Biography
Zack Furness is an Associate Professor of Communications at Penn State University’s Greater Allegheny campus, where he also serves as the Communications Program Coordinator and the WMKP Radio General Manager. He is the author of One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility (Temple University Press, 2010), editor of Punkademics (Minor Compositions /Autonomedia, 2012), and co-editor of The NFL: Critical and Cultural Perspectives (Temple University Press, 2014). In addition to publishing in a number of academic books and journals, his work has also appeared in a variety of political rags, zines, websites and magazines including Pittsburgh Magazine, Bitch, Tropics of Meta, The Battleground, Souciant, and Punk Planet. Zack was a longtime editor and contributor to Bad Subjects, one of the pioneering publications on the Internet, and he performed in punk bands for the better part of two decades.
Teaching Interests:
Communication, Cultural Studies, Popular Music, Urban Studies
Area(s) of Expertise:
Cultural Studies, Alternative Media, Punk, Bicycling and Car Culture Research
Research Interests
Professional or Personal Interests:
The politics of everyday life.
Publications
"The NCAA Should Cancel the Football Season." Tropics of Meta, 10 July 2020.
"Party Lines: Pittsburgh's Telephone Music Service." Pittsburgh Magazine, Nov 2019.
“Alternative Media: The Art of Rebellion.” In Classroom Teaching: An Introduction, 2nd Edition, eds. Shirley Steinberg and Joe Kinchloe (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2018), 217-224.
“Foreword.” In Punk Pedagogies in Practice, eds. Gareth Dylan Smith, Mike Dines & Tom Parkinson (London: Routledge, 2017), xi-xii.
“Reframing Concussions, Masculinity and NFL Mythology in League of Denial.” Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2016): 49-57
Education
Ph.D. Certificate in Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 2006
Ph.D. in Communication, University of Pittsburgh, 2005
M.A. in Communication, University of Pittsburgh, 2001
B.A. in English, Schreyer Honors College, Penn State University, 1999
Papers and Presentations
"Israeli Punk and Radical Politics in the 90s," Punk Scholars Network 7th Annual Conference & Postgraduate Symposium (Dec 16, 2020).
“Against Zion: Israeli Punk and Radical Politics at the Turn of the Century,” Texas A&M University, College Station TX (Nov 18, 2019).
“‘Protest and Survive’: Punk Rock and Radical Politics,” University of Pittsburgh, Department of Music, Pittsburgh PA (Jan 31, 2019).
“Against Zion: The Music & Politics of Israeli Anarchist Punk.” Presented at the Annual Conference of the Cultural Studies Association, Washington DC (May 26, 2017).
“Warring Representations of the NFL, Football Masculinity and Broken Bodies,” The Penn State Center for the Study of Sport in Society, Penn State University, University Park PA (April 21, 2017).
“Reframing the NFL, Head Injury and Football Capitalism in Popular Media.” Presented at the Annual Conference of the Cultural Studies Association, Riverside CA (May 23, 2015).