Biography: Ricardo Guthrie

Ricardo Guthrie Ph.D.

Dr. Ricardo Guthrie, Distinguished Associate Professor of Social Justice at Fisk University, has researched and taught extensively on Afro-Diasporic culture and Indigenous consciousness between Blacks in the US and Africa since 1976. He is a member of the Black Speculative Arts Movement, affiliated with the Museum of Science Fiction, and is a member of the Working Group on Emergent Indigenous Identities (Maquarie). He has published on Afro-Futurism and Indigenous Futurism and examines racial cognition as reflected in film and media artifacts. His published works include:
• "Confederates & Colonial Commemoration in the US," in the Palgrave Handbook on Rethinking Colonial Commemorations (Palgrave-Macmillan: 2023);
• “Redefining the Colonial: An Afrofuturist Analysis of Wakanda & Speculative Fiction,” Journal of Futures Studies, December 2019;
• "Embodying An Imagined Other Through Rebellion, Resistance & Joy: Mardi Gras Indians and Black Indigeneity,” in AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, v. 12, n. 5, Dec. 2016;
• Reading Radmilla: The Semiotics of Self (Black and Navajo),” in The Politics of Identity (UT - Sydney Press: 2013); and
• “Afrofuturism & the Haunting of Racial Space in ‘DETROPIA’ and ‘I, Robot’,” in Afrofuturism 2.0, vol. 1 (Lexington Books: 2015).
He was named an Arizona Public Humanities Scholar (2022), and an Arizona Informant Newsmaker of the Year (2021). In 2020, he edited a YA book: Malcolm X (Capstone Press), by Ebony Joy Wilkins. When he isn't writing about Afro-Futurism/Afro-Indigeneity he designs public art to transform racialized spaces into projects of resilience, particularly neighborhoods recovering from Jim Crow segregation, displacement, and disenfranchisement. He is the lead artist for the Historic Southside Mural at the Murdoch Center (Flagstaff, AZ: 2011-2023) and a collaborator on an NEH grant: "Racialized Spaces on Route 66"—training K–12 teachers to develop lesson plans countering racist historiographies of travel, movement, and social mobility (2022–2025). Proud father of Ifa and Maya.

Education:

Ph.D. University of California, San Diego, 2006

Major: Communications

M.A. Boston University, Graduate School, 1984

Major: African American Studies

M.S. Boston University, School of Public Communications, 1984

Major: Journalism

A.B. Harvard College, 1980

Major: Liberal Arts: African-American Studies

Contact information:

Office Location: John Lewis Center for Social Justice
Office Phone: 615-329-8016
Office Email: rguthrie@fisk.edu

Ricardo Guthrie, PhD.

RESEARCH FOCUS:
Communication, Film and Media Studies
African Diasporic Studies; Afro-Indigenous Futures Studies
Ethnic Studies; Social Justice
PUBLICATIONS:
• Guthrie, R., “Confederates and Colonial Commemoration in the United States: Collective Memory and Counter-histories,” chapter in The Palgrave Handbook on Rethinking Colonial Commemorations, edited by Prof. Bronwyn Carlson and Prof. Terri Ferrelly (Palgrave-Macmillan: July 2023).
• Guthrie, R., “Enhancing the Historic Southside Mural at the Murdoch Community Center:” Lead artist on expanding public art murals at the site of the segregated Dunbar School Flagstaff, AZ, June-September, 2021.
• Guthrie, R. “Redefining the Colonial: An Afrofuturist Analysis of Wakanda and Speculative Fiction,” Journal of Futures Studies, December 2019, 24(2), pp. 15-28.
• Guthrie, R. Book Review: “Let Us Make Men: The Twentieth-Century Black Press and a Manly Vision for Racial Advancement. D’Weston Haywood.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 96(3), September 2019, pp. 936-938.
• Guthrie, R. “Embodying An Imagined Other Through Rebellion, Resistance and Joy: Mardi Gras Indians and Black Indigeneity,” AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, edited by Prof. Bronwyn Carlson and Prof. Michelle Harris, v. 12, n. 5, Dec. 2016, pp. 557-573.
• Guthrie, R. “Being Multicultural is Not a Luxury,” chapter in Going Inward: The Role of Cultural Introspection in College Teaching, edited by Prof. Susan Longerbeam and Prof. Alicia Chávez (Peter Lang: June 2016).
• Guthrie, R. “Afrofuturism and the Haunting of Racial Space in DETROPIA and I, Robot,” chapter in Afrofuturism 2.0, vol. 1, edited by Prof. Reynaldo Anderson and Prof. Charles Jones (Lexington Books: December 2015).
• Guthrie, R. “The Historic Southside Mural Project: Pedagogical Art & Community Empowerment,” The International Journal of Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts, vol. 7, n. 2, July 2013, pp. 85-99.
• Guthrie, R. “Reading Radmilla: The Semiotics of Self (Black and Navajo),” chapter in The Politics of Identity: Emerging Indigeneity, edited by Prof. Michelle Harris, Prof. Bronwyn Carlson, and Prof. Martin Nakata (Univ. of Technology - Sydney Press: June 2013), pp. 169-184.
• Guthrie, R. “Oprah Winfrey and the Trauma Drama: What’s So Good About Feeling Bad?” chapter in Presenting Oprah Winfrey, Her Films, and African American Literature, edited by Prof. Tara T. Green, (Palgrave Macmillan: January 2013), pp. 45-78.
• Guthrie, R. “Minstrelsy & Mythic Appetites: The Last King of Scotland’s Heart of Darkness in the Jubilee Year of African Independence,” chapter in Hollywood’s Africa after 1994, edited by Prof. MaryEllen Higgins (Ohio University Press: 2012), pp. 110-124.
• Guthrie, R. “The Historic Southside” Mural: Designed and produced outdoor mural at the site of Flagstaff’s segregated Dunbar School, Murdoch Community Center, Flagstaff, AZ, August 2011.
• Guthrie, R. “Runagate, Runagate: Historical Noncompliance, Pre-Emption and Moral Justice,” Tidal Basin Review, Summer 2010, pp. 102-105.

