Sheena Howard

Sheena C. Howard is an American academic, author and producer. Howard is Associate Professor of Communication at Rider University. She is also the Immediate Past Chair of the Black Caucus (National Communication Association)^[1] and the founder of The NerdWorks Project. Dr. Howard is an award winning author who is the recipient of the 2014 Eisner Award for her first book Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation (2013).^[2]

Early life and education

Howard attended Howard University in Washington, DC, graduating in 2010 with a PhD in Communication and Culture.^[3]

Career

Howard is a social justice activist and cultural critic,^[4] who writes about social and political events with a focus on racial and sexual minorities. From 2011 to 2013 Howard served as a Dissertation Award Committee member, AABHE. In addition, she was also a section editor for the Journal of African American Males In Education in 2009. Howard has been featured in The Washington Post,^[5] National Public Radio^[6] and PBS ^[7] for her work.

Eisner Award

In 2014, Dr. Howard made history by becoming the first Black woman to win an Eisner Award for her book Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation. The book, edited with Dr. Ron Jackson II, is based on her dissertation "African American Communication Dynamics Through Black Comics Strips." In an interview with Michael Cavna at The Washington Post, Dr. Howard is quoted as saying, "I want people to read the book and learn about the great black creators and writers that were writing characters during a time in which there was immense racism and hatred towards black people. These writers and creators were as much a part of the civil-rights movement as music artists, preachers and speakers."

Works

• Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation (2013) Howard discusses Black dominant masculinity within the semantic and artistic views of the comic strip and African American vernacular English. She also traces the history of Black cartoonists' contributions to the medium of comics.^[5][8] For this book, co-edited with Ronald L. Jackson,^[9][10] Howard was presented with an Eisner Award, and is the first black woman to receive this prize.^[11][12]
• Black Queer Identity Matrix: Towards An Integrated Queer of Color Framework (2014) Howard focuses on the Black lesbian female identity, addressing the intersectionality of race, gender and sexual orientation, and discussing the need for a queer of color conceptual framework. The book calls for a more cohesive outline within queer studies, with a deeper perspective on the variables of ethnicity and race. In a book review in the QED: Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, Dominique D. Johnson stated:

  "Introduced as a response to popular political activism and academic scholarship that excludes black lesbian females' lived experiences, Howard's construction of intersectionality as an analytical praxis is timely and will prove foundational for new lines of thought. In order to better understand the absence (or omission) of certain voices within mainstream LGBTQ political projects and the related conflict in feminist and queer studies scholarship, what is needed is a framework for analysis that recognizes the interlocking nature of identities without centering the most seemingly salient political issues at a given historical moment. Utilizing autoethnography, ethnographic case studies, and theories of identity, Black Queer Identity Matrix provides a framework for understanding the black lesbian through a 'paradigmatic inquiry around the intersections of gender, sexual orientation, and race-ethnicity.'"^[13]

  Although the "Black Queer Identity Matrix" comes out of a communication context, scholars have used the Black Queer Identity Matrix in the context of social justice and equity reform, as well as a framework that highlights the difference between queer theory and queer identity.^[14] Dr. Howard has used the constructs outlined in Black Queer Identity Matrix to analyze media representations in the show Empire and to challenge homophobia. Dr. Howard says in a Huffington Post article, as the author of Black Queer Identity Matrix, a book that deconstructs the matrix in which lesbian and gay people of color live and the strategies employed in negotiating ones sexual identity in public discourse: "I found the reaction of media commentator and political analyst, Dr. Boyce Watkins severely problematic and troubling, especially within the context of a persistent discourse that says the Black community is homophobic."^[15] The Atlantic has cited Dr. Howard's work, making a connection between sexual identity, masculinity, and media representation.^[16]
• Critical Articulations of Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation (2014) Lexington Books.

References

1. "The Eisner Awards, Dr. Sheena C. Howard, and Watson and Holmes".. Comic Book Resources.
2. "Dr. Sheena C. Howard Wins 2014 Comic Con Eisner Award for Book 'Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation'". Good Black News.
3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheena-c-howard-5aa26456
4. "Professor Sheena Howard: 5 Interesting Facts About The First Black Woman to Win the Oscar of Comics". Kenya Foy. Clutch Magazine
5. "BLACK COMICS': Fresh off milestone Eisner Award, (Howard alumna) scholar goes deep beneath black-and-white of comics page at Fall for the Book [Q&A]". The Washington Post]
6. "Rider prof makes history as first black woman to win 'Oscar of comic books' award", August 6, 2014 NewsWorks
7. "Millennials' view on transgender and race issues.". To the Contrary, PBS
8. "All Eyes On Eisner Winner Dr. Sheena Howard". Comic Creator News, by Mark C. Turner on Sep 9th, 2014
9. "Taking a Look At the Eisner Winners and Wonder Woman’s New Movie Costume!". AutoStraddle
10. "Review of Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation". Image Text: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies, Volume 8 No. 1 By Francesca Lyn
11. "Rider University professor wins 'Oscar of comics' at San Diego Comic-Con" Brendan McGrath Times of Trenton, nj.com, August 03, 2014
12. "Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation ed. by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II (review)". Kathryn M. Frank, Cinema Journal, Volume 55, Number 1, Fall 2015
13. https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/qed_a_journal_of_glbtq_worldmaking/v002/2.2.johnson01.html
14. https://gobblerconnect.vt.edu/organization/hokiepride/calendar/details/626843
15. "Dr. Boyce Watkins Charges Lee Daniels With Having A 'Gay Agenda'". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
16. Hakeem Mans Up. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/11/empire-season-2-episode-6-hakeem-masculinity/414247/.

External links

• http://fallforthebook.org/2014/07/17/sheena-howard/
• http://www.trentonian.com/opinion/20140808/comic-con-2014-eisner-award-winner-dr-sheena-c-howard-tells-her-story
• http://trinity.duke.edu/videos/left-of-black-sheena-howard
• Profile at Huffington Post
• Listing at NatCom