Dr. Anna Everett is an Emeritus Professor at UC Santa Barbara. She is also an elected member of the Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees. Dr. Everett is a media historian by training with numerous scholarly publications in film, TV, and new media technologies focusing on race and gender representations. She is a Ford Foundation Fellow, and a two-time recipient of the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, and a MacArthur Foundation Subject Area Expert, among other honors and awards. Her many publications include the books Returning the Gaze: A Genealogy of Black Film Criticism, 1909-1949; Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media, AfroGeeks: Beyond the Digital Divide, Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace, among many others. She has recently launched a diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting business, EDS (Everett Diversity Strategies+).
- Ph.D. The University of Southern California, School of Cinema-TV, Critical Studies, Los Angeles, CA (1996)
- M.A. University of California, Los Angeles, School of Theater, Film, and Television, Department of Critical Studies, Los Angeles, CA (1993)
- B.A. San Jose State University, Department of Radio-Film and Television, San Jose, CA (1991)
It is important to meet students where they are and understand the strengths and challenges they present while working intentionally to inspire them to greater academic achievement heights. There are two central tenets in my teaching philosophy: 1) expect excellence from all students and make clear what my expectations for success are with understandable guideposts along the way; 2) center inclusion in my pedagogical practices and make concrete my belief in and commitment to eradicating opportunity gaps among underserved student populations. I accept the fact that teaching is hard but very rewarding work. It is a vital and necessary profession that will improve the prospects of our talented students and thus ensure a better society for us all. Finally, being a good teacher means being an enthusiastic lifelong learner and role model.
Her selected research is encapsulated in her many publications consisting of single-author manuscripts, anthologies, scholarly articles, and popular writings. They include Returning the Gaze: A Genealogy of Black Film Criticism, 1909-1949; New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality (with John T. Caldwell), AfroGEEKS: Beyond the Digital Divide (with Amber T. Wallace), Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media (for the MacArthur Foundation’s innovative series on Digital Media, Youth, and Learning). Her monograph Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace won a 2009 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Book. Her 2012 edited volume Pretty People: Movie Stars of the 1990s is part of a series of anthologies featuring decades of stars.
“The Other Pleasures: The Narrative Function of Race in the Cinema,” “The Black Press in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Two Exemplars,” “P.C. Youth Violence: ‘What’s the Internet or Video Gaming Got to Do With It?’” “Trading Private and Public Spaces @ HGTV and TLS: On New Genre Formations in Transformation TV,” “Serious Play: Playing with Race in Computer Games,” and “Shaken, Not Stirred Britishness: James Bond, Race, and the Transnational Imaginary, among many, many others.”
Her research has led to local and international race and technology conferences including, MIT’s Race In Digital Space, AfroGEEKS: From Technophobia to Technophilia, AfroGEEKS: Global Blackness and the Digital Public Sphere, and more.
Conferences
- March 2021 “Rebooting Digital Diaspora.” Respondent. Tribute Panel to Dr. Anna Everett. Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Zoom Virtual Meeting.