Ricardo Guthrie, PhD. Professional Service

Lived Black Experience CommUnity Coalition, Steering Committee, 2020-present
Commissioner, City of Flagstaff Planning and Zoning Commission, June 2020-2023
African & African American Studies Research Center, UC San Diego, Board Member, 2004-present
Journal of Global Indigeneity, Editorial Advisor, Macquarie University, Australia, 2012-present

• Distinguished Associate Professor of Social Justice, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, August 2022 to present.
• Associate Professor, Ethnic Studies, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, July 2014 to June 2022
• Director, Ethnic Studies, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Northern Arizona University, June 2016 to June 2020
Fulltime academic and administrative position leading faculty unit in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Mentoring students, teaching core Ethnic Studies classes, preparing curricula and program revisions, designing course schedule builds, conducting annual faculty reviews, leading faculty meeting and committee work, overseeing program budgets and faculty search committees, preparing progress reports, and hiring, training and evaluating new staff.
• Director, Ethnic Studies, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Northern Arizona University, December 2013-July 2014.
Fulltime academic and administrative position.
• Assistant Professor, Ethnic Studies, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, August 2008 to 2014.
Fulltime tenure track position, teaching Ethnic Studies courses, African American Studies, and Ethnic Studies graduate certificate courses. Faculty advisor for doctoral dissertation committees, master’s degree students, and undergraduate student interns in Ethnic Studies.
• Visiting Scholar, UC Santa Barbara Center for Black Studies Research, Santa Barbara, CA.
Researching the social history of a Black newspaper, the San Francisco Sun-Reporter, and its publisher, Dr. Carlton Goodlett, in developing an intellectual community and evolving Black political activism during the 1950s-60s; film and media analyses of race, culture and emerging indigenous identity; youth and cultural resistance across borders and boundaries; ethnography of Flagstaff’s Southside neighborhoods.
• Assistant Professor, Africana Studies, Multicultural Studies Department, Palomar College, San Marcos, California, August 2006 to May 2007.
Taught Multicultural & Africana Studies.
• Course Instructor, UC San Diego, Communication Department, Ethnic Studies Department, Winter & Summer 2006
• Teaching Assistant, UC San Diego, Communication Department, Fall 2002 to Spring 2004
• SENIOR EDITOR • University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA. (1998-2000)
External Relations. Reported, wrote and produced the school’s monthly staff/faculty newsletter, UCSD Times. Produced quarterly arts newsletter, Showcase, and contributed articles and news briefs for alumni magazine. Assisted with special projects for University Communications Office.
• WRITER/CATALOGUER • Early American History Auctions, La Jolla, CA. (1996-1998)
Researched and prepared written descriptions of historical artifacts, collectibles, and artwork for bi-monthly catalogues and auctions. Desktop publishing layout, database research, preparation of online edition of catalogues, handling customer inquiries and historical research.
• SENIOR WRITER/EDITOR • Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA. (1993-1995)
Dean’s Office. Responsible for all aspects of the school’s weekly internal newsletter, Around the School, including writing and editing articles, using desktop publishing software, preparing mechanicals, sizing photos, and providing instructions for printer. Formatted newsletter text for publication on-line via Gopher. Helped develop alumni/student/faculty publication, The Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health.

