Anthony Kwame Harrison Named Edward S. Diggs Professor in Humanities
August 1, 2019
Anthony Kwame Harrison, Sociology, was named Edward S. Diggs Professor in Humanities by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. The Diggs Professorship recognizes and promotes excellence in research and teaching in the humanities; recipients hold the position for a five-year term. A cultural anthropologist, Harrison conducts research on the impact of race in popular music, recreation, and higher education. The author of two books and editor of another, he also has published numerous journal articles and book chapters. Harrison is the recipient of more than two dozen awards that recognize his efforts to promote diversity and inclusion as well as teaching excellence; among these is the university’s 2015 Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has served as the Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black Studies since 2014. Harrison joined the Virginia Tech community in 2003; he earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree and doctorate from Syracuse University. In addition, Harrison was appointed Visiting Professor in the MOST Team of Dauphine Recherches en Management (DRM – Université Paris-Dauphine, France) from June 24 to June 28. The cross-disciplinary MOST (Markets, Organisations, Society and Technologies) team comprises researchers specialized in different fields of management around a project based on the critical analysis of the managerialisation, financialization, and marketization of society. Harrison also produced “White Reign,” Dysfunction 6 (2019), an issue dedicated to the career achievements of James A. “Billboard” Jackson. The issue features: visual art by Harrison, Asa Jackson, Kevin Earley, and Antoine Lefebvre; “Introduction” and “An Autoethnography of Black Automobility: The Ongoing Search for James ‘Billboard’ Jackson” by Harrison, pp. 1–3 and 4–11 respectively; “The Metaphysical Difficulty of Traveling While Black to the Field” by alumnus Corey Miles, Sociology Ph.D. 2019, p. 12; “White Reign,” a musical/lyrical essay by Harrison and BlakeNine, p. 2; and the short film “Sundown” by Harrison and Karl Precoda, Performing Arts and Sociology, p. 7.