Emma C. Johnson, Academic Résumé

DEGREES

Doctor of Philosophy, Michigan Technological University, 2022-Present (expected 2028)

Rhetoric, Theory, & Culture

Master of Arts, Central Michigan University, 2022

History

Bachelor of Arts, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 2008

English

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2005

Painting, Photography

EDUCATION

Michigan Technological University, 2022-Present

Philosophy, Literature, Composition, Rhetoric, Globalization, Creative Non-Fiction Writing, Technology, Film Theory, Alterity, Aesthetics and Modernity

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany, Spring 2022

History, Sociology

Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI, 2022

Conversational German 

 

Central Michigan University, Master of Arts, 2020-2022

History

Michigan Technological University, MiCUP/MI-LSAMP, 2015

Statistics

Delta College, 2012-2015

French, physics, math, piano, biology, inorganic & organic chemistry

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Bachelor of Arts, English, 2006–2008

English, writing, German, film studies 
Fluent in German, U of M Language Proficiency Exam, 1/16/09

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, National Student Exchange, 2007-2008

English, German, interactive design

Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Photography, Painting, 2000–2005

Fine art, media arts, graphic design, art history

Macalester College, Macalester Exchange Program, 2003

Philosophy

Parsons Paris School of Art and Design / École Parsons à Paris (renamed Paris College of Art), Study Abroad, Fall 2002

Fine art, French

Michigan Technological University, Post-secondary option, 1999-2000

Art, writing, psychology, economics

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT

HASTAC Scholar, cohort 2025-2027

https://hastac.hcommons.org/members/emmacjohnson/blogs/

Northwestern University

• 2024 Rhetoric, Media, and Publics Summer Institute. “Media Aesthetics VI: Shared Grounds of Media Aesthetics and Ecology.” Sponsored by the Center for Global Culture and Communication, Northwestern University. Evanston, IL. 15-19 July 2024.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

• Spent one week researching at LOC for the project “Monuments of the U.S.-Mexico Border: "What art objects reveal about power in the borderlands” funded by the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture (IPEC) at Michigan Technological University. Washington, D.C. 9-16 June 2024.

LANGUAGES

German, 5 semesters, University of MN & Rutgers (2006-2008), Self-study (2020-Present)

French, 2 semesters, Parsons Paris (2002), Delta College (2013), Self-study (2016 – Present)

Mandarin, 10 weeks, Chinese Cultural Ongoing Program (CCOP), Midland, MI (2011)

Spanish, 3.5 years, Houghton High School, Houghton, MI (1995-1998)

SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2025). “Coercive Algorithms: How asymmetries in power are revealed in Lauren Greenfield’s Social Studies.” Popular Culture Association. New Orleans, Louisiana. 16-19 Apr 2025.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2025). "Beauty, Excess, and the Grotesque in the Late-Capitalism Critique of Lauren Greenfield." Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Chicago, Illinois. 3-6 Apr 2025.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “The American Dream is thriving on reality TV: Examining Project Runway, success narratives, and a nation’s founding story.” Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. 4-6 Oct 2024.

Poster Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Toward an Anti-Capitalist Self-Care: Self-care for students through work-life balance, community connection, and flexible time.” 2024 Upper Peninsula Teach and Learning Conference. “Embracing Change: Meeting the Needs of Modern Learners,” Bay College, Escanaba, MI, 13-14 May 2024.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Toward an Anti-Capitalist Self-Care: Self-care for students through work-life balance, community connection, and flexible time.” 2024 Upper Peninsula Teach and Learning Conference. “Embracing Change: Meeting the Needs of Modern Learners,” Bay College, Escanaba, MI, 13-14 May 2024.

Poster Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Bauhaus, Burning Man, and Bohemia: Interfacing with the world through technology, philosophy, and aesthetics.” Graduate Student Government, “Graduate Research Colloquium,” Michigan Technological University, 26 Mar 2024.

