LAWRENCE E. MINTZ
Department of American Studies
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-7711
301-405-1360
fax 301-314-9453
9308 Cherry Hill Road, Apt. 407
College Park, MD 20740
301-477-5949
E-mail: lm36@umail.umd.edu
EDUCATION: Ph.D., American Studies/English, Michigan State University, 1969 M.A., English, Michigan State University, 1967 B.A., English, University of South Carolina, 1966 HONORS: Phi Kappa Phi, 1975 Phi Beta Kappa, 1967 Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1966-1967 TEACHING: Associate Professor, University of Maryland, 1974-- Visiting Professor, University of Paris III (Sorbonne), 1975-1976 Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, 1969-1974 OTHER PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS: Director, The Art Gliner Center for Humor Studies, 1999-- Editor, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 1999-- PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: American Studies Association American Humor Studies Association Popular Culture Association American Culture Association International Society for Humor Studies PUBLICATIONS: Book: Humor in America: A Research Guide to Genres and Topics. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1988. (edited). Newsletters and Conference Abstracts: American Humor: An Interdisciplinary Newsletter, edited, 1974-1984 (with M. Thomas Inge, 1974-1980). Newsletter, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, edited, Berlin: Mouton deGruyter, 1986-1989. Abstracts from the Third International Conference on Humor (1982), edited, Washington, DC: Conference Committee, 1984. Articles and Chapters in Books: "Langston Hughes' Jesse B. Semple: The Urban Negro as Wise Fool," Satire Newsletter, (Fall, 1969), 11-21. Reprinted, Harbrace College Reader, 4th ed, NY: 1972, pp.186-201. "The Browning of Buchwald," Prospects, I (Jan. 1976) 156-165. "American Humour and the Spirit of the Times," in Antony Chapman and Hugh Foot, eds., Its a Funny Thing, Humour, London: Pergamon, 1977, pp. 17-21. "Ethnic Humour: Discussion," in Chapman and Foot, eds. It's a Funny Thing, Humour, pp.287-289. "Fantasy, Formula, Realism, and Propaganda in Milton Caniff's Comic Strips," Journal of Popular Culture, XII:4 (Spring, 1979), 653-680. "American Humor in the 1920's," Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor, IV:1 (Spring/Summer, 1981), 26-32. Reprinted in L. Broer, ed. Dancing Fools and Weary Blues, Bowling Green: Popular Press, 1989. "Recent Trends in the Study of Popular Culture: Since 1971," in Jefferson B. Kellogg and Robert H. Walker, eds., Sources for American Studies, Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1983, pp.489-507. Reprinted, American Studies International, XXI:5 (October, 1983), 88-103. "Notes Toward a Methodology of Popular Culture Study," Studies in Popular Culture, 6 (1983), 25-34. "Humor and Popular Culture," in Jeffrey Goldstein and Paul McGhee, eds., Handbook of Humor Research, NY: Springer, 1983, 129-142. "Popular Culture: Audio-Visual Resources," in Howard Hitchens, ed., American Studies: A Catalogue of Audio-Visual Resources, Washington, DC., USIA, 1983. "The Standup Comedian as Social and Cultural Mediator," American Quarterly, 37:1 (Spring, 1985), 71-80. Reprinted, Arthur P. Dudden, ed., American Humor, NY: Oxford, 1987, pp.85-96. "Ideology in the American Situation Comedy," Studies in Popular Culture, VIII:2 (1985), 42-51. "The Rabbi Versus the Priest and other Jewish Stories," in Avner Ziv, ed., Jewish Humor, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1986, pp.125-134, English edition, pp.106-99, Hebrew edition. "Situation Comedy," in Brian Rose, ed. TV Genres, Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1985, pp. 105-129. "Broadcast Humor," in Lawrence E. Mintz, ed., Humor in America, Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1988, pp. 90-108. "I Hear America Laughing," Standpoints, (Paris, France) 2:4 (October, 1989), 16-21. (Periodical for English teachers in France) "Devil and Angel: Philip Roth's Humor," Studies in American Jewish Literature, 8:2 (Fall, 1989), 154-167. "Ethos and Pathos in Chaplin's City Lights," in Adolphe Nysenholc, ed., Charles Chaplin: Approaches to Semiotics, Berlin: Mouton deGryter, 1991. "Fools --Be Funny! : Stand-up Comedians Are Society's Designated Comic Hitters," The World & I, 7:6, (June 1992), 661-670. "American Humor Looks at Family Values." in Peter Freese and Michael Porsche, eds. Popular Culture in the United States, Essen, Germany, Die Blaue Eule Verlag, 1994. "Humor and Ethnic Stereotypes in Vaudeville and Burlesque," MELUS, 21:4 (Winter, 1996), 20-28. "In a Sense Abroad: The Image of Europe in Busch Gardens' The Old Country and Walt Disney World's World Showcase," Journal of Popular Culture, 32:3 (Winter, 1998), 47-58. "Unity and Diversity in American Humor," Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 12:3 (1999), 237-252. Book Reviews (selected): WHIMSY: Humor and Laughter. Journal of American Folklore, 99 (July-Sept., 1986). Warren Debenham, Laughter on Record. Humor 2:4 (1989). Alan Dundes, Cracking Jokes. Journal of American Folklore, 102:404 (April-June 1989). Christie Davies, Ethnic Humor Around the World, Journal of Popular Culture, 26:1, (Summer 1992), 168-171. Three Books on Situation Comedy (by David Marc, Darrell Y. Hamamoto, Ella Taylor). Journal of Popular Culture, 1990. Moshe Waldoks and William Novak, The Big Book of American Humor, in Journal of American Culture, 14:3 (Fall 1991), 107-8. Leslie Fiedler, Fiedler on the Roof, American Jewish History, 1993. Elliott Oring, Jokes and Their Relations, Western Folklore, 54:2 (April 1995), 165-166. Arthur Asa Berger, L'il Abner, Humor, 9:1 (1996), 93-106. Wes D. Gehring, American Dark Comedy, J. of Popular Film and Television, 25:2 (Summer 1997), 91-92. George Plimpton et al, eds., "Whither Mirth?" A Special Issue on Humor, The Paris Review, 136: Fall 1995, in Humor, 11:1 (1998), 93-95. Caren Kaplan, Questions of Travel: Postmodern Discourses of Displacement, Journal of American Culture,(Spring, 1998), 97. Joseph Boskin, The Humor Prism in 20th Century America. Humor : International Journal of Humor Research, 11:4 (1998), 431-434. Review of three books on American humor, by Joseph Boskin, Daniel Wickburg, David E. E. Sloane, American Studies, 40:3, Fall1999. 169-171. Work In Progress: A collection of articles and conference papers for Mouton de Gruyter (Berlin) Humor in the American Grain, an anthology of American humor with commentary, co-authored and edited with Sanford Pinsker, completed Chapter in book on travel and tourism edited by Carol Williams "Humor in American Literature," completed and accepted for American Studies Encyclopedia, edited by Miles Orvell, Jay Mechling and others, Grolier Chapter on Southern stand up comedy for book on southern humor edited by Ed Piacentino Conference paper for PCA conference in Cambridge, England, June, 2001, on Stephen Wade's comic storytelling CONFERENCE PAPERS AND INVITED LECTURES: "American Humor: Alive and Well in the Popular Culture," Popular Culture Association, April, 1971. "Comics as History," Popular Culture Association, April, 1973. "The Topography of Steve Canyon," Popular Culture Association, May 1974. (invited) "Twentieth Century American Humour and the Spirit of the Times," First International Humor Conference, Cardiff, Wales, June, 1976. (invited keynote). Discussant,Ethnic Humor Panel, First International Humor Conference, Cardiff, Wales, June 1976. "Country Music as Social Criticism," French American Studies Association, , April 1976. (invited). Presented in similar form, Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association, February 1977. "Jewish Humor: A Continuum of Motives and Functions," Modern Language Association, December, 1976. "A Continuum Description of the Motives and Functions of Racial, Sexist, and Ethnic Humor," Second International Humor Conference, August, 1979. Presented in similar form as invited lecture to the Anthropology Department faculty, Duke University, 1985. "Rabbi-Priest Jokes," First International Conference on Jewish Humor, Tel Aviv, Israel June 1984. "Some Common Misconceptions in Humor Theory" (co-author, Jane R. Littmann), Fourth International Humor Conference, Tel Aviv, Israel, June 1984. "Ideology in the American Situation Comedy," Fifth International Humor Conference, Cork, Ireland, June 1985. "Humor Research in the 1980's" (invited keynote), WHIM Humor Conference, April 1985. "The Social Sciences and Techniques for Studying American Literary Humor," Sixth International Humor Conference, April, 1987. "In a Sense Abroad: Images of the 'Old Country' in American Theme Amusement