John Vilanova

John Vilanova is an Assistant Professor of Journalism & Communication and Africana Studies at Lehigh University. His work focuses on structural and institutional inequalities in creative and culture industries, with particular emphasis on anti-Black racisms in the global popular music industry. Vilanova examines how media industries create discourse around artistic "excellence" as a proxy for conversations about race, gender, power, and who "matters."

Vilanova holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, with a graduate certificate in Africana Studies. He also earned an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Kansas.

His research program centers on the role of media industries in creating and maintaining structural inequities. Vilanova's work takes a multi-methodological approach, combining archival historical research, interviews with industry stakeholders, and ethnographic fieldwork. His current major project is a monograph titled "Not Simply the Best: The GRAMMY Awards, Blackness, and America," which analyzes mediated discourses around the Grammy Awards as a lens into racial dynamics in the music industry. This project historicizes Grammy results and subsequent media coverage to reveal how influential industry members hear and appraise racial difference. Vilanova is inspired by pioneering Black intellectuals including Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, Toni Morrison, and Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Vilanova's scholarly output demonstrates a consistent focus on racial politics in media industries, with particular attention to music. His recent work has expanded to examine white protests for Black Lives, the global flows of reggae vinyl between Japan and Jamaica, and the music business case for diversity. His research consistently challenges conventional narratives about racial progress while documenting the structural barriers that maintain racial hierarchies in creative industries.

• 2023 Lehigh University Early Career Teaching Award

Vilanova is a dedicated teacher who designs courses at the intersection of race, media, and journalism. His classes, such as "From Lena Horne to Lemonade: Black Feminism and Media Industries" and "Dreams and Nightmares: Mediating Inequality in the Music Industry," are intersectional, international, and interdisciplinary. He designs assignments that build communication skills while encouraging creative exploration of course themes, including graphic novel assignments that allow students to engage with race and media concepts through their own creative work.

His scholarly program includes field research in Kingston, Jamaica, where he has studied creative industries workers attempting to use reggae music and Rastafari to decolonize the music industry. Vilanova also conducts research in Tokyo, Japan, examining the trade of vintage Jamaican-pressed vinyl records, and has ongoing projects analyzing Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums list and the history of music journalism.