Joli Jensen
Emerita Professor of Media Studies
University of Tulsa
Tulsa OK 74104
Positions Held
Endowed Professor: Hazel Rogers Professor of Media Studies, University of Tulsa (2005-2019)
Founding Director: Henneke Center Faculty Writing Program, University of Tulsa (2012-2019)
Director, University Honors Program, University of Tulsa (2005-2007)
Professor, University of Tulsa, Faculty of Communication (2000-present)
Associate Professor, University of Tulsa, Faculty of Communication (1991-2000)
Assistant Professor, University of Texas-Austin, Department of Radio-TV-Film (1985- 1991; tenured and promoted effective 8/91)
Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Virginia, Department of Rhetoric and Communication Studies (1983-1985; declined tenure-track position)
Education
Ph.D. in Communications, 1984: University of Illinois, Institute of Communications Research
M.S. in Journalism, 1977: University of Illinois, Department of Journalism
B.S. in Psychology and Zoology, 1975: University of Nebraska, University Studies Program
Research Interests
Sociology of culture; aesthetic experience; American cultural and social theory; media criticism; narrative journalism; history of new technologies; qualitative methods
Current Scholarly Projects:
MS in progress: Ideologies of Productivity: using cultural theory to critique modern beliefs about self and work
Collection development: Diana Athill and the Andre Deutsch Collection (TU Special Collections)
Selected Courses
Media and Popular Culture: analysis of relationship between media and cultural hierarchy, quality, taste and experience
Mediated Meanings: upper-division communication course using nostalgia, fame, style, and tourism to explore specific characteristics and concerns of postmodern culture
Media Theories: required course on cultural, social and political theory in relation to modern media
Nonfiction Writing: seminar in writing and publishing opinion pieces, personal essays, magazine articles and book proposals
Intellectuals and Social Change: exploring the nature and consequences of modern democratic life in relation to the roles and responsibilities of intellectuals (Honors Course)
Bestselling Feminisms: seminar analyzing bestselling books, films, magazines, and critical commentary on women’s issues from the1960s-present.
Senior Project: capstone course resulting in individual projects, advised by faculty, that use media theory and practice to make a difference in the world.
Publications
Books
Write No Matter What: advice for academics University of Chicago Press, 2017.
Is Art Good For Us? Beliefs about High Culture in American Life, Rowman & Littlefield, 2002.
The Nashville Sound: Authenticity, Commercialization and Country Music. Vanderbilt University Press, 1998
Redeeming Modernity: Contradictions in Media Criticism. Sage Publications, Inc., 1990
Edited Books
Afterlife as AfterImage: posthumous reputation in popular music (Steve Jones, co-editor), Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2005.
Textbook
Media In Society (with Richard Campbell and Douglas Gomery) upper division undergraduate textbook, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2013.
Book Chapters
“Fans and Scholars: A Reassessment” in Popular Music Fandom: Identities, Roles and Practices, edited by Mark Duffett, Routledge 2014.
“Becoming a Postage Stamp: Patsy Cline, Visual Image and the Celebrity Process,” in Sweet Dreams: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline, edited by Warren Hofstra, University of Illinois Press, 2013.
“Popular Culture: Asking the Right Questions,” in Key Concepts in Critical and Cultural Studies, edited by Clifford Christians and Linda Steiner, University of Illinois Press (2010)
“Understanding Recalcitrant Audiences,” in Audiences and the Arts: Communication Perspectives, edited by Lois Foreman-Wernet and Brenda Derviin, Cresskill NJ: Hampton Press (2009).
“Should We Use Medication to Deal with the Angst of College and Young Adulthood?” [reprint of “Let’s Not Medicate Away Student Angst”] in Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Lifestyle Development, Andrew M. Guest, editor, McGraw-Hill 2007.
“Posthumous Patsy Clines” and “Media, Meaning and Posthumous Reputation” in Afterlife as Afterimage: Posthumous Reputation in Popular Music, Joli Jensen and Steve Jones, editors, Lang Publications, Inc., 2005.
“Patsy Cline’s Crossovers: Celebrity, Reputation and Feminine Identity” for A Boy Named Sue, edited by Kris McCusker and Diane Pecknold, University of Mississippi Press, 2005.
