John Ibson Professor of American Studies Email: jibson@fullerton.edu Office: UH-419 Phone: (714) 278-3345 Dept. of American Studies California State Univ., Fullerton Fullerton, CA 92834-6868 Office Hours -Spring 2008: TR 10:15-11:15am, TR 2:30-3:30pm & by appointment

Courses Usually Taught

  Welcome to my web page. I've spent my entire professional career in Cal State Fullerton 's American Studies Department, beginning when I was fresh—very fresh--from graduate school in 1972. I've taught two of our general education classes, Introduction to American Studies and American Character, throughout my years here, enjoying the diverse backgrounds and aspirations typically found among students in GE courses. I enjoy teaching tremendously at every level, however--in large classes and small ones, from an introductory course to a graduate seminar.

  Several characteristics of my teaching have changed over the years, but one thing's remained the same: from my first semester in the department to the present, I've told my students that I want them to have many more questions at the end of a course than they had at the beginning. I continue to be guided by a belief, nicely expressed by the great Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, that “criticism is a form of optimism. Only silence is pessimistic.”

  I began my career specializing in the topic of ethnic diversity in our society, in particular the culture of Americans with an Irish Catholic heritage. I long ago left behind that specific interest, turning my research to issues of gender and sexuality, especially meanings of masculinity in America 's past and present. Despite that shift in focus, there's been continuity in my concerns: I remain interested in cultural diversity and cultural conflict, in the various ways that Americans have negotiated their differences and occasionally have found common ground. Lately, in both my courses and my research, I've added to this longtime concern for diversity an interest in the history of the emotions, the history of the body, and visual culture, especially vernacular (or everyday) photography.

  Full of unknown territory--with surprises, discoveries, and new ideas likely to be just beyond the horizon—teaching, research, and writing provide abundant opportunity for refreshment, reflection, and renewal. That's itself a refreshing thought as I approach the end of my fourth decade at CSUF.

•  PUBLISHED WORK AND OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITY:

•  Books:

•  Will the World Break Your Heart? Dimensions and Consequences of Irish-American Assimilation (New York: Garland Publishing, 1990).

•  Picturing Men: A Century of Male Relationships in Everyday American Photography ( Washington , D.C. : Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).

•  Articles, Book Chapters, and Essays:

•  " Virgin Land or Virgin Mary? Studying the Ethnicity of White Americans," American Quarterly, XXXIII (Bibliography Issue, 1981), 284-308, reprinted as Chapter Nine of George E. Pozzetti, editor, Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, and Language Maintenance (New York: Garland Publishing, 1991), 160-184.

•  "Masculinity Under Fire: LIFE's Presentation of Camaraderie and Homoeroticism Before, During, and After the Second World War," in Erika Doss, editor, Looking at LIFE: Framing the American Century in the Pages of LIFE Magazine, 1936-1972 , (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001). Chapter 9, 178-199.

•  "Antiwar Movement," "Irish-American Manhood," "James Dean," "Male Friendship," "Self-control," " 'Sensitive Male,' " " Rebel without a Cause, " and "Rock Hudson," in Bret Carroll, editor, American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia (Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Sage Publications, 2003).

•  “Gay Movement,”  “ Iowa ,” “ Minnesota ,” “Thurber, James,” “Vietnam War,” in Bill Marshall, editor, France and the Americas : Culture, Politics, and History ( Santa Barbara : ABC Clio, 2005).

•  “One of the Guys: The Distraction of ‘Sexual Orientation' and the Lost World of the American Male,” National Sexuality Resource Center (NSRC), American Sexuality, February 19, 2007, an online magazine, http://nsrc.sfsu.edu/MagArticle.cfm?SID=CE977D71613949C841AA86764A593E3F&DSN=nsrc_dsn&Mode=EDIT&Article=678&ReturnURL=1

•  “Picturing Boys: Found Photographs and the Transformation of Boyhood in 1950s America ,” THYMOS: Journal of Boyhood Studies 1:1 (Spring 2007) 68-83.

•  “Lessons Learned on Brokeback Mountain : Expanding the Possibilities of American Manhood,” in Jim Stacy, editor, Reading Brokeback Mountain : Essays on the Story and the Film (Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland Publishing, 2007) 188-204

  •  Book Reviews:

•  Review of Rosemarie Garland Thompson, editor, Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. New York : New York University Press, 1996, in American Studies 39:3 (Fall 1998) 185-187.

•  Review of John W.M. Hallock, The American Byron: Homosexuality and the Fall of Fitz-Greene Halleck. Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 2000, in Journal of American History , 88:2(September 2001) 640-641.

•  Review of Jonathan Ned Katz, Love Stories: Sex between Men before Homosexuality. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2001, in Journal of American History, 90:1(June 2003) 230.

•  Review of David McCarthy. H. C. Westermann at War: Art and Manhood in Cold War America . Newark : University of Delaware Press. 2005, in American Historical Review 111:4 (October 2006), 1217.

•  Work In Progress:

•  The Morning After: The Shifting Boundaries of Male Association in 1950s America , a book on male relationships, examining vernacular photographs, American literature, and popular culture. .

•  Papers Delivered :

•  "Life as Theater: Playing the Role in Irish-American Culture," Bicentennial Meeting of the American Studies Association, Philadelphia, April 3, 1976.

•  "Diversity as Madness: The American Irish and 'Mental Illness,' “ National Association of Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies, Far West Regional Conference, Arcata, California, October 27, 1979.

•  "Comrades-in-Arms: John Horne Burns and the Awakening and Suppression of Homosexual Desire during World War II and Its Aftermath," California /Rocky Mountain American Studies Associations Meeting, Reno , May 2, 1993.

•  "Masculinity Under Fire: LIFE's Presentation of Camaraderie and Homoeroticism Before, During, and After the Second World War," Conference on "Looking at LIFE: Rethinking America 's Favorite Magazine, 1936-1972," University of Colorado , Boulder , September 14-17, 1995.

•  "Picturing Men in World War II: Narratives of Liberation in Fiction, Autobiography, and Vernacular Photography," The Photograph: An International Interdisciplinary Conference, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, March 13, 2004.

•  "The Morning After: Vernacular Photography and the Shifting Boundaries of Male Sexuality in Postwar America ," North American Sexualities, Post World War II, University of Massachusetts , Amherst , April 24, 2004.

•  “Cold War, Cold Photographs: Male Relationships in the Everyday Photographs of 1950s America ,” Vernacular Reframed: An Exploration of the Everyday, Boston University , November 5-6, 2004.

•  “Picturing Boys: Found Photographs and the Transformation of Boyhood in 1950s America ,” American Studies Association National Conference, Washington , D.C. , November 3-6, 2005.

•  “Snapshots at Sea: A Half Century of Shipboard Culture in American Sailors' Photos,” Symposium on the Art of the American Snapshot, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 10, 2007.