Author Archives: lewis

thesis statement

I study the recordings, writings, and public figure of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a Pennsylvania death-row prisoner since 1982. I analyze synecdochic manifestations of his body in space, his oeuvre in time, and the codes of his figure online. This includes examining analog and digital media artifacts, as well as observing figurative representations of both Abu-Jamal and Daniel Faulkner, the police officer that Abu-Jamal is convicted of killing. I use interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological interventions to show how the social and political implications of this polarizing narrative extend beyond either man’s life or death.

new thesis statement

I am studying the cultural production of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a prisoner in Pennsylvania and a prolific writer. Cultural production has two senses here; first, it refers to the cultural artifacts, such as writings and audio recordings, produced by Abu-Jamal while incarcerated since the early 1980s. Second, it refers to the many ways in which Abu-Jamal has been produced as a cultural icon for certain political causes, especially online. Combining theoretical constructs from critical literary studies, communication, cultural history, and media studies, I examine production and its limits, across the media of print, radio, and the internet.

Also, I made a page on my CCT portfolio to house (and back up) my work over the spring.

another thesis statement

I am studying the work of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist, activist, and death row inmate. I want to find out how it has been censored in three different mediations: in print, on the radio, and online. I am interested in what the conditions of censorship were for each of those forms. Since these conditions include interpersonal, systematic, and internalized practices, I hope to show my reader that censorship is a complex system, with technological and social factors. This means that a change in one part of this system can have profound effects on the structure of social relations at large.