Decker, Jeffrey Louis
Kaplan 208
Tel: 310.825.9158
/ Fax: 310.267.4339
/ E-mail
Education
PhD, American Studies, Brown University (1990)
Interests
Modern and Contemporary American Literature; 20th Century US Urban History; Ethnic Studies; Italian American Studies; Film and Television Studies; Creative Nonfiction.
Books
Rebel Girl and the Godfather: New York City’s Italians and the Fight for Civil Rights. State University of New York Press, 2025.
Made In America: Self-Styled Success from Horatio Alger to Oprah Winfrey. University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
Selected Articles
“Beyond White Ethnicity.” American Quarterly 58 (2006): 1239-1247.
“Saint Oprah.” Modern Fiction Studies 52 (2006): 169-178.
“Mr. Secrets.” Transition 61 (1993): 33-45.
“The State of Rap.” Social Text 34 (1993): 53-84.
“Antihumanism and the Critique of American Studies.” New Literary History 23 (1992): 281-306.
“Postmodernity.” American Quarterly 44 (1992): 146-54.
Courses taught at UCLA
Introduction to American Cultures
Film and Literature: Immigrant Stories
Television and Literature: Ethnic Comedy, Family Drama
Interracial Dynamics in America
America in the Sixties
Interest Areas
• American Literature & Culture
• Visual Culture / Media Studies / Digital Humanities