- March 2019 “Race and Science Fiction/Superhero Genre Reboot: Hollywood’s AfrofuturistImaginary.” Panelist. Multimedia Presentation. Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Seattle, WA
- Feb. 2019 “Conjuring Whiteness: James Bond, Race, and Transnational Culture.” Panelist. Multimedia Presentation. Uncanny Histories Conference. Carsey-Wolf Center University of California, Santa Barbara
- July 2018 “Value Us: Black Mothers Are Subject Matter Experts for Improving Maternal Health And Birth Outcomes.” Panelist. Maternal Mental Health Now Conference. The California Endowment. Los Angeles, CA
- March 2018 “Mediating Charlottesville #2: Campus #Activism in Trump-Time.” Panelist. Roundtable. Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Toronto, Canada
- June 2017 “Hidden Triggers: Adolescent and Maternal Trauma.” Panelist. Diversity, Determinants and Disparities in Perinatal Mental Health Conference. California Endowment. Los Angeles, CA
- March 2017 “Social Media and the Black Women’s Natural Hair Movement: Understanding Black Girlfriend Culture on YouTube,” Multimedia Presentation. Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Chicago, IL
- Nov. 2016 Chinese American for Poetry Convention. Chair, Plenary Session. California State University. Los Angeles, CA
- Sept. 2016 “Transforming the Classroom: Strategies for Media Integration.” Panelist. Ford Foundation Fellows Conference. National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC
Honors, Grands, Fellowships, and Awards
- 2021 National Association of Commissions for Women Achievement Award, Santa Barbara County Commission for Women, for Pass the Mic Documentary
- 2018 National Association of Commissions for Women Achievement Award, Santa Barbara County Commission for Women, for “Women Speak Up” Events
- 2016 Woman Champion of Diversity Award, UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association
- 2014 Graduate Student Mentor Award, UC Santa Barbara
- 2013 Expert, “Taking the Stage,” Inaugural Exhibition Meeting, African American Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
- 2010 Invited Speaker, American Embassy Tunis, Tunisia
- 2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award (for Digital Diaspora: A Race for Cyberspace)
- 2008 F. Ross Johnson-Connaught Distinguished Visitor, Munk Centre for American Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- 2007 Fulbright Senior Scholars Program, University of the Center Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Manouba, Tunisia
- 2006 Visiting Professor, University of the Center Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Manouba, Tunisia
- 2006-07 MacArthur Foundation, Digital Media and Learning Grant
Selected: Invited Talks, Lectures, Academic Activities, and Community Activism
- Aug. 2022 “Equity in the Workplace: Black Women-Breaking the Glass Door and Claiming a Place at the Table.” Panelist, U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. Online Webinar
- March 2022 “How Women Lead.” Panelist, Associated Student Government, Santa Barbara City College, CA. Online Webinar Jan. 2022 External Review Committee. Department of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago. Chicago, IL
- Jan. 2021 “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance,” Featured Speaker, The MLK Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA. Online Virtual Program
- March 2021 “Women Leading Change: Panel Discussion.” Panelist, Antioch University Women In Leadership Certificate Program, Antioch University, Santa Barbara, CA. Online Webinar
- Oct. 2021 Uplifting Our Youth: The State of Education and African American Students in
- Santa Barbara County. Moderator, MLK Jr Committee of Santa Barbara and Gateway Educational Services, Santa Barbara, CA. Online Town Hall and Webinar
- Nov. 2021 External Review Committee. Department of Africana Studies, Claremont Colleges. Los Angeles, CA
- April 2017 “Hidden Triggers: Race, Stress and Mental Health of Black Collegians.” Screening and Town Hall Discussion. Panelist. All Gaucho Reunion. University of California. Santa Barbara, CA
- Feb. 2017 “About that Race and Games Thing: Playing Intersectionality @ the Interface.” Multimedia Presentation. Arts Dean’s Lecture Series. University of California. Santa Cruz, CA
- Jan. 2017 “Digital Tribalisms: Millennials, Hashtag Activism, and the New DIY Movements.” Multimedia Presentation. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Troy, NY
- African American Literature and Culture Society (Founding Member)
- American Literature Association
- American Studies Association
- Community College League of California
- Modern Language Association (Program Committee; Former Chair, Film Division)
- Society for Cinema Studies, African and African-American Caucus (Former Co-Chair)
- Society for Cinema and Media Studies (Former Chair, and Member-Now ‘Black Caucus,’
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Associated ProgramsU.S. Dept. of Labor, Women’s Bureau, Diversity Series; Antioch University Women In Leadership Certificate Program; SBWPC Candidate Development Workshops; Santa Barbara County Commission for Women Women Speak Up Town Halls and Pass the Mic: Teen Stories about LGBTQ+ Issues;
- Women in Leadership; Film and TV of the 1960s
- Black Auteurs; Race, Class, and Gender in Video Games
- Politics in Media
- From TV to New Media Technologies
- Film and Social Reality