movement as Culture” given at the University of
Southern California for Professor Lanita Jacobs-Huey’s course Exploring Culture Through Film
October 16 and 18, 2007
Invited Panelist “Hip Hop America” for the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities Visions &
Voices Program, University of Southern California. October 8, 2007
Panelist “Dark Matter: The Inter-Workings of Performance and Blackness in B-Boy/Girl Cyphers”
at the Collegium of African American Research Conference (CAAR) in Madrid, Spain April 19, 2007
Panelist “Alien-Nation, Blackness and Third World Belonging in The Spook Who Sat By the Door” at
The Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora Conference in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil October 6, 2005
Guest Lecturer “From Underground Economy to Mainstream Market: The Corporatization of Hip
Hop” given at California State University at Dominguez Hills for Professor T. Hasan Johnson’s
course Hip-Hop and the African Diaspora in the US: Globalization, Masculinity, and Representation
October 23, 2004
Panelist “Carnival Journeys: Women and Their Bodies in Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber and
Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow” at the Society for Caribbean Studies 26th Multi-Disciplinary
Conference at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England July 2, 2002
Panelist “Ritual of Memory, Ritual of Performance: Carnival in Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber
and Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow” at the Fifth Congress of the Americas Popular Cultures
Conference at the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla-Cholula, Mexico October 19, 2001
Panelist “New York Pinkster Celebrations and the Spectral Nature of Slave Life” at the Holiday
Conference: A Multidisciplinary Conference on Holidays, Ritual, Festival, Celebration & Public
Display at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio June 1, 2001
TEACHING AREAS
Theories in Performance Studies
Introduction to Cultural Studies
Introduction to American Studies
Race and Popular Culture
Qualitative Methods
African Diasporic Expressive Cultures
The Practice of Ethnography
New Approaches in Hip Hop Studies
Globalization & Transnational Theories
Critical Theory: Art and Politics
Johnson, p. 6
SERVICE
July 30, 2008
Curator “Breaking In Its 30s: The Maturing of Hip Hop’s Dance Art” presentation
and performance with Rafael Xavier and Edmundo Loayza for the ALOUD
Lectures, Readings, Performances and Discussions Series at the Los Angeles
Central Public Library July 30, 2008.
October 2000- Graduate Assistant at New York University Office of African American, Latino and
April 2002
Asian American Student Services (OASIS). Designed and managed the Grants,
Fellowships, and Scholarships (GFS) Database; Created of the Grants and Scholarships
Resource Book. Created publicity for program events. Conducted online research on
program topics. Researched and co-designed the OASIS Alumni Mentoring
Program.
June 1999September
2000
Literacy Supervisor at the East Bay Conservation Corps/AmeriCorps Program in
Oakland, CA. Supervised a 10-person team of AmeriCorps members. Planned and
implemented a 1-on-1 literacy program for East Oakland1st graders. Supervised the
America Reads After School Reading Program for 2nd and 3rd graders. Co-founder
of the Diversity Awareness Group.
Spring 1995Spring 1999
Writing Tutor and Workshop Facilitator at the University of California at Berkeley Cesar
Chavez Student Learning Center. Tutored individual students in beginning collegelevel reading and comprehension courses. Tutored both graduate and
undergraduate on a drop-in basis. Interviewed, mentored, and helped train new
tutors. Designed and implemented a Senior Tutor Project: Creative Interactive Tips.
Organized 3 hours of workshops per week.
Summer 1998
Teacher, Tutor, and Reading Group Leader at Eastside College Prepatory, East Palo Alto
CA. Co-taught Language Arts for incoming 9th graders. Intensively tutored two high
school students. Led a 7th grade group for one hour of reading and one hour of
writing. Wrote curriculum for To Kill a Mockingbird.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Studies Association (AS A)
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Association of Black Anthropologists (a section of AAA)
Collegium for African American Research (CAAR)
American Studies and Ethnicity Graduate Student Organization (PASEO)
OTHER EDUCATION
Fall 1998
University of the West Indies-Cave Hill Campus, Barbados Education Abroad
Program
Fall 1996
Howard University, Washington D.C. Black Student Development Center
Exchange Program
Johnson, p. 7
LANGUAGES
Spanish: proficient reading; beginning speaking
French: proficient reading; beginning speaking
Johnson, p. 8
Imani Kai Johnson
University of Southern California Department of American Studies & Ethnicity
3470 Trousdale Pkwy, WPH 300 Los Angeles, CA 90089
Mobile: 917.365.1075; Fax: 866.503.9255
ikjohnso@usc.edu
REFERENCES
Dr. Dorinne Kondo (Chair)
Professor
Anthropology
American Studies & Ethnicity
University of Southern California
Dr. Frederick Moten
Associate Professor
Department of English
Duke University
Grace Ford Salvatori Hall
3601 Watt Way, Ste. 120
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Office: 213.740.1910
Email: kondo@usc.edu
314 Allen Building
Durham, NC 27708
Office: 919.684.2741
Email: fred.moten@duke.edu
Dr. Ruth Gilmore
Director & Associate Professor
American Studies & Ethnicity
Geography
University of Southern California
Waites Phillips Hall, 303
3470 Trousdale Parkway, WPH 303
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4033
Office: 213.740.0050
Email: rwgilmor@usc.edu
Dr. Lanita Jacobs-Huey
Anthropology
American Studies & Ethnicity
University of Southern California
Grace Ford Salvatori Hall
3601 Watt Way, Ste. 120
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Office: 213.740.1909
Email: jacobshu@usc.edu