Christine Acham
Program in African American and African Studies
University of California-Davis
Davis, CA. 95616
530-752-1548
acham@ucdavis.edu
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Critical Studies, School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California, December
1999.
MA, Critical Studies, School of Cinema-Television, U.S.C., May 1996.
BA, Screen Studies, Clark University, Massachusetts, May 1991.
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
Associate Professor, African American and African Studies Program, University of California-Davis,
2005-Present
Assistant Professor, African American and African Studies Program, University of California-Davis,
2000- 2004
Adjunct Professor, School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA.
1998- 2000
Adjunct Professor, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA. 1998- 2000.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
African American Film and Television, Black Popular Culture, Black Comedy, Documentary Film,
Television Studies, Film Studies, American Film.
TEACHING
Graduate Independent Studies: Television History and Theory, African-American Music: History and
Social Change, African American Film And Television.
Primary Undergraduate Courses: African American Film, African American Television Black
Documentary History, Black Documentary Practicum, Black Popular Culture, Documentary Filmmaking
in the Caribbean: Trinidad and Tobago.
Additional Undergraduate Courses: African American Cultural Criticism, African American Political
Thought, Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality in American Film, Race and Cinema, African American
Comedy, Introduction to Film Studies.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press (October, 2004)
Articles
“We Shall Overcome: Preserving History and Memory in Spike Lee’s 4 Little Girls.” The Spike Lee
Reader. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. (2008)
“I’m Rich Bitch!: Comedy of Chappelle’s Show,” Cable Visions: Television Beyond Broadcasting, New
York: NYU Press. (2007.)
“Subverting the System: The Politics and Production of The Spook Who Sat By The Door. Screening
Noir: A Journal of Black Film, Video and Digital Culture, (Fall, 2005)
“Book review,” Black. White. And in Color: Television and Black Civil Rights. The Moving Image 5:1,
Spring 2005.
“Television: Ethnicity and Race,” Boyhood in America: An Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio Publications
October 2001
“Sanford and Son: Televising African American Humor,” Spectator, USC Journal of Film and Television
Criticism Spring/Summer 2000
“Foreword,” and editor Monitor-ing Television: Race, Representation and Nationhood,” Spectator, USC
Journal of Film and Television Criticism. Fall/Winter 1998.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
The Spooks Who Sat by the Door: Black Filmmakers of the 60s and 70s
Sam’s Blues: The Adventures of a Traveling Man (A Documentary Project)
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EDITORIAL POSITIONS
Member, Editorial Board, Film Quarterly, University of California Press, 2006-Present.
Advisory Member, Editorial Board, Screening Noir: A Journal of Black Film, Video and Digital Culture,
2005-Present.
Co-Editor “Blaxploitation Revisted” Screening Noir: A Journal of Black Film, Video and Digital Culture,
2005.
Editor “Monitor-ing Television: Race, Representation and Nationhood,” Spectator, USC Journal of Film
and Television Criticism. Fall/Winter 1998.
INVITED TALKS
“Politics and Comedy: A Historical Perspective” UC Davis, February 2009.
“Power of Black Television Images of the 70s.” Clark University, Worcester, MA.
March 2006.
“The Comedy of Richard Pryor,” Black History Month Lecture Series, UC Davis,
February 2006
“The African American Comedic Tradition,” Performance and Culture in the African Diaspora, Lecture
Series, UC Davis. March 2005
“Understanding Goodbye Uncle Tom,” Men In Action Film Presentation, UC Davis, February 2005
“Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power,” Campus Authors Celebration
2004, University of California-Davis, October 2004.
“Screening Lynn Hershman’s Teknolust,” Mondavi Center, UC Davis, January 2003.
“Rereading Blaxploitation,” Black History Month Lecture Series, UC Davis, February 2002
“ Black is Black Ain’t: Marlon Riggs and the Political Struggle over Blackness,” Black Empowerment
Lecture Series, UC Davis, March 2002.
“Black Masculinity and Representation in Popular Culture,” African American Cultural Center, Los
Angeles CA. October 2001.
“Seeking Diversity in the Industry,” Screen Actor’s Guild, Los Angeles, CA. April 2000.
“Black Women in Film and Television: A Historical Perspective,” Keynote Speaker, California African
American Museum, February 2000.
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“African Americans in Cinema” California African American Museum, February 1999.
“The Politics of Contemporary African American Filmmaking.” Cosby Writing Workshop, Los Angeles,
April 21, 1998.
“Black Women in Film: The Next Generation” California African American Museum, March 1997.
PROFESSIONAL PAPERS
“Negotiating Black Masculinity in the Black Revolution: Nothing But A Man (1964)
Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Chicago, IL. March 2007
“Decolonizing Chicago: International Influences on The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” Society for
Cinema and Media Studies Conference, London, April 2005.
“Exiling the Man: The Politics of The Spook Who Sat by the Door.” Society for Cinema and Media
Studies Conference, Atlanta, GA. March 2004.