Parks" Popular Culture Association, March 1988. "Peanuts: The Comic Strip as Icon," University of Minnesota Art Museum, January 1988. (invited lecture). Presented in similar form, as keynote lecture, WHIM Humor Conference, April, 1988. "Ethos and Pathos in Chaplin's City Lights," The Charles Chaplin Centennial Celebration, Paris, April 1989. "Using Popular Culture for Teaching American Studies Abroad," Popular Culture Association of the South, October, 1989. "Popular Culture and the International American Studies Curriculum," Popular Culture Association, March, 1990. "W(h)ither Humor: The End of Laughter in the Nasty Nineties," Southern Popular Culture Association," October 1991. "American Humor and Teaching Popular Culture in the American Studies Curriculum," American Studies Association, November, 1991. "Sex, Ethnicity and Character Types in Burlesque Humor," conference on Burlesque, UCLA, March 1993. "Blondes, JAPS and Dumb Men," Popular Culture Association, April 1993. "Humor and Ethnic Stereotypes in Vaudeville and Burlesque," American Studies Association, November 1993. "Much Madness is Divinest Sense: The Comedy of Robin Williams," International Society for Humor Studies Conference, June 1994. "The Renaissance of American Humor," South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, November 1994 (invited paper). ""Recent Humorous American Comic Strips," International Conference on Popular Culture, Birmingham, England, July 1995. "Mark Twain and Charlie Chaplin: Two Geniuses of American Humor," International Society for Humor Studies Conference, July 1995. "American Humor as Unifying and Divisive," Biannual Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference on American Studies, Helsinki, Finland, May 1996 (invited keynote lecture). Presented in a similar version at the Popular Culture Association Conference, April, 1997. "Performance Comedy: Outline and Definitions," Popular Culture Association of the South, Columbia, SC, October, 1997. "Contemporary American Performance Comedy," Popular Culture Association, Orlando, FL, April 1998. "Trivialization and Insight in the Clinton Scandal Jokes," International Society for Humor Studies, Oakland. CA, June, 1999. "Saul Steinberg's Graphic Humor," International Society for Humor Studies, Osaka, Japan, July, 2000) "Gamble Rogers' Humor," Popular Culture Association of the South," October, 2000 SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: National: Advisory editor, Journal of Popular Culture Editorial Board, "Studies in Humor and Gender"-- book series edited by Nancy Walker and Regina Barreca, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers Inc. Editorial Board, Series on Popular Culture, University of Mississippi Manuscript reader for various scholarly presses such as University of Minnesota Press, University of Mississippi Press, SUNY Press, Rutgers University Press, Unwin Hyman, Ltd. Regional President, Popular Culture Association, c. mid-1970's. Area Chair, Popular Culture Association. Forums 1977, 1978, Humor, c.1980-1988. Secretary Treasurer, American Humor Studies Association, 1981- 1983. Program Chairman, Third International Conference on Humor, Washington, DC, August 1982. Organizer and moderator, eight part series on Jewish humor in broadcasting, The Jewish Museum (New York), July-August, 1985. Jacob Gorn Visiting Scholar, Temple B'nai Israel, Clearwater, FL, 1986 (Jewish Humor). Discussant, panel on women's humor, American Studies Association, November 1987. Co-Chair, workshop on race, sex, and ethnicity in American humor, American Studies Association, October, 1988. Founding member, International Society for Humor Studies, executive board, 1988-1990. Panelist, Humor and the Ford Presidency. Conference on the Presidency of Gerald Ford, Hofstra University, 1989. Outside Evaluator, American Studies Department, Rutgers University, 1989. Executive Board, Workshop Library on World Humor, 1992--1994. Consultant, Library of Congress planned exhibition on American Humor, 1995. Session Chair, Discussant, and Panel participant for ASA, PCA and other conferences on scholarly and professional subjects including journal editing, curriculum development, and assessment of the state of the fields. Panel participant, Truth and Comedy program, The University of Richmond, November, 2000 Occasional Professional