J Finley, PHD
Associate Professor of Africana at Pomona College
Co-Founder of the Critical Humor Studies Collective
J is an interdisciplinary scholar who studies Black women's history, performance, and cultural expression. She has published work in The Journal of Popular Culture, Hypatia, Studies in American Humor, among other academic journals. In addition to teaching courses on the history and theoretical aspects of humor and comedy at Pomona College in Africana studies, she also teacher her students the practice of stand-up comedy based on her own experience as an amateur performer and the knowledge she's collected from working with professional comedians and comedy educators.
J previously taught at Middlebury College in American Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (2016-2021) and was a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley (2013-2014), where she earned her master’s and PhD in African Diaspora Studies (2013).
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NEW BOOK RELEASE SOON
Her book, which will be out in August 2024 on UNC Press, titled Sass: Black Women’s Humor and Humanity, presents the first ethnographic study of Black women’s humor, offering a comprehensive reading of its personal, poetic, and political dimensions from slavery to today. Finley is co-founder of the Critical Humor Studies Collective.