C.V.

R O B E R T  C.  T H O M A S
C  U  R  R  I  C  U  L  U  M    V  I  T  A  E

Education

Ph.D. 2005
State University of New York, Binghamton
Comparative Literature
Program in Philosophy, Literature, and the Theory of Criticism
Dissertation: "Broken: Thought-Images of Life in the State of Exception"
Director: Gisela Brinker-Gabler
Dissertation Defense: November 14, 2005
                
M.A. 2004
State University of New York, Binghamton
Philosophy  

M.A. 2000
San Francisco State University
Humanities  

B.A. 1997   
Evergreen State College
Liberal Arts, Senior Thesis in Critical Social Theory
Second Thesis in Multimedia

Journal Articles

"Remnants of the World: Agamben and Messianic Affect," Crossings, (No.5/6, 2002/2003): 269 - 295

"Living in Urgency: Homo Sacer and the State of Emergency of AIDS," Symposium, (No. 6, 2001): 9 - 76

"Whatever Intellectuals: The Politics of Thought in Post-Disciplinary Societies,"
Symposium, (No. 4, 1999): 205 - 235

Teaching Awards

2005
Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching
San Francisco State University

Teaching Experience

2003 - Present
Lecturer                    
San Francisco State University
Department of Humanities
San Francisco, CA

Nietzsche and Postmodernism
The Modern Revolution
Thought and Image
Contemporary Culture
Images of Eroticism
Values and Culture
Cultural Periods and Styles (modern and postmodern)
Comparative Form and Culture (Japan, Taiwan, modernity)                    
San Francisco: Biography of a City (SF modernism)

Interdisciplinary instruction in humanities and philosophy
Freshman to Senior level, 48 - 132 students per class

2006 - 2009    Instructor
College of Alameda
Alameda, CA

Logic
Human Values
Introduction to Humanities
Myth, Symbol, and Folklore (Tricksters and Monsters)
        
Interdisciplinary instruction in humanities and philosophy
Freshman to Sophomore level, 40 students per class

2003 - 2006    Instructor
Berkeley City College (formerly Vista College)
Department of Arts and Humanities
Berkeley, CA
        
Ethics
Introduction to Film (theory and criticism)
        
Interdisciplinary instruction in humanities, philosophy, and film
Freshman to Sophomore level, 40 students per class

2001 - 2002     Instructor
State University of New York, Binghamton
Department of Comparative Literature
Binghamton, NY
        
World literature II
Literature and Society (The Camp and Modern Thought)
Literature and Society (Bearing Witness)
Cinema and Violence

Interdisciplinary instruction in comparative literature and film
Sophomore level, 30 students per class

2000         Graduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Comparative Literature,
State University of New York, Binghamton
Dr. Cynthia Young, Racial Politics and Ethnicity: Mapping U.S. Culture

1998 - 1999    Instructor                                                          
San Francisco State University
Department of Humanities

Values and Culture
        
Interdisciplinary instruction in humanities
48 students per class, Sophomore level
Author: Exposure CD-ROM, Instructional CD-ROM, 1998

1997 - 1998    Graduate Teaching Assistant                                                          
College of Humanities
San Francisco State University
Multimedia Instruction  (6 semester units)

Teaching and Research Interests
   
Contemporary Social Theory - Modern Social Theory - German Social Theory -
Media, Technology, and Society - Political Economy - Theories of the Image - Porn Studies - Cinema Studies - AIDS - Social Theory of Cities - Theories of Knowledge - Affect - Poststructuralism - Political Economy of Music - Paradigms - Social Theory of Love  - Society of the Spectacle  - Trauma Studies - Modernism/Modernity - Biopolitics - State of Exception

Work-in-Progess

Articles: "Thinking Porn," "Monstrosity," "Las Vegas, Capital of the 21st Century"

Professional Experience

Editorial Collective
Crossings: A Counter-Disciplinary Journal of Philosophical, Cultural, Historical, and Literary Studies
Departments of English and Comparative Literature
State University of New York, Binghamton
2001 - 2005

Editor and Editorial Board Member
Symposium
Department of Humanities
San Francisco State University
1998, 1999, and 2001

Awards and Scholarships

Full Tuition Scholarship
Department of Comparative Literature
State University of New York, Binghamton, 2000 - 2003

Morrissey-Andersen Award for Outstanding Scholarship
Department of Humanities, College of Humanities, San Francisco State University, Spring, 2000

Presentations and Lectures

"Gestures of Love: On the Social Theory of Love," Keynote Address, Twelfth Annual Humanities Symposium, San Francisco State University, April 22, 2006

"Michel Foucault's 'What is an Author?'," San Francisco State University, Theories and Methods in the Humanities, February 22, 2006.

"Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days and Guy Debord's Soceity of the Spectacle," St. Mary's College, Moraga, CA, January 14, 2005

"The Event of Zilch: Robert Walser and the World,"
Sixth Annual Humanities Symposium,  San Francisco State University, April 10, 1999

"Whatever Intellectuals: The Politics of Thought in Post-disciplinary Societies,"
Fifth Annual Humanities Symposium, San Francisco State University, April 18, 1998

"Dying to Know: The Culture of Safe Sex," Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA,  February 17, 1995

Professional Memberships

American Philosophical Association (APA)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS)

Languages

French (Reading)
German (Reading)

Professional Service

Conference Director
Sixth Annual Humanities Symposium
College of Humanities and Department of Humanities
San Francisco State University
1999 (Keynote Speaker: Frederick M. Dolan)

References

Dr. Gisela Brinker-Gabler
Professor of Comparative Literature and
Co-Director, Doctoral Program in Philosophy, Literature and the Theory of Criticism
State University of New York, Binghamton

Dr. Brett Levinson
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Comparative Literature
State University of New York, Binghamton

Dr. Saul Steier
Chair, Department of Humanities
San Francisco State University

Dr. Deepak N. Sawhney
Associate Professor
Liberal and Civic Studies
Saint Mary's College