معرفی
Susan Courtney is Professor and Chair of the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences, with affiliations to the Film and Media Studies Program. She earned her PhD in Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research investigates U.S. media histories of race, gender, and regional identity, particularly through institutional archives and screen culture.
Research Focus: Courtney examines how media shapes collective racial knowledge, with projects spanning Hollywood censorship, Cold War-era regional dichotomies (West/South), and institutional racism. Her current book project, ZIP Code Media, analyzes 20th-century government and municipal archives—including redlining maps and segregated park photographs—to expose systemic inequities and repurpose these materials for contemporary racial justice discourse.
Publications: Her scholarship consistently engages with media representation of racial hierarchies, gender norms, and U.S. national narratives. Recent work explores pedagogical responses to racial violence (Flow essays) and atomic testing films, while books like Split Screen Nation (2017) trace ideological tensions in visual culture across diverse media formats.
Awards & Honors:
- Best Moving Image Book Award, Kraszna-Krausz Foundation (2018)
- Multiple USC Provost's Grants (2010, 2018)
- Tanner Humanities Center Fellowship (2010-11)
- Research Professorship in English (2012)
- Teaching excellence awards (2000, 2005, 2009, 2016)
Teaching: Courses include Film/Media Analysis, Mediating Race, Hollywood in the 1950s-60s, and specialized topics like 'The South on Screen' and 'Cowboy Nation,' reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to visual culture and critical theory.
