S. Craig Watkins
Associate Professor
E-mail: scwatkins@mail.utexas.edu
Office: WWH 408
Phone: 512-471-6676
Ph.D., University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, 1994.
S. Craig Watkins teaches in the departments of Radio-Television-Film and Sociology and the Center for African and African American Studies. His teaching and research interests focus on race, media, hip hop, and, most recently, youth digital media cultures.
His current research explores young people's dynamic participation in online games, social media, and communities like Facebook and MySpace. In his forthcoming book, he takes a close look at how new media behaviors are transforming youth culture, identity, and everyday life.
Watkins was selected to join the MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning a collection of scholars, visionaries, thought leaders, and practitioners from across the world to explore the intersection of digital media, everyday life, and learning. His work on this groundbreaking project focuses on race, learning, and the growing culture of gaming.
His latest book, Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement (Beacon Press 2005), takes readers inside the phenomenal world of hip hop.
Publisher's Weekly calls the book "ambitious" adding that Watkins, "tells his version of hip-hop's history in lyrical prose, often mirroring the rhythms and wordplay of the music he's discussing." Noted author and scholar Michael Eric Dyson says that "with Hip Hop Matters S. Craig Watkins establishes himself as one of the most insightful observers and critics of hip hop culture." According to URB the book "is set apart with a meticulous attention to the facts. [Watkins] leaves few stones unturned examining the endless influence of hip-hop on the world around us, always with a critical eye." The Washington Post notes that, "Watkins well understands the challenges facing the nascent hip-hop political movement." And The Nations Greg Tate bluntly states, "Watkins's study is the best yet on the hip-hop industry."
Watkins is also the author of Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema (The University of Chicago Press 1998). Representing is the first book to fully explore the impact of hip-hop culture on the film industry and African American filmmakers. In addition to receiving wide critical acclaim in academic reviews Representing is a frequently used book in courses ranging from film and media studies to urban sociology and youth culture.
He also works as a consultant and thought leader for research and educational organizations, publishers, and communication companies interested in gaining greater insight into the lively worlds young people create, both online and offline. Some of his recent work in this area has been with the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, Kaiser Permanente, Nokia, KLRU-TV (Austin), and a publisher of books for young readers.
* Youth and Media Culture
* Researching Digital Media Culture
* Digital Media: Innovative Uses and Consequences
* Video Games: Content, Culture, and Industry
* Hip Hop Culture
* Race, Media, and Cultural Studies
His scholarly research and expertise has been recognized in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Time, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Black Issues in Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Publisher's Weekly, Vibe, The Village Voice, URB, The Source Magazine, and broadcast outlets like National Public Radio, The Tavis Smiley Show, ABC World News Tonight, MTV.com, FOX.com, ESPN, and the Radio Netherlands/Amsterdam Forum.
S. Craig Watkins has been invited to be a Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford).
