Nicholas Boston

E-mail Address: nicholas.boston@lehman.cuny.edu
Phone Number: 718-960-7723
Office: Carman 271
Rank: Associate Professor
Degrees and Sources of Degrees: B.A., McGill University; M.S., Grad. School of Journalism, Columbia University; Ph.D., University of Cambridge.

I am Associate Professor of Media Sociology. I teach in the Media and Communication Studies (MCS), and Film and Television Studies (FTS) majors. I have also taught in the Lehman Scholars Program (LSP), and Macaulay Honors College (MHC) at Lehman. My academic research to date is located at the nexus of digital media, migration, identity, and intimacy. I also write frequently on these topics for the popular media. I hold a M.S. in journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Cambridge, where I am a Life Member of King’s College. I have been the recipient of fellowships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the CUNY Research Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, and others. I am, since 2013, Visiting Professor in the Department of Communications at John Cabot University, in Rome, Italy. I have been DAAD Visiting Professor in the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome, Michaelmas Visiting Scholar in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, Visiting Scholar at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), McCloy Fellow in Arts Journalism in Berlin from the American Council on Germany, Faculty Fellow at the Italian Diaspora Summer Studies Seminar (IDSSS) of the Calandra Institute at Queens College, and Faculty Fellow at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics (CPCP) at the CUNY Graduate Center. I am on the Steering Committee of the Black British Voices Project, a multi-partner research project based at the University of Cambridge. My book, The Amorous Migrant: Race, Relationships and Resettlement is forthcoming from Temple University Press, and my journalism and commentary have appeared in BBC News, British Future, Calvert Journal, Gay City News, HuffPost, The Independent, Le Monde Diplomatique, New York Observer, Notes from Poland, PBS.org, The Root, Toronto Star, The Voice (UK), and Vogue.

Research Interests

Cosmopolitanism, Identity, Labor and Organization, Media Industry Studies, Digital Media, Black Europe, Black British and Windrush Studies

Recent Academic Publications

Boston, Nicholas. 2022. “‘I would like to be a spoiled, rich, white girl’: the Entombed Italian-American Subjectivity of Venus Xtravaganza.” Queering Italian American Media (Routledge).

Boston, Nicholas. 2021. “Playing in the Dark with Ali: Portraiture, Race, and Remembrance in Karol Radziszewski’s Painting of August Agboola Browne.” Central Europe 19(1): 65-87.

Boston, Nicholas. 2020. “Sex, Power, and Organizational Culture in the Glossy Magazine Industry.” Pp. 78-91 in The Handbook of Magazine Studies. London & New York: Routledge.

Boston, Nicholas. 2020. Book review of Guido Culture and Italian American Youth: From Bensonhurst to Jersey Shore by Donald Tricarico. Italian American Review 10(2). Champagne: University of Illinois Press.

Boston, Nicholas. 2020. Book review of Guido Culture and Italian American Youth: From Bensonhurst to Jersey Shore by Donald Tricarico. Italian American Review 10(2). Champagne: University of Illinois Press.

Recent and Selected Journalism

“Playing black music at the Queen’s funeral would be a fitting tribute.” The Voice (UK).
September 18, 2022.

“The Underlying Lesbophobia of Will Smith’s Slap.” Gay City News. April 1, 2022.

“How the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Created the African Diaspora” HISTORY.com. February 3,
2022.

“August Browne: The Nigeria-born man who joined the Polish resistance.” BBC News. Oct. 3,
2020. Named to the “BBC Best of 2020” list.

“I Went To Kamala Harris’ High School. Here’s Why That Matters.” The Independent. Oct. 7,
2020.

“Mangrove, the Second of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, a Series Dedicated to George Floyd.”
Vogue. Sept. 25, 2020.

“How the defacement of two statues could lead to Poland’s reckoning with its Black history.”
Calvert Journal. Oct. 9, 2020.

“The Home Office failed black Britons – the Windrush scandal is a ‘shameful stain’ on the nation.” The Independent. Nov. 26, 2020.

“The term ‘Windrush generation’ has become synonymous with ‘victim.’ They deserve to be depicted as the victors they are.” The Independent. Oct. 30, 2020.

“Symbol of the past, model for the future: the African immigrant who became a Warsaw Uprising hero.” Notes from Poland. July 31, 2020.

“Who Is the Face of Italy? The Movement to Reform Italian Citizenship Law Makes a Fashion Statement.” The Root. Feb. 27, 2020.

Media

I have been interviewed in several media outlets, including BBC News, NBC Channel 4, The Takeaway (WNYC podcast), and 580 CFRA Ottawa (Canada)

Courses Taught

• MCS 214: Introduction to Media Studies and Digital Culture
• MCS 244: Communication in Society
• MCS 307: Media Industries I
• MCS 308: Media Industries II
• MCS 351: The Anthropology of Media
• MCS 481: Capstone/Independent Project
• MCS 491: Honors Tutorial
• MCS 492: Honors Colloquium
• FTS 371: Television and Cultivation Theory
• LSP 350: Who Do You Think You Are?: Genealogy, Media, and the Search for Ancestral Meaning