Faculty

Ronald Jackson.

Ronald L. Jackson II

233 Gregory Hall
(217) 265-6781
identity - at - illinois.edu

Education

Ph.D., Howard University (Rhetoric & Intercultural Communication)
M.A., University of Cincinnati (Organizational Communication)
B.A., University of Cincinnati (Communication)

Affiliations

Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research, College of Media
Professor of Institute of Communications Research
Professor of African American Studies

Course Specialties

Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Identities
Black Masculinity
African American Communication
African American Rhetoric
Interracial Identity Conflict and Discourses
Critical Studies of Whiteness

Background

Before coming to the University of Illinois, Jackson was associate professor of intercultural communication in the Department of Communication Arts & Sciences at Penn State University, where he had been employed for ten years. He spent the 2006-2007 academic year serving as both a Penn State University Administrative Fellow in an apprenticeship with Provost Rodney Erickson and as a CIC Academic Leadership Program Fellow — opportunities that prepared him for his current position as associate dean in the College of Media.

Research/Creative Endeavor

Jackson, past president of the Eastern Communication Association, is one of the leading communication and identity scholars in the nation. His research examines how theories of identity relate to intercultural and gender communication. In his teaching and research, he explores how and why people negotiate and define themselves as they do. Additionally, Jackson's research includes empirical, conceptual and critical approaches to the study of masculinity, identity negotiation, Whiteness and Afrocentricity. His work appears in several journals, including the Journal of Black Studies, Quarterly Journal of Speech, The International and Intercultural Communication Annual, and Communication Theory. He teaches intercultural communication and is author of eight books: "The Negotiation of Cultural Identity" (1999, Praeger Press), "Think About It!" (2000, Iuniverse.com), "African American Communication: Identity and Culture" (with Michael Hecht and Sidney Ribeau; 2003, Erlbaum), "Understanding African American Rhetoric: Classical origins to contemporary innovations" (with Elaine Richardson; 2003, Routledge), "African American Rhetoric: English perspectives" (with Elaine Richardson; 2004, Southern Illinois University Press), "African American Communication & Identities: Essential Readings" (2004, Sage), "African American Pioneers in Communication Research" (Sage), and "Scripting the Black Masculine Body in Popular Media: Intersections of communication, culture and identity" (sole-authored; SUNY Press). Forthcoming are four additional books entitled: "Culturing Manhood" (with Murali Balaji), "Masculinity in the Black Imagination" (with Mark Hopson), "Communicating Race and Masculinity," and "Encyclopedia of Identity." His published theoretical work includes the development of two paradigms coined "cultural contracts theory" and the "black masculine identity theory."

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