Writing, ASA Newsletter, PCA Newsletter, and others. Interviewed by such publications as Forbes, Time, Newsweek, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post, The Journal Papers, The Washington Times, The Detroit News and Free Press, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Prevention, and others. Radio and Television interviews such as NBC Sports World (on professional wrestling), Panorama (American humor), the BBC (humor), interviewed on Worldnet (live satellite TV show), Hamburg, Germany, 1990, and others. Guest Lecturer, Northern Virginia Community College, Salisbury State University, Northern Virginia Community College, George Mason University, Hofstra University, Long Island University, Maryland Art Institute, University of Minnesota, Kent State University, Boston University, Purdue University, Northwestern University, and others. Judge, Webby Awards, 2000. (International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, elected member, 2000) International: Lecturer on ethnicity in America, USIS, France 1975-1976. Lecture text published, Regional Center, Grenoble. Curriculum consultant and lecturer on teaching American Studies abroad, Portugal (1985, 1986), Czechoslovakia (1986), Hungary, (1988, 1989), Yugoslavia (1989). Lecturer for numerous groups of foreign visitors for USIA, State Department, Washington International Center, Maryland English Institute, Institute for International Education, The Center for International Exchange, and Delphi International, since 1970. Author and Editor, "Communications," American Portfolio Series, proposed USIA collection of materials for teaching American Studies abroad. Selected for Fulbright senior scholars advisory panel, 2001. RECENT COURSES TAUGHT: Popular Culture in America (undergraduate and graduate), Humor in America (undergraduate and graduate), Critics of American Culture, American Culture in the 1920's, Television and American Culture, Literature in American Society, Photography and American Culture (graduate), Introduction to American Studies (graduate), Television Situation Comedy, Comic strips, Comic books and Cartoons as Popular Culture AREAS OF RESEARCH INTEREST: American humor, Popular culture, American literature, American cultural history since World War II Ph.D. DISSERTATIONS DIRECTED: Robert Barshay, 1975 Karen Stoddard, 1980 Zita Dresner, 1982 Neil Alperstein, 1986 Harold K. Resnick, 1991 Elsie Williams, 1992 Peter Adams, 1995 David Zurawik, 2000 SERVICE (selected): Departmental: Chairman, Undergraduate Committee, c. 1978-1988 Graduate Admissions Committee Curriculum Revision Committee Member, numerous MA and Ph.D. committees Chairman and Faculty Search Committees Departmental Equity Officer Coordinator of Summer School Program Salary Committee Division/College: Divisional Council, 1978-1979 College Council 1987-1989, 1994-1996, 1998-1999 Divisional PCC Committee Committee for Improving Teaching and Advising Chair, sub-committee on Evaluation of Teaching Committee to write College EEO Guidelines College Research Grant Committee Comparative Literature Program Advisory Faculty, Affiliate Faculty Committee Joint Committee on Campus Planning, APAC, 1994-1995 Campus: Campus Senate (two terms) Senate PCC Chairman, Member, UMCP Faculty Coalition Jewish Studies Committee (Undergraduate Dean) Graduate School Representative and/or committee member for theses and dissertations in English, History, RTVF, Journalism, Textiles and Applied Design, PCOM Ford Foundation Workshop on Literacy in the Profession, 1988 Lecturer, Maryland English Institute International Affairs Committees Committee to bring the National Public Radio Archives to UMCP. Guest lecturer, Campus Hillel organization Playbill notes and Discussion Leader, campus production of "Little Shop of Horrors," 1989 Search Committee, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies, 1990 Panel Chair, Diversity Week Program, 1992 (racial, gender humor on campus) Lecturer, Conference on Academic Knowledge and Political Power, 1992 Occasional Writing, The Faculty Voice. Senate Academic Affairs Committee, 1993 Summer Programs Advisory Committee Athletic Council, 1999-- Senate Educational Affairs Committee, 1999-- Community: Appointed Commissioner, Montgomery County Commission on the Humanities, 1992-1994 Frequent lectures for area civic groups, local schools