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University of Southern California
University of Southern California
History

Faculty

Philip Ethington

Professor of History

Contact Information
E-mail: philipje@usc.edu
Phone: (213)740-1669
Office: SOS 268

LINKS
Curriculum Vitae
 

Biographical Sketch

Philip J. Ethington is Professor of History and Political Science at the University of Southern California, North American Editor and Multimedia Editor of the journal Urban History (Cambridge University Press), and Chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. An interdisciplinary urban historian, Ethington’s scholarship has explored the social, political, and cultural processes of urban development in historical and geographic dimensions. His work is dedicated to achieving a larger synthesis of knowledge about contemporary urban society, mobilizing the tools of the social sciences and humanities. He is also dedicated to making the results of scholarship available to a broad public, through the Internet, publications, and exhibitions. He has completed numerous projects that visualize the presence and influence of the urban past. His photography and cartography has been published internationally and shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Research Institute, and the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. He is currently completing a large-format graphic book and online publication called Ghost Metropolis, Los Angeles, 1542-2001.

Education

  • Ph.D. , Stanford University, 1/1989

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

Tenure Track Appointments
  • Professor of History and Political Science, University of Southern California, 1/1/2005-  
  • Professor of History, University of Southern California, 1/1/2003-1/1/2005  
  • Associate Professor of History, University of Southern California, 1/1/1995-1/1/2003  
  • Assistant Professor of History, University of Southern California, 1/1/1993-1/1/1995  
Non-Tenure Track Appointments
  • North American Editor, Urban History (journal), Cambridge University Press, 1/1/2002-12/31/2012  
  • Associate Dean for Regional Initiatives, University Libraries, USC, 1/9/2002-8/31/2007  
Visiting and Temporary Appointments
  • Getty Scholar, Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1996-1997   
  • Visiting Scholar, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, 1992-1993   
  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Brandeis University, Department of History, 1/1/1989-1/1/1991  
PostDoctoral Appointments
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, 2007-2008   

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Philip J. Ethington is Professor of History and Political Science at the University of Southern California, North American Editor and Multimedia Editor of the journal Urban History (Cambridge University Press), and Chair of the Academic Advisory Board of the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. An interdisciplinary urban historian, Ethington’s scholarship has explored the social, political, and cultural processes of urban development in historical and geographic dimensions. His work is dedicated to achieving a larger synthesis of knowledge about contemporary urban society, mobilizing the tools of the social sciences and humanities. He is also dedicated to making the results of scholarship available to a broad public, through the Internet, publications, and exhibitions. He has completed numerous projects that visualize the presence and influence of the urban past. His photography and cartography has been published internationally and shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Research Institute, and the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. He is currently completing a large-format graphic book and online publication called Ghost Metropolis, Los Angeles, 1542-2001.
Research Keywords
Urban history, society, politics, and culture, theory of history, immigration, race relations, segregation, American Political Development
Research Specialties
(Ph.D., Stanford University, 1989) Professor of History and Political Science: Urban, political, social and cultural history of the US since 1850; Global history of cities

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions

  • City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, Chair, Academic Advisory Board,http://www.lacity.org/HRA/hrawa1.htm
  • Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, Fellow,http://www.usc.edu/directories/dept/humanities.html
  • Population Dynamics Lab, School of Policy, Planning and Development, Faculty researcher,http://www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/research/census2000/race_census/index.htm
  • Urban History (Cambridge University Press), North American Editor,http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=UHY
  • USC History Lab,http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/history/historylab/index.html

