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College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Byron Craig

Assistant Professor
School of Communication
Office
FEL Fell Hall
Office Phone
(309) 438-3671office
phone
Email
bbcraig@ilstu.eduemail
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Research Interests & Areas

My current research includes the public controversy surrounding rap music and hip hop culture as they intersect with race and anti-blackness in the late 20th to early 21st century. Additionally, my research includes bio-politics and the black/brown body and post-racial representations in film and television specifically since and as a response to, the Black Lives Matter Movement.

PhD Race and Rhetoric

Indiana University Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana

MA Queerness and Race

Indiana University Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana

University Service Award

Illinois State University
2023

CAS Teaching Award Tenure-Track Faculty

College of Arts and Science
2023

Book, Chapter

Craig, B., & Rahko, S. (Re) Summoning Candyman for a Post-Racial Era (2024)
Craig, B., Rahko, S., & Jordan, J. Excavating the Ruins of Tulsa's Greenwood District (2024)
Rahko, S., & Craig, B. From Noose to Nuse: The Green Book, Woke Whiteness and the Post Racial Buddy Film (2024)
Making Lemonade: Finding Art, Activism, and Community with Beyonce in Troubled Times.
The Gig Economy: Workers and Media in the Age of Convergence ed. Brian Dolber, Chenjeral Kumanyika, Michelle Rodino-Colocino, and Todd Wolfson

Book, Edited

Craig, B., & Rahko, S. Politics of Race and American Popular Culture (2024)
Craig, B., & Rahko, S. Rupturing Post-Racial Fantasiies (2024)

Creative Works/Broadcast Media

Jordan, J. S., Craig, B., Rahko, S., Carpenter, N. J., & Hunt, S. K. (2022, November 8). Election night live: An extending empathy project event [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8HSvueO9w8&t=9258s




Journal Article

Craig, B. Restaging the Anthropocene: Laudato Si' and the Rhetorical Politics of the Universal. Joseph R. Blaney, Guest Editor (EDs), No. Religious Communication Association, an affiliate of the National Communication Association 44.2 (2021): 33-46.
Byron B Craig and Stephen E. Rahko. "Visual Profiling as Biopolitics: Or, Notes on Policing in Post-Racial #Amerikkka." Cultural Studies<->Critical Methodologies; 2016, Vol. 16 (3) 287-295

Other

Jordan, J. S., Craig, B., Rhako, S., Carpenter, N. J., & Hunt, S. K. (2022, January 8). The divide: QAnon part two [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSGxCnOCyeY



Jordan, J. S., Craig, B., Rhako, S., Carpenter, N. J., & Hunt, S. K. (2021, December 31). The divide: QAnon part one [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edAzGFOmV3o



Jordan, J. S., Craig, B., Rhako, S., Carpenter, N. J., & Hunt, S. K. (2021, July 13). The Divide: THEM part two [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVOiKipT6Yk



Jordan, J. S., Craig, B., Rhako, S., Carpenter, N. J., & Hunt, S. K. (2021, June 15). The Divide: THEM part one [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOtIj-gWT0



Presentations

Digital History Makers. National Communication Association Conference 2023. National Communication Association. (2023)

Hunt, S.K., Jordan, J. S., Craig, B., Rahko, S. (2023, May). Extending empathy and trust: Who to let in, who to keep out? Presented at the Civic Leaning and Democratic (CLDE) conference, Boston, MA.   



Thomas, L., Carpenter, N. J., Craig, B., Craven, K., & Hunt, S. K. (2022, April). State of Illinois spotlight: Well-Being: Taking care of community. Panel presented at the annual meeting of the Central States Communication Association, Madison, WI.



Thomas, L., Carpenter, N., Craig, B., Craven, K., Hale, L. A., & Hunt, S. K. (2021, September). Well-being: Taking care of the community in-person. Panel Presented at the annual meeting of the Illinois Communication and Theatre Association, East Peoria, IL.



Memory Through Media: The Rhetoric of a "City too Busy to Hate" and Anti-Blackness in the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children Case. National Communication Association. National Communication Association. (2020)
The Trauma Presidency: Fear and Loathing in Donald Trump's America. National Communication Association. National Communication Association. (2020)
What Should Empathy Be in This Historical Moment of Reckoning? Reconciling Black Trauma, Whiteness, and the Historical Structures of Racism Since 1619. Extending Empathy Project. ISU. (2020)

Jordan, J. S., Carpenter, N. J., Craig, B., & Hunt, S. K. (2020, September). Who watches the Watchmen?: Utilizing Twitter as a cultural space for collectively writing history. Video presented at the annual WaynePop conference, Detroit, MI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtrSrLibDEs&t=2586s



Craig, B., Hall, A., Thomas, L., Zompetti, J., & Hopper, K. M. (November, 2019). Embodied realities: Strategies to improve a climate of diversity and respect. Panel presented at the annual Illinois State University Culturally Responsive Campus Community conference, Normal, IL.
They're Not Playing Around in Wakanda: Rhetorical Strategies For Resisting the 'post-Racial Mystique". NCA. National Communication Association. (2018)

Grants & Contracts

Instructional Innovation Grant: SOC Book Club. Illinois State University, Center for Teaching, Learning, & Technology. Illinois State University. (2022)
University Teaching Grant: SOC EDI Learning Community Pilot. Illinois State University, Center for Teaching, Learning, & Technology. Illinois State University. (2022)
Can America Be Redeemed: "Looking Up" At America's Past Through the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. African American Studies Program. Illinois State University. (2021)
Rupturing Post-Racial Fantasies: The Rhetorical Politics of Race and American Popular Culture Since the Ferguson Uprisings. University Press of Mississippi. Other. (2020)