Miller, Ivor L. 1960-

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MILLER, Ivor L. 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born November 2, 1960, in Palo Alto, CA; son of Lynn and Jean Miller. Education: Hampshire College, B.A., 1985; Yale University, M.A., 1990; Northwestern University, Ph.D., 1995.

ADDRESSES:

Office—DePaul University, 2320 North Kenmore Ave., Chicago, IL 60614. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Cultural historian and educator. Editorial José Martí, Havana, Cuba, researcher and translator, 1997-99; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY, scholar-in-residence, 1999-2000; City College of New York, Rockefeller resident fellow, 2000-01; Amherst College, Amherst, MA, Copeland fellow, 2001-02; DePaul University, Chicago, IL, visiting faculty, 2002—; Institute for Research in the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean, City University of New York Graduate Center, affiliate. Coproducer of video Dance on the Wind, Cinema Guild, Inc., 1993.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Rice Foreign Residence fellowship, Yale University, 1990; Breen Memorial Award, Northwestern University, 1994, for academic excellence; Johns Hopkins University Cuba Exchange Program fellowship, 2000; postdoctoral fellowship, West African Research Association, Boston University, 2004.

WRITINGS:

(With Wande Abimbola) Ifá Will Mend Our Broken World: Thoughts on Yorùbá Culture in West Africa and the Diaspora, AIM Books (Roxbury, MA), 1997.

Aerosol Kingdom: Subway Painters of New York City, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2002.

Translator for Ethnographic Atlas of Cuba: Traditional Popular Culture (CD-ROM), 2001. Contributor to periodicals, including African Studies Review, Race and Class, TDR, Black Renaissance, Contours: A Journal of the African Diaspora and American Indian Culture and Research Journal.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A book containing oral histories of the Cuban Abakuá society; researching trans-Atlantic African diaspora cultural history.

SIDELIGHTS:

Educator and cultural historian Ivor L. Miller chronicles the history of New York's graffiti artists in Aerosol Kingdom: Subway Painters of New York City. Graffiti artists—or "writers," as they have often been self-styled—began spray painting subway cars in urban centers during the early 1970s. Though many in the public-at-large viewed graffiti "art" as little more than vandalism, it eventually achieved some recognition in established art circles. Much of Miller's other work involves study of the impact of African immigrants and religion on Cuban culture and society; his interest in New York's graffiti artists was inspired by their origins as the children of immigrants from Africa and Central American nations.

In Aerosol Kingdom Miller explores the motivations of the artists, the social forces that gave rise to the movement, and its connection to hip-hop culture. Kraig A. Binkowski, reviewing the work in Library Journal, noted, "The words of the graffiti artists themselves infuse this book with a gritty, often angry flavor that reflects the gulf between established art forms and aerosol art." In the Black Issues Book Review, Clarence V. Reynolds maintained that "the book's energy lies in its essays and interviews that give insight into the forces behind the vision, or in this case—the visual."