“Fandom as Pathology: the consequences of characterization” in Reader in Mass Communication Theory, Denis McQuail, editor, 2002 (reprint; originally published 1992).
“Arts, Intellectuals and the Public: The Legacies and Limits of American Cultural Criticism, 1910-1950,” in American Cultural Studies, Catherine Warren and Mary Douglas Vavrus, editors, University of Illinois Press, 2002.
“Taking Country Music Seriously: Coverage of the 90s Boom,” in Pop and the Press, Steve Jones, editor, Temple University Press, 2002.
“Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization,” in Popular Culture: Production and Consumption, C. Lee Harrington and Denise D. Bielby, editors, Blackwell Publishers, 2000.
“Art, the Public, and Deweyan Cultural Criticism,” in American Pragmatism and Communication Research, David K. Perry, editor, Longman’s, 2000.
"Imagining the Audience: Losses and Gains in Cultural Studies," (with John J. Pauly), in Cultural Studies in Question, edited by Marjorie Ferguson and Peter Golding, Sage, 1997, pp. 155-169.
"Consequences of Vocabularies," in Defining Media Studies: Reflections on the Future of the Field, edited by Mark R. Levy and Michael Gurevitch, Oxford University Press, NY, 1994, pp. 75-82 (reprint of article in Journal of Communication, v. 43, no. 3, Summer 1993, pp. 67-75).
(mis-spelled as Joli Jenson) "Fandom as Pathology: The Consequences of Characterization," in The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Music, Lisa Lewis, ed., Unwin Hyman, Inc. 1992. [reprinted in McQuail; Harrington and Bielby, above]
"Walkin' After Midnight: Patsy Cline, Musical Negotiation, and the Nashville Sound," in All That Glitters: Country Music in America, edited by George H. Lewis, Bowling Green Popular Press, 1992, pp. 38-50.
"Honkytonking: Mass Mediated Culture Made Personal," in All That Glitters: Country Music in America, edited by George H. Lewis, Bowling Green Popular Press, 1992, pp. 119-130.
"An Interpretive Approach to Culture Production," in Interpreting Television: Current Research Perspectives, Willard D. Rowland, Jr. and Bruce Watkins, eds. Sage Annual Reviews of Communication Research, v. 12, 1984, pp. 98-118.
Journal Articles
“Expressive Logic: a new premise in arts advocacy,” Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society. Winter 2003
“Questioning the Social Powers of Art: Toward a Pragmatic Aesthetics," Critical Studies in Mass Communication, v. 12, no. 4, December 1995, pp. 365-379.
Consequences of Vocabularies," Journal of Communication, v. 43, no. 3, Summer 1993, pp. 67-75.
"Democratic Culture and the Arts," Journal of Arts Management, v. 23, no. 2, Summer 1993, pp. 110-120.
"Technology/Music: Understanding Processual Relationships," Popular Music and Society, v. 14, no. 1, 1990, pp. 7-12.
"Using the Typewriter: Secretaries, Reporters and Authors, 1880-1930," Technology in Society, v. 10, 1988, pp. 255-266.
"Genre and Recalcitrance: Country Music's Move Uptown," Tracking: Popular Music Studies, v. 1, no.1, Spring 1988, pp. 30-41.
"Production de la culture: une critique de la litterature anglo-saxonne sur les medias," Vibrations Musiques, Medias, Societe, no. 3, Summer l986, pp. 99-118. (French translation of "An Interpretive Approach to Culture Production.")
"Women as Typewriters," Turn-of-the-Century Women, v. III, no. 1, Summer l986, pp. 43-50.
"Patsy Cline's Recording Career: the search for a sound," Journal of Country Music v. IX, no. 2, 1982, pp. 34-46.
Academic and Personal Essays
Chronicle of Higher Education: Advice
Lessons on the Craft of Scholarly Reading, August 5, 2018;
Aiding the Writing-Stalled Professor, July 26, 2017.