Ricardo Guthrie, PhD. Conference Presentations

SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS:
• “Ethnic Techno-Cultures” panel, Escape Velocity/Museum of Science Fiction Conference, Washington, DC, May 2019.
• “Afrofuturism Returns: Black Superhuman and ‘Otherhuman’ Identities,” Roundtable, Escape Velocity/Museum of Science Fiction Conference, Washington, DC, May 2018.
• “Embodying an Imagined Other through Rebellion, Resistance and Joy: Mardi Gras Indians and Black Indigeneity,” National Association for Ethnic Studies Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 2017.
• “Dear White People, and the Irreducible Antagonism of Blackness in US Society,” National Council for Black Studies 40th Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC, March 2016.
• “Hollywood Looks at the Civil Rights Movement: From Boycott to Selma,” National University and African & African American Studies Research Ctr. Symposium, San Diego, CA, Feb. 2015.
• “BS or ES? The Black Studies Origins of Ethnic Studies in the Academy,” National Council for Black Studies 39th Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA, March 2015.
• “The Real Ghosts in the Machine: Afrofuturism and the Haunting of Racial Space,” National Council for Black Studies 38th Annual Conference, Miami, FL, March 2014.
• “Strategic Visualizations of Du Boisian Double Consciousness: Crossing the Colorline and Transforming Social Worlds,” Fanaticism and the Abolition-Democracy: Critical Theory in the Spirit of Joel Olson Conference, NAU, Flagstaff, AZ, January 2013.
• “The Historic Southside Mural Project: Pedagogical Art & Community Empowerment,” 7th International Conference on the Arts in Society, Liverpool, England, July 2012.
• “Reading Radmilla: The Semiotics of Self (Black and Navajo),” Second Symposium on Emerging Indigenous Identities, Nura Gili, University of New South Wales, Australia, August 2011.
• “The Educational Blind Side,” NCBS 35th Annual Conference, Cincinnati, OH, March 2011.
• “How Do You Read A Film? Encoding and Decoding the Cinema,” Northern Arizona Univ., College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Summer Seminar, Flagstaff, Arizona, July 2010.
• “Orality and Racialized Embodiment in Toni Morrison’s Jazz and Doug Atchison’s Akeelah and the Bee,” Natl. Council for Black Studies 34th Annual Conf., New Orleans, LA, March 2010.
• “The Great Debaters: Denzel Washington, Willie Lynch and the Narratives of History,” National Council for Black Studies 33rd Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, March 2009.
• “Dedicated to the Cause of the People: Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett and the San Francisco Sun-Reporter,” Center for Black Studies Research, UC Santa Barbara, May 2008.
• “Communicating Peace and Human Rights: The San Francisco Sun-Reporter’s Promotion of Kwame Nkrumah as a Peace Ambassador to Viet Nam, 1965-66,” peer-reviewed presentation, African Studies Association 50th Annual Meeting, New York, NY, October 2007.
• “Hollywood’s Africa: The Last King of Scotland’s Heart of Darkness In the Year of African Independence,” UCSD African & African American Studies Research Project, May 25, 2007.
• “Communication Off-the-Page: Whose Interests are Served When Scholars Utilize Ethnovideography?” peer-reviewed panel, Interntl. Comm. Assn., New Orleans, LA, May 2004.
• “Communication in the Wild Symposium,” Organizer and Presenter, Sculptural and Painting Installations, UC San Diego, Communication Department, April 2004.
• “Championing Social Change from Jim Crow to Civil Rights: A Content Analysis of Black Newspaper Editorials in the San Francisco Sun-Reporter, 1950s-1960s,” UC San Diego All-Grad Research Symposium, January 2004.
• Binational Assn. of Schools of Communication, 13th Annual Conf.: “Beyond Borders: Communication, Culture, Creativity,” video festival, San Diego City College, April 2003.

DOCTORAL AND MASTER'S THESIS COMMITTEES (SELECTED):
• Grant, Anthony, Fisk University MS
• Allen, Morgan, Fisk MS
• Muchna, Matt, Northern Arizona University MS
• Paige, Christopher, Northern Arizona University (NAU) EdD
• McGee, Dwain, NAU EdD
• Mnouer, Mounia, NAU

Ricardo Guthrie, Ph.D. Courses

Fisk University, Social Justice Graduate Studies Program (Aug. 2022-present):
• “Social Justice 508: Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Inequality”; “SOJ 522: Social Problems”; “SOJ 573: Special Topics: Race, Space, Segregation and Criminal Justice”; “SOJ 532: Human Rights – Local and Global”; “SOJ 573: Special Topics: Social Determinants of Public Health Justice.
Northern Arizona University, Ethnic Studies (Aug. 2008-May 2022):
• “Ethnic Studies 150: Intro. to African American Studies”; “ES 200: Race, Identity & Film”; “ES 202: Black Cinema”; “ES 300: Global Race and Ethnic Relations”; “ES 420/520: Race, Space and Segregation”; “ES 484/584: Racism in US Schools and Society”; “ES 391: Social Movements, Culture, and Community Engagement”; “ES 498c: Capstone Seminar in Ethnic Studies”; “ES 499/599: Immigrants & Alien Others on Film”; “ES 600: Critical Approaches to Ethnic Studies.”
Palomar College, Africana Studies & Multicultural Studies (Aug. 2006-May 2007):
• “AS 100: History & Legacy of Africana Peoples”; “AS 101: African Am. History I (Africa to Civil War)”; “AS 102: African Am. History II (1870s-Present)”; “MCS 100: Intro. to Multicultural Studies.”
UC San Diego, Communication Department & Ethnic Studies (Winter, Summer 2006):
• “COCU 125: How to Read a Film”; “ETHN 104: Race, Space, & Segregation.”