CV
J. Todd Ormsbee
Assistant Professor of American Studies
San Jose State University
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0092
proformsbee@mac.com
Education
- Ph.D. in American Studies, University of Kansas, May 2004
Dissertation: Sexuality and Experience: Gay Male Publicity, Community, and Meaning in 1960s San Francisco - M.A. in American Studies, University of Kansas, December 1998
Thesis: “There is Life Here for the People”: Tradition, Orality, and the Sacred in Native American Autobiography - B.A. in English, Brigham Young University, August 1994
Professional Employment
- Assistant Professor of American Studies, San Jose State University; San Jose, CA, August 2005 to present
- Adjunct to Sociology Department, San Jose State University; San Jose, CA, beginning January 2009.
- Lecturer Department of Sociology, University of San Francisco; San Francisco, CA, August 2004 to May 2005
- Lecturer American Studies Program, San Jose State University; San Jose, CA, January 2005 to May 2005
- Lecturer Department of Sociology, San Francisco State University; San Francisco, CA, January 2005 to May 2005
- Lecturer Department of History, San Francisco State University; San Francisco, CA, August 2002 to August 2003
- Instructor Liberal Studies Department, Art Institute of California—San Francisco; San Francisco, CA, July 2002 to March 2005
Awards and Honors
- Norman R. Yetman Outstanding Dissertation in American Studies 2004 recipient
Research and Teaching Interests
- Social and Cultural Theory
- Cultural Sociology & Symbolic Interaction
- Globalization and Global Migration
- Sociology and the Impact of Neurology, Evolution, and the Cognitive Sciences
- Sociology and History of Sexuality
- Sociology and History of Mass Culture and Consumerism
Scholarship
Book (under contract)
The Meaning of ‘Gay’: Community and Publicity among Homosexual Men in 1960s San Francisco, Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, forthcoming Fall 2008.
Articles
“Overcoming Domination through Self-Representation: Gay Men’s Experience in 1960s San Francisco” in Social Thought and Research 26:1 & 2 (2005)
Articles (in progress)
“Recent Developments in the Study of Symbolic Interaction and Microsociology” to be published in Sociology Compass Fall 2008 [title is provisional]
“Experience or Culture?: Using John Dewey’s Instrumentalism to Rethink the Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Culture”
Encyclopedia Entries
“GLBT scholars and academics,” in International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Contemporary Cultures, edited by David Gerstner, (Routledge: New York, 2005).
“The Commodity” in American Material Culture: An Encyclopedia, eds. Miriam Forman-Brunell, Helen Sheumaker, and Shirley Wajda (New York: ABC-CLIO, 2002).
Book Reviews
Eithne Luibhéid and Lionel Cantú Jr, editors. Queer Migrations: Sexuality, U.S. Citizenshi, and Border Crossings. Reviewed in American Studies, Summer 2006.
David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government. Reviewed in American Studies, Fall 2004.
Nan A. Boyd, Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965. Reviewed in Western Historical Quarterly, Summer 2004.
Papers Presented
“As Sexual Cultures Collide: Thinking about Historical Transformations of Sexuality in the Age of Globalism” Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, Palo Alto, CA, August 2006
“Effective Freedom, Self-Realization, and Democratic Community” Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy [American Pragmatism], Bakersfield, CA, March 2005
“Knowledge, Experience and Desire: From Cultural Theory to Cultural Method” American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA, August 2004
“‘For Those in Our Community’: Discursive Strategies of Gay Male Community Building in The LCE News, 1961-2 San Francisco” American Studies Association, Houston, TX, November 2002
“For the Eternal Plan of Happiness: Mormonism, the Construction of the Eternal Family, and the Ex-Gay Movement” Midwest Sociological Society, Chicago, IL, April 2000
“The Erotics of Family Values and the Formation of Ex-Gay Subjectivity” Mid-America American Studies Association, Kansas City, MO, March 2000
“Disappearing Acts: American Studies, Sexual Discourse, and Queerness”
Mid-America American Studies Association, Iowa City, IA, March 1998
Teaching—Courses Taught
- American Civilization to 1865
- American Civilization since 1865
- American Dream [Self, Society, and Inequality]
- American Pop Culture [Fall 2008]
- Consumerism and Mass Culture in the United States [Senior Seminar]
- Cultural Studies
- History of Sexuality in the United States
- Introduction to Sociology
- Nature and Culture
- Social Psychology
- Social Theory
- U.S. History, 1865 to present
- World Conflict [sociology of globalization]
- World History to 1500
- World History, 1500 to present
- Advanced Writing for Interdisciplinary Studies
Community Activities
Panel Discussion Frameline at the Center, “Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker,” San Francisco, CA, October 13, 2005
Professional Memberships
American Studies Association 1996 to present
American Sociological Association 2003 to present
Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy 2005 to present