ChronicleVitae https://chroniclevitae.com/people/389-joli-jensen/articles
The Road to Scholarly Utopia, November 2013; From Predator to Pet, January 2014; Who Knows Where the Time Goes, January 2014; My Quest for the Perfect Writing Space, February 2014; The Hidden Key to Productivity, March 2014; The Secret Shame of the Scholarly Writer April 2014; Follow the Lilt, May 2014; Invite Your Demons in for Tea, June 2014; The Magnum Opus Myth, July 2014; Your Decks Will Never Be Clear, August 2014; Don’t Go it Alone, March 2015; The Semester is Over: Time to Write, May 2015.
“The Meaning of Talk: Carey’s model of and for the university,” Cultural Studies, vol 23, no. 2, March 2009, pp. 215-222.
“Casting Spells: Carey as Teacher,” Critical Studies in Media Communication, v.24, no. 2, June 2007, pp. 172-176.
“Something Finer and Better: In Honor of James Carey,” Popular Communication 5 (1), pp. 5-6, 2007.
“On Being ‘Really Jewish’,” Being Jewish magazine, Passover 2007/5767.
“Emotional Choices: what story you choose to believe about antidepressants reveals a deeper truth about who you are,” REASON magazine, v. 35, no. 11, April 2004, pp. 28-35. reprinted as “The Moody Blues: to me or not to med,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 18, 2004.
“Let’s Not Medicate Away Student Angst” Chronicle of Higher Education, June 15. 2003, B5
“Countrypolitan: the Nashville Sound,” for Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume II: Genres, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 2004.
Foreword to: "A Beginner's Guide to Qualitative Research in Mass Communication," Journalism Monographs no. 125, February 1991.
"Television as an Arena of Inquiry," Qualitative Studies Newsletter, v. XI, no. 1, Fall 1984,
pp. 4-5.
"Expressive Aspects Crucial in Understanding of Mass-Mediated Culture," Qualitative Studies Newsletter, v. VII, no. 4, serial 21, Summer 1981, p. 3.
Book Reviews
Peter Simonson “Refiguring Mass Communication: A History,” Mass Communication and Society, v. 14:264-66, 2011.
Alexander Sebastien Dent, River of Tears: Country Music, Memory and Modernity in Brazil, The Latin Americanist, Spring 2010.
Charles K. Wolfe and James E. Akenson, Country Music Goes to War, The Journal of Southern History, May, 2006.
Aaron Fox, Real Country: Music and Language in Working Class Culture, Journal of Anthropological Research, v. 61, no. 3, fall 2005.
Julie Lindquist, A Place to Stand: Politics and Persuasion in a Working Class Bar, Language in Society, Volume 32, Number 5, November 2003.
Herbert Gans, Democracy and the News, REASON magazine, August 2003.
Graeme Turner, British Cultural Studies: An Introduction, American Journalism.
Lana Rakow, Gender on the Line: Women, the Telephone and Community Life, and Stephen H. Norwood, Labor's Flaming Youth: Telephone Operators and Worker Militancy, 1878-1923, Journal of Communication 43 (1), 1993.
Henry J. Perkinson, Getting Better: Television and Moral Progress, Journalism Quarterly, v. 69, no. 3, Autumn 1992.
Mark Crispin Miller, Boxed In: The Culture of TV, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, v. 33, no. 4, Fall 1989, pp. 461-463.
Mallory Wober and Barrie Gunter, Television and Social Control, Social Science Quarterly, v. 70, no. 2, June 1989, pp. 523-524.
Susan G. Davis, Parades and Power: Street Theatre in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia, Journal of Communication v . 37, no. 1, Winter 1987, pp. 127-129.
Vincent Mosco and Janet Wasko, The Critical Communications Review, Volume III: Popular Culture and Media Events, Journal of Communication, v. 36, no. 2, Spring 1986, pp. 182-184.
John Kobal, Hollywood: The Years of Innocence, American Journalism, v. 3, no. 3, 1986, pp. 186-187.
Academic Presentations
“Carey and Cultural Experience,” panel on James Carey and Communication Theory, Philosophy of Communication division of the National Communication Association, Chicago, November 2014
“Experiencing the Arts: why art is good but is not “good for us,” keynote address, Engage/Enquire: international visual arts organization; Margate, Kent, UK November, 2011.
