Alfred L. Martin Jr., PhD, is a media and cultural studies scholar. His work is concerned with the complex interplay between media industry studies and audience/fandom studies as related to television and film studies, critical black studies, sexuality and gender studies.

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He is author of two books Fandom for Us, by Us: The Pleasures and Practices of Black Audiences and The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom, and editor of two books, Rolling: Blackness and Mediated Comedy and The Golden Girls Reader: Essays from the Lanai with Taylor Cole Miller. 

 

Martin has published articles in scholarly journals including International Journal of Cultural Studies, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Communication, Culture & Critique, Feminist Media Studies,  Popular Communication, and Television and New Media. In addition, he has written for The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Review of Books.

  

Martin serves on the editorial boards of Communication, Culture, and Critique, Transformative Works and Cultures, Film Criticism, and Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies.

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Martin earned a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. 

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Prior to becoming an academic, Martin worked in public relations and marketing for consumer brands including Lava Brand Motion Lamps, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, Wendy's International, SC Johnson, Georgia-Pacific before joining Kaplan Publishing providing marketing communications programming for real estate and personal finance authors. For 10 years, Martin was President and founder of What Works Communications, an independent marketing communications consultancy.

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A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Martin was also a ballet dancer and choreographer prior to working in marketing communications. His choreographic work has been performed by Detroit Ballet Theatre, Ballet West Conservatory, Deeply Rooted Productions, the School of the Sacramento Ballet, and Affect Dance Company.  

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