Oral Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Bauhaus, Burning Man, and Bohemia: Interfacing with the world through technology, philosophy, and aesthetics.” Graduate Student Government, “Graduate Research Colloquium,” Michigan Technological University, 26 Mar 2024.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Bauhaus, Burning Man, and Bohemia: Interfacing with the world through technology, philosophy, and aesthetics.” Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Virtual Graduate Student Mini-Conference, 22-23 Mar 2024. (Online)

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2023). "Bobo/ETF Hipsters: Embracing creativity over commerce in [HBO's] Girls." Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. 6-8 Oct 2023.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2023). "Bourdieu's 'Distinction,' socio-economic class, and pop culture in first-year composition." Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. 6-8 Oct 2023.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2023). “All Dressed Up With Everywhere To Go: Fashion as a reflection of identity in the Atlantic Anthropocene.” 10th International Conference on Language, Literature, and Culture. “Fashion As Material Culture.” Organized by Gümüşhane University, Ankara Science University, and University of Évora. Gümüşhane Üniversitesi, Turkey. 15-16 Sept 2023. (Online)

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2022). “The French Concession as Contested Space: What aesthetics reveal about globalization in Xīntiāndi.” Arch Dalrymple III Department of History Graduate History Conference, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi (Virtual).

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2022). “Representations of War: How the Vietnam War shifted art from abstraction to (public) intervention.” History Graduate Student Association Conference, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (Virtual).

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2021). “Performing Nationality: What the 1773 Boston Tea Party reveals about American identity,” Navigating Chaos. Arch Dalrymple III Department of History Graduate Student Association’s Conference. University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS. 10 Apr 2021. (Virtual)

Co-presenter. Johnson, E. (2015). "From Writing Center to WRIT: Adding Reading & Technology Services to Our Writing Center." International Writing Centers Association Conference "Writing Center (r)Evolutions," Pittsburgh, PA, 9 Oct 2015.

Poster Presenter. Johnson, E. (2015). "Determination of 25-hydroxy Vitamin D in Human Tears and Blood Plasma using ELISA Assay Kit." MiCUP Poster Presentation, Michigan Technological University. Houghton, Michigan.

SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS 

 

Book chapter in Bad Ideas about AI and Writing: Toward Generative Ideas for Teaching, Learning, and Communication. (2024 proposal accepted, in external review, forthcoming)

“Darkytown Rebellion Installation: Viewers become a Kara Walker live action film” Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, 22 May 2013. Online. http://web.archive.org/web/20141015204932/http://voices.cla.umn.edu/essays/essays/DarkytownRebellion.html

“Kara Walker”
Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, 20 May 2013. Online. http://web.archive.org/web/20150422015808/http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/karaWalker.html

SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS

*King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship, 2025-2027

*Graduate Research Assistantship, IPEC, 2025

*Michael Schoenecke Travel Grant for Graduate Students, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA), 2025

*Gary Burns Graduate Student Travel Grant, Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (MPCA/ACA), 2024

*IPEC Graduate Student Small Grant Award, Michigan Technological University, 2024

*Travel Grant, Graduate Student Government, Michigan Technological University, 2023

*Spring 2022 Graduate Student Presentation Grant, Central Michigan University, 2022 

*Central Michigan University, Office of Study Abroad Scholarship, Spring 2022 

*American Association of University Women – Women in Transition Scholarship, 2021-2022

*Albert Thomas and Brenda Jones Quick Graduate Study Abroad Scholarship, 2021

*European Union’s Erasmus+ exchange program grant, Spring 2021 (Central Michigan University and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität)

*Semester Abroad Tuition Waiver, Spring 2021 (Central Michigan University, History Department for Friedrich-Schiller-Universität)

*Graduate Assistantship, Fall 2020 (Central Michigan University)

*Grow with Google Developer Scholarship, 2018 (Google/Udacity)

*Grow with Google Challenge Scholarship, 2018 (Google/Udacity)

*Scott Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, 2017 (Interfaith Peace-Builders)

*Helen M. Casey Center for Nonviolence, 2017 (for Interfaith Peace-Builders delegation)

*Coca-Cola Scholarship, 2015-16 (Delta College)