“My Archival Moment: the ICR curriculum1977-1983” Communication Research: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Champaign IL, February 2010.
“Only Connect: Carey and the Art of Teaching with Quotations” Columbia University, October 2007.
“Why is Picasso Famous? Art, Celebrity and Becoming a Fan,” Walker Art Institute, Minneapolis MN, June 2007.
“Reality as an Elusive Resource” International Communication Association, San Francisco, May 2007
“Casting Spells: Carey as Teacher” National Communication Association, San Antonio, November 2006
“Popular Culture: Asking the Right Questions” Symposium on the Scholarship of James W. Carey, University of Illinois, October 2006
“Culture, Class and the Stories We Live By” guest lecture, Fordham University, March 2006.
“Popular Culture: Art, Trash or Does it Matter?” keynote speaker, NCCC Honors Leadership Conference, Chanute Kansas, February 2006.
“Loving Picasso: Scholars, Mistresses and Fans,” Vancouver Art Gallery invited lecture, Vancouver, Canada, November 2005.
“The Arts and the Democratic Dilemma” The NEA at 40 Cultural Policy and American Democracy, LBJ Library, Austin TX, October 2005.
Radio interview on beliefs about the arts, Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC, 26 May 2005.
“Salvaging Aesthetic Experience: quality, taste and the recalcitrant audience,” Social Theory, Politics and the Arts, Columbus OH October 2003.
“Expressive Logic: a new premise in arts advocacy,” Politics, Social Theory and the Arts, Charleston SC, 2002.
“Media as Toxin, Art as Antidote,” pre-conference program “Analyzing Media Discourse,” co-led with Gwenyth Jackaway, National Communication Association, Seattle, November 2000.
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Media,” invited lecturer, Saint Louis University, October 2000.
“Walt Whitman and the Arts in Democratic Vistas,” National Communication Association, Chicago, November 1999.
“Taking Country Seriously: Press Coverage of the 90s Country Music Boom, International Country Music Conference, Nashville Tennessee, June 1999.
“Art and Technics in American Thought: the legacy of Lewis Mumford,” Thirteenth Annual Comparative Literature Symposium: American Cultural Studies: Theory, Practice, Pedagogy, University of Tulsa, March 1999.
"The Arts and the Rhetoric of Redemption: themes in contemporary commentary," National Communication Association, New York City, November 1998.
"Vernacular Aesthetics: Connecting the Arts to Everyday Experience," Social Theory, Politics and the Arts, Philadelphia PA October 1998.
"Social Salvation Through the Arts: The Contradictory Dreams of American Social Critics," International Sociological Association, Montreal, July 1998.
"Understanding Why Authenticity Matters," International Country Music Conference, Nashville Tennessee, June 1998
"Arts, Media and the Body Politic," invited speaker, Distinguished Lecture Series, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, October 1997.
"Posthumous Patsy Clines: Constructions of Identity in Hillbilly Heaven," International Communication Association, Montreal, May 1997.
"Arts as Social Medicine: Intellectual Prescriptions for the Social Good," Speech Communication Association, San Diego, November 1996
"Conservation, Renewal, Revolution, Subversion: The Legacies and Limits of American Cultural Criticism 1910-1950," invited speaker, Across Disciplines and Beyond Boundaries: Tracking American Cultural Studies, University of Illinois, November 1995.
"Tracing the Powers of Art: From Tocqueville to Trilling," Social Theory, Politics and the Arts, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, October 1994.
"Cultural Democracy: Constructing a Usable Past," Social Theory, Politics and the Arts, Philadelphia 1992.
"The Concept of Culture in The Good Society," Speech Communication Association, Chicago 1992.
"Popular Culture and Democracy: The Critic's Dilemma and the Dilemma of Criticism," Speech Communication Association, Chicago, 1992.
"Daniel Boorstin's The Image: The Search for Self-fulfilling Prophecies," Speech Communication Association, Atlanta, September 1991.
"Media Criticism as Social Criticism," 15th Annual Conference on Politics, Social Theory and the Arts, Toronto, October 1989.
"Fear of Trash: Popular Culture in the Academy," 14th Annual Conference on Politics, Social Theory and the Arts, Washington DC, October 1988.