“Is It Something I Said? Televising Richard Pryor.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference,
Minneapolis, MN. March 2003.
“Boyz II Men: Black Masculinity in John Singleton’s Boyz in the Hood and Baby Boy.” Society for
Cinema Studies Conference, Denver CO. May 2002
“Diasporic Positions” Chair, Blackness in Global Contexts Conference, Davis, CA. March 2002
“He’s A Badd Mother . . .: Shaft and Shaft 2000 The Contemporary Politics of Blaxploitation.” Society
for Cinema Studies Conference, Washington D.C. May 2001
“Eating the Other: Hip Hop and James Toback’s Black and White.” Hip Hop and Film Lecture Series,
UC Davis, February 2001
“Julia and Good Times: Black Women and the Power of Counternarratives.” Society for Cinema
Studies Conference, Chicago, IL., March 2000
“That Nigger Crazy: Televising African American Humor.” Society for Cinema Studies Conference,
West Palm Beach, FL., April 1999.
“Televising Uprising: The Political Landscape of Civil Rights Documentaries.” Visible Evidence,
Documentary Conference, San Francisco, CA. August 1998.
“Riots or Revolution? Contested Meanings in Civil Rights Television Coverage.” Society for Cinema
Studies Conference, San Diego, CA. April 1998.
“Jesse Rhines, Black Film White Money.” Respondent, Media Colloquia Series,
1998.
U.S.C. March 14,
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"Keepin' It Real, Waiting to Exhale: Searching for the Black Female Voice in Contemporary Hollywood
Cinema" Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Ottawa, Canada. May 1997.
ACADEMIC SERVICE
Department Appointments
Major Advisor, Program in African American and African Studies (2005-2007)
Advisor, Social and Ethnic Relations Minor (2005-2007)
Committees
Co-Chair, African American and African Caucus, Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2003-2005.
Program Committee, African American and African Studies Program, University of California-Davis
2000-Present
Program Committee, Film Studies, University of California-Davis, 2002-2007.
Member, Designated Emphasis Committee, African American Studies and African Studies, University
of California-Davis, 2003-2006.
Search Committee, Chair and Faculty, Program in African American and African Studies, University of
California-Davis, 2001-2003. 2004-2005
Committee on Admissions and Enrollment, University of California-Davis, 2001-2003.
Graduate Admissions Committee, Cultural Studies Program, University of California-Davis, 2000-2003.
Planner
“Real to Reel Trinidad: A Student Documentary Film.” University of California-Davis, March 20042009.
‘Real to Reel II: A Student Documentary Film Series.” University of California-Davis, June 2003-2007.
“ Underground Political Lecture and Film Series,” Program in African American and African Studies,
University of California-Davis, May 2005.
“Prisons, Politics and Film” Lecture and Film Series, Program in African and African American Studies,
University of California-Davis, February 2003
“Hip Hop and Film,” Lecture and Film Series, Program in African American and African Studies,
University of California-Davis, February 2001.
“Hip-Hop Nation” Conference, Southern California Studies Center, U.S.C., April 2000.
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“Angela Davis: The Prison Industrial Complex.” U.S.C., March 24, 1999.
Book Reviewer
New York University Press, Black Faces Abroad, 2007.
University of Minnesota Press, Baad Bitches And Sassy Supermamas: Race. Gender and Sexuality in
Black Power Action Fantasies. 2004.
Article Reviewer
Television and New Media. Sage Publication. The (Hidden) Rhetoric of Race in Television News on
Crime and the Penal System, 2007.
Doctoral Committees
Dissertation Chair: Smith
Comprehensive Exam Member: Littles, Crayton, Smith
Undergraduate Thesis Committees
Member: Heller (2005).
AWARDS and GRANTS
Faculty Teaching Award, African Continuum: African American Student and Faculty Organization,
University of California-Davis, 2007
Faculty Research Grant, University of California-Davis 2008-2009
Faculty Research Grant, University of California-Davis 2007-2008
Faculty Research Grant, University of California-Davis 2006-2007
Course Development Grant, Teaching Resources Center University of California-Davis 2004-2006
Faculty Research Grant, University of California-Davis 2005-2006
Faculty Development Award, University of California-Davis Winter 2003
Faculty Publication Grant, University of California-Davis 2003-2004
Faculty Research Grant, University of California-Davis 2003-2004
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Course Development Grant, Teaching Resources Center University of California-Davis 2002-2003
Faculty Research Grant, University of California-Davis 2001-2002
Course Development Grant, Teaching Resources Center, University of California-Davis 2001-2002
New Faculty Research Grant, University of California-Davis 2000-20001
Diana Meehan Fellowship in Feminism and Communication, Center for Feminist Research, U.S.C.,
May 1999.
Sol Lesser Academic Scholarship, School of Cinema-Television, U.S.C. May 1998.
Phi Beta Kappa Scholarship, Outstanding Academic Achievement, May 1998.
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