*Zonta Club of Midland Scholarship, 2014-15 (Midland Area Community Foundation for Delta College)

*Arthur J. and Bette L. Fisher Scholarship, 2014-15 (Delta College)

*M. Seth Babcock Scholarship, 2013-14 (Delta College)

*First United Methodist Church of Midland, MI, 2011 (funds for mission trip to Chiang Mai)

*Cari-DeWall Obst Uptown Association Scholarship, 2002-03, 2003-04 (Minneapolis College of Art and Design)

*Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Scholarship (Copper Country Suzuki Association private and group violin lessons)

*Houghton High School Music Boosters, Band Camp Scholarship, 1996-1999

"The Anthropocene" Song

I was inspired to write a song about the anthropocene when I read the work of philosopher Timothy Morton and art historian Jill Casid for my "Atlantic AnthropoScenes" course this semester. Hope you enjoy (as much as one can given the subject)! https://youtu.be/wjuocGVn8EI

“The Anthropocene” Song Written: February - March, 2023 Recorded: March 9, 2023, in Houghton, Michigan Words, music, and videography by: Emma C. Johnson Influenced by the scholarship of philosopher Timothy Morton, art historian Jill Casid, and "Atlantic AnthropoScenes" course at MTU. LYRICS In the Anthropocene. In the Anthropocene. A heat wave is coming. A heat wave is here. A heat wave is here to stay. Undulating but never leaving. The heat remains. You are my environment. We are the environment. Webs connected to the mesh. Strands and strands and strands. Strands and strands and strands. Strands and strands and strands. Plantations bled into capital. The familiar configuration. What was the scene? (‘Cause) The landscape / tries to conceal. A palimpsest remains / But won’t reveal. Be content to never know. The landscape will never show. Look at the Necrocene. You’ll see what I mean. The dead cannot speak / But they occupy space. Things will emerge. If Selectively Unnoticed. The past is dark / but you can see the light. Justice is fleeting But ideas take flight. The past is dark / but you can see the light. Justice is fleeting But ideas take flight. Ideas take flight! Ideas take flight! Ideas take flight! Ideas take flight! Strands and strands and strands and strands. In the Anthropocene. Strands and strands and strands and strands. In the Anthropocene. In the Anthropocene. A heat wave is coming. A heat wave is here. A heat wave is here to stay. Undulating but never leaving. The heat remains. You are my environment. We are the environment. We are the environment. We are the environment. LYRICS & MUSIC: [1st Pluck stings: [4797 on D string 3Xs, 4 on D string 1Xs] [2nd Pluck stings: [4797 on D string 3Xs, 4 on D string 1Xs (when 4 on D also 6 on G] [a.k.a. pluck: F# A/C# B A/C#] [3rd Pluck strings: [4797 on D string 3Xs, 4 on D string 1Xs (when 479 on D also 6 on G] [a.k.a. pluck: F#/C# A/C# B/F# A/C#] [Strum C#m] [Chords: A] In the Anthropocene. In the Anthropocene. [Chords: D] A heat wave is coming. A heat wave is here. [Chords: D A] A heat wave is here to stay. [Chords: E7 A D A] Undulating but never leaving. The heat remains. [Chords: A E] You are my environment. [Chords: C A] We are the environment. [Chords: A E] Webs connected to the mesh. [Chords: C A] [Vocals: C C C C D D A] Strands and strands and strands. [Chord: E] [Chords: C A] [Vocals: C C C D A] Strands and strands and strands. [Chord: E] [Chords: C A] [Vocals: C C C D A] Strands and strands and strands. [Chord: E E E E (8 BEATS)] [Power Chords: C#m E F#m E] Plantations bled into capital. The familiar configuration. What was the scene? (‘Cause) The landscape / tries to conceal. A palimpsest remains / But won’t reveal. Be content to never know. The landscape will never show. [Power Chord: C#m] [Power Chords: C#m E F#m E] Look at the Necrocene. You’ll see what I mean. The dead cannot speak / But they occupy space. Things will emerge. If Selectively Unnoticed. [1 chord progression Power Chords: C#m E F#m E additonal] [Vocals: F# F# F# A / A A A B B A_______. ] [4797 on D string] [Power Chords: C#m E F#m E] The past is dark / but you can see the light. Justice is fleeting But ideas take flight. The past is dark / but you can see the light. Justice is fleeting But ideas take flight. [Vocals: A B B A_______. ] [Chords: C# E] Ideas take flight! Ideas take flight! Ideas take flight! Ideas take flight! [Chords: D6] Strands and strands and strands and strands. [Chords: A7] In the Anthropocene.
[Chords: D6] Strands and strands and strands and strands. [Chords: A7] In the Anthropocene. In the Anthropocene. [Chord: E E E E (8 beats)] [Power Chords: C#m E F#m C#m] A heat wave is coming. A heat wave is here. A heat wave is here to stay. Undulating but never leaving. The heat remains. You are my environment. We are the environment. We are the environment. We are the environment. [slight rit.]