"Writing with a Machine: typewriting and the literary marketplace at the turn of the century," American Studies Association, New York City, November 1987.
"Understanding the Historical Audience," American Journalism Historians Association, St. Paul, October 1987.
"Textual Analysis and the Meaning of Change," Speech Communication Association, Chicago, November 1986.
"Women as Typewriters," Sixth International Conference on Culture and Communication, Temple University, October 1986.
"Technology and Social Role: The Typewriter 1880-1920," American Journalism Historians Association, St. Louis, October 1986.
"Cultural Studies: the problem of television," co-host with James W. Carey, Speech Communication Association seminar, Chicago, November 1984.
"Genre and Recalcitrance: country music's move uptown," Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Gainesville, August 1984.
"Culture Production as Interpretive Process," Fifth International Conference on Culture and Communication, Temple University, March 1983.
"The Rise of Format Radio," Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Louisville, April 1982.
"The Nashville Sound," Big Ten mini-conference, Michigan State University, April 1981.
"Honkytonking: mass mediated culture made personal," Qualitative Studies/Mass Communication and Society mini-conference, Memphis State University, April 1980.
"The Rose Bowl: a cultural analysis of a country music bar," Association for Education in Journalism, Houston, August 1979.
Awards and Honors
Hazel Roger Endowed Professorship in Arts & Sciences, University of Tulsa (2005)
Alumni Achievement Award (2002): College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Fellowship (1999): for revision of book manuscript on intellectuals and the arts.
National Endowment for the Humanities University Fellowship (1993-1994): year-long research support for book on cultural democracy and the arts
University of Tulsa: Multicultural summer course grant (1998) Faculty Development summer research grant (1997); Women's Studies teaching seminar grant (1998); Women’s Studies summer research grant (1992)
Teaching Excellence Award, College of Communication (1989)
Texas Excellence Teaching Award, Texas Ex-Students Association Foundation (1989)
F. J. Heyne Centennial Professorship in Communication Fellow (1987-1988)
University Research Institute, summer research grant (1987; 1990)
National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar grant: "American Television: form and function," UCLA (1984)
Professional Service
Found@TU designed and implemented monthly interview podcast with TU scholars in partnership with local NPR station KWGS (Fall 2018-present)
Pilot project director for CIRCA: Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Adversity, focus on community engagement and academic writing support (Spring 2019-present)
Public Scholar Initiative: training TU colleagues in academic journalism (Fall 2017-Spring 2019)
Writing Workshops and faculty writing consulting for Colorado State University; OSU-Tulsa
Columnist, VITAE: columns on faculty writing issues for the Chronicle of Higher Education website (October 2013-present)
Book Series Co-editor (with Steve Jones and Will Straw) Music/Meanings, Peter Lang (2000-2006)
Advisory Board: Media Ecology Association (1998-2001)
Editorial Advisory Board: Country Music Annual (1999-2006)
Editorial Board: Journal of Communication (1991-1998)
Consulting Editor: communication division, Bedford/St. Martin’s (1999-2000)
Editorial Advisory Board: Journalism Monographs (1988-1994)
Review panel member: National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships Program: communication, media, rhetoric and linguistics (2011); rhetoric, theatre, communication, film division (1993)
Tenure Reviews: University of Iowa, University of North Carolina, Lake Forest University, Saint Louis University
Manuscript Reviews for: American Journalism; Critical Studies in Mass Communication; Cultural Studies; Journal of Communication; Journalism Monographs; Journalism Quarterly; Journal of Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Media and Religion, National Endowment for the Humanities; National Science Foundation; Columbia University Press; Random House; Sage Publications; Rutgers University Press; Temple University Press; Bedford/St. Martin’s Press; University of Illinois Press, Continuum Press..
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC): Qualitative Studies Division, Head, 1988-89; program chair, 1987-1988; secretary, 1986-1987; research committee co-chair, 1983-1985; teaching standards committee, 1982-1983; graduate student representative, 1981-1982; Committee on the Status of Women, appointed member, 1987-1990.
[Departmental, College and University level administrative service record available on request]
[Syllabi for courses available on request]