Barbara Browning (born December 7, 1961, in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

) is an American academic, novelist, dancer, and cultural critic.

Education and career

Browning received her B.A. in comparative literature from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1983, spent a year in Brazil on a

Fulbright fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

, where she studied dance, and then returned to Yale to complete her Ph.D. in 1989. She taught for six years in the English Department of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where she was awarded the President's Distinguished Teaching Award, and since then has taught in the Department of Performance Studies at the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, serving for a time as chair.

Writing

Her first book, ''Samba: Resistance in Motion'' (1995),. . was an ethnographic account of her experiences studying and performing Brazilian dance. It was the 1996 recipient of the de la Torre Bueno Prize for an outstanding publication in the field of dance scholarship. Her second academic book was ''Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture'' (1998). Browning began writing fiction in 2004, producing an audionovel in 2007 (''Who Is Mr. Waxman?''). Her novel ''The Correspondence Artist'' was published in 2011 by Two Dollar Radio. Her second novel, ''I'm Trying to Reach You'', was published by Two Dollar Radio in June 2012. It is a multimedia project linked to a series of "chamber choreographies" which she has published on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Her third novel, ''The Gift'', is similarly accompanied by a series of dance videos posted online, ostensibly by the narrator. It was published by the Emily Books imprint of Coffee House Press. Readers of Browning's academic writing have noted that in addition to representing "a pioneering effort in bringing discussions about the popular culture of Brazil into the North American academy," it evidences "the imagination of a novelist." By the same token, her novels take up such apparently academic concerns as the work of

anthropologists An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

and

Mary Douglas Dame Mary Douglas, (25 March 1921 – 16 May 2007) was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture, symbolism and risk, whose area of speciality was social anthropology. Douglas was considered a follower of Émile Durkhei ...

, the

psychoanalytic PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk the ...

theories of

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...

, and the correspondence of

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

and

Nelson Algren Nelson Algren (born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981) was an American writer. His 1949 novel '' The Man with the Golden Arm'' won the National Book Award and was adapted as the 1955 film of the same name. Algren articulate ...

, as well as incorporating photography and referencing video art, leading one reviewer to characterize her work as "part memoir, part fiction, part

epistolary Epistolary means "relating to an epistle or letter". It may refer to: * Epistolary (), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles * Epistolary novel, a novel written as a series of lette ...

, part metadata-

existentialist Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value ...

philosophy, part art installation."KGB Bar & Lit Journal
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Works

Cultural Criticism: * ''Samba: Resistance in Motion'' (1995). . * ''Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture'' (1998). . * ''Caetano Veloso: A Foreign Sound'' (2017). . Audio novel: * ''Who Is Mr. Waxman?'' (2007) Novels: * ''The Correspondence Artist'' (2011). . * ''I'm Trying to Reach You'' (2012). . * ''The Gift (or, Techniques of the Body)'' (2017). .

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Barbara 1961 births Lambda Literary Award winners Living people Tisch School of the Arts faculty Writers from Madison, Wisconsin Princeton University faculty Yale College alumni American women academics