My Teaching Persona (Song)

I wrote a song about being quirky but trying to be professional in the classroom called "My Teaching Persona"!

Watch the video! :)

https://youtu.be/wjuocGVn8EI

“Teaching Persona” (Song)

Lyrics, music, performance, and videography by Emma C. Johnson, November 2022

Recorded/performed November 27, 2022

[Duration: 7min, 7 sec]

[Key: E minor/G major] [Chords: G C G D Em Am B, Em6 E] [Melody: E D B D E B “I can never fake it”] [G C G D] [Em Am Bm Em6] [G C G D] [Em Am Bm E] [G C G D] [G C G D] I’m quirky. It’s not intentional. I try to look professional. Controlled facial expressions. Measured responses. Educational anecdotes that don’t reveal. So I’m approachable yet unemotional. I wear a blazer And a starch-white shirt to connote success. Shiny black heels slight embellishments But it doesn’t compensate Because my hair’s a mess. I spilled coffee on My black peacoat that hides everything. Students think it’s chic. It saves me on dry cleaning. Praying no one notices I don’t have it together. I need to get it together. When will I get shit together? [B7 Em6] Maybe next semester? Maybe next year! [Em Am Bm Em6] I want it so much I’m going to vomit. Young(-ish), eager to please, and prove myself. I bought a polyester blazer that seems like something a graduate teaching instructor should wear. Thing is I’m a little wacky and like to dress with a flair. My sartorial choice does not express my voice How can I be relatable if students can’t get to know me? I need a professional teaching persona I’m trying to fake it ‘til I make it But do I come off as inauthentic? But would authentic be too much? How do I reconcile personas inside and outside class? How do I find my voice? I’m at an impasse. How do I strike a balance? A dalliance with stiffness alas. Now, I must be in the classroom, organic with some sass. [G C G D] Let’s take a break from style and focus on substance: I’m talkin’ about The rhetorical appeals! Ethos is credibility. Do I have the ability To convince them I’m the teacher I pretend to be? Until that projection becomes me? Pathos is emotion. Can I use emotion to provoke them to see that a writer is a good vocation to be? Logos is logic. I wear a blazer. All professors who wear blazers are professional. Therefore, I’m professional. Enthymeme. I wear a blazer, therefore I’m professional. Visual rhetoric. Can’t you see my aesthetics reveal my disposition? Kairos. Now is the time. Let’s figure it out today! [B7 Em6] Let’s figure it out today! Let’s figure shit out today! [Em Am Bm E] I can never fake it to professional But no one can accuse me of being boring. Forget presentation. I’ll focus on content. How to teach the material And the rest will come (to me). Soon my facade and my spirit will converge. [chord progression] [G C G D] (… in) A pencil skirt with ruffles Now my outside matches my inside I don’t need to hide I can take pride Being my authentic self Me and not what I think I should be What I should be is what is needed. While professionalism should be heeded The new me superseded My past self for the authentic yet professional teaching persona! My professional teaching persona! My professional teaching persona! (I’m glad I found) my professional teaching persona! [strum G] teaching persona!

Re-print: “From Minneapolis to Palestine, we must end systemic racism”

Mondoweiss – News & Opinion About Palestine, Israel & the United States, 22 June 2020. Online. https://mondoweiss.net/2020/06/from-minneapolis-to-palestine-we-must-end-systemic-racism/

From Minneapolis to Palestine, we must end systemic racism [Op-Ed]

Op-Ed on George Floyd, written June 1, 2020.

Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world have viewed the videos of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a white police officer and three additional white police officers aiding in the killing.

It has sparked outrage that the officer with his knee on the neck of George Floyd, who pleaded that he could not breathe, was not originally arrested and the consequences for the other three are yet to be determined. Seeing this happen in South Minneapolis is hard because I used to live there.

Traveling to Palestine/Israel on a delegation in 2017, when I returned to the States I viewed race relations here at home with a sharper lens by seeing parallels to Palestine.

My Aesthetics

https://youtu.be/_M534_DeUEU

By Emma C. Johnson

Written: Oct 2019 – Apr 2020

Recorded: Apr 23-25, 2020

LYRICS:

Alone with your aesthetics.

Alone with your aesthetics.

You aren't here but it feels like you're near

in a room with our aesthetics.

in a room with our aesthetics.

Void except for things.

A girl at a piano

purses her lips

cracked by centuries of drying.

Her blue satin sash

catches the light

in a room with my aesthetics.

in a room with my aesthetics.

Ballerinas

grasp bouquets

of perfectly positioned flowers.

The sun is pouring

in through the glass

in a room with my aesthetics.

in a room with my aesthetics.

Ceilings painted

with history.

Gold-leafed trim on white walls.

Crystal chandeliers line the hall.

The mirrors go on forever and ever and ever

in a room with my aesthetics.

in a room with my aesthetics.

Alone with my aesthetics.

Alone with my aesthetics.

Alone with my aesthetics.

Alone with my aesthetics.

You aren't here but it feels like you're near

in a room with my aesthetics.

My aesthetics.

My aesthetics.

My aesthetics.

My aesthetics.

My aesthetics.

My aesthetics.

Images videorecorded for B-roll from: 

The Musée d'Orsay, Barnes & Noble Books
your visit to Versailles, art lys
Degas: A strange new beauty, MoMA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, metmuseum.org

Images include:

0:14 Henri Fantin-Latour, Flowers and Fruit, 1865  

0:18 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Daughters of Catulle Mendès Huguette (1871-1964), Claudine (1876-1937), 1888  

0:23 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Two Young Girls at the Piano 1892  

0:27 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Woman at the Piano, 1875-6  

0:32 Edgar Degas, The Dance Foyer at the Opéra at the rue Le Peletier, 1872  

0:35 Edgar Degas, Fin d'arabesque, c. 1877  

0:39 Edgar Degas, Dance Class, 1873-6  

0:44 Edgar Degas, Ballet Scene, c. 1879 

 0:48 Louis Le Vau, et al./Versailles, The War Drawing-Room  

0:52 Le Vau, et al./Versailles, The Hall of Mirrors 

 0:57 Edgar Degas, The Orchestra of the Opéra, c. 1870s

Poses include: 

0:10 Mary Cassatt, Young Woman in the Garden, c. 1883-6 

5:14 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Source, 1856 

5:15 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Virgin of the Host, 1854 

5:16 Edgar Degas, Little Dancer at Age Fourteen, 1880-1 

5:19 Gustave Courbet, The Spring, 1868 

5:20 Théodore Chassériau, The Tepidarium, 1853 

5:21 Édouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863
 

FRENCH and GERMAN lyrics translation below:

Publications

PUBLICATIONS (399)
Topics covered

Animal rights
Art
Consumer safety
Cultures (China, India, Iraq, Palestine/Israel)
Economics
Education
Environment
Fashion
Finance
Gun violence
Healthcare
Law
Occupy Wall Street
Palestinian/Israeli conflict
Political campaigns and events
Public policy
Technology
Veterans