Conferences and Other Presentations

Conference Presentations
  • "Geographic Institutionalism: The Metropolis and the Regional Regimes of American Political Development (with David Levitus)", 32nd Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association (SSHA), Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed , Chicago, Social Science History Association, 11/16/2007  
  • "Journal Publishing Workshop: How to Get your Article Published", 12th National Conference on Planning History, Workshop, , Portland, Maine, Society for American City and Regional Planning Hi, Invited, 10/28/2007  
  • "Living Together: Multiculturalism and Race Relations", 19th Annual Envisioning California Conference", Talk/Oral Presentation, , Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California State University Northridge, Invited, 9/19/2007  
  • "Mapping the Haunted Spaces of Los Angeles", Talk/Oral Presentation, , USC, Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, Invited, 4/6/2007  
  • "(with Christian Redfearn) Neighborhood Stability and Change: Unbundling the Dynamics of Place and Race in Los Angeles, 1940-2000", SPPD Research Seminar, Talk/Oral Presentation, , School of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC, Lusk Center for Real Estate, USC, Invited, 2/14/2007  
  • ""Ghost Trajectories" (With Robbert Flick and Tomo Isoyama)", L.A. Palimpsest: Recovering Los Angeles' Hidden Stories and Forgotten Communities, Talk/Oral Presentation, , Claremont, CA, Scripps College Humanities Institute, Invited, 2/6/2007  
  • "Global Spaces of Los Angeles in the 20th Century: Oil, Hollywood, and Counterrevolution", Images and Realities of Cities in the 21st Century: Global Cities, Creative Cities, and Sustainable , Talk/Oral Presentation, , Nishinara Plaza, Osaka, Japan, Urban Research Plaza, Osaka City University, Invited, 12/22/2006  
  • "The Cultural Creativity of Cities in the 20th Century", Images and Realities of Cities in the 21st Century: Global Cities, Creative Cities, and Sustainable , Talk/Oral Presentation, , Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan, Urban Research Plaza, Osaka City University, Invited, 12/19/2006  
  • "Keynote-Roundtable 'The Urban West'", 3rd Biennial Meeting of the Urban History Association, Talk/Oral Presentation, , Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, Invited, 10/21/2006  
  • "The Haunted Landscapes of Los Angeles: A Cartography of Time, 1940-2000", Annual Rena Sivitanidu Research Symposium: Models and Stories: Explaining the Long Processes of Citi, Talk/Oral Presentation, , School of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC, Lusk Center for Real Estate, USC, Invited, 2/27/2006  
  • "La Metrópolis Fantasma. Los Angeles: Una Cartografía del Tiempo", visiting lectureship, , University of A Coruña, Spain, Invited, 11/21/2005  
  • "Round Table on the City and American Political Development", Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed , Portland, Oregon, SSHA, 11/3/2005  
  • "Los Angeles and the Question of 'Urban Decline,' 1940-2000", bi-annual meeting of the Urban History Association, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed , Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Urban History Association, 10/10/2004  
  • "La Raza Cósmica Contra Los Ángeles: The Borderland Capital of the Mexican Counterrevolution, 1910-1929", Annual Meeting of the Organization of Americal Historians, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed , Boston, Mass., 3/24/2004  
  • "La fotografia como «cronoscopia»: Métodos de encontrar la presencia del pasado urbano en el presente", Diplomado-taller "Las fotográfías de la Ciudad de México", Workshop, , Mexico City, El Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Lui, Invited, 10/9/2003  
  • "The Global Spaces of Los Angeles, 1920s-1930s", seminar, Talk/Oral Presentation, , Princeton University Department of History, Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies, Invited, 10/2/2003  

Publications

Book Chapter
  • Ethington, P. J. (2008). "Global Spaces of Los Angeles, 1920s-1930s," in The Spaces of the Modern City: Imaginaries, Politics, and Everyday Life. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Ethington, P. J. (2006). Context and Contingency: Los Angeles, New York City, and Other Global Nodes". Osaka: Osaka City University.
  • Ethington, P. J. (2001). Ghost Neighborhoods: Space, Time, and Alienation in Los Angeles. in Michael Roth and Charles Salas, Eds., Looking for Los Angeles: Architecture, Film, Photography, and the Urban Landscape, (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2001). (Vol. Looking For Los Angeles: Architecture, Film, Photo). Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities.
Journal Article
  • Ethington, P. J. (2007). 'Placing the Past: ‘Groundwork’ for a Spatial Theory of History,' forum with responses to Ethington’s essay by Thomas Bender, David Carr, Edward Casey, Edward Dimendberg, and Alun Munslow. Rethinking History. Vol. 11 (4 (Dec. 2007))
  • McManus, R., Ethington, P. J. (2007). Suburbs in Transition: New Approaches to Suburban History. Urban History/Cambridge University Press. Vol. 34 (2), pp. 317-336.
  • Ethington, P. J., Schwartz, V. R. (2006). special issue, "Urban Icons," and "Introduction: an atlas of the Urban Icons project,". Urban History/Cambridge University Press. Vol. 33 (1)
  • Ethington, P. J. (2005). Cronoscopia: La fotografia de la historia espacial de Los ingeles y MExico. Sequencia: Revista de historia y ciencias sociales. Vol. 61 (Jan-April 2005), pp. 46-58.
  • Ethington, P. J. (2005). Georg Simmel y la cuestión de la espacialidad. Trayectorias: Revista de Ciencias Sociales. Vol. 19 (Sept-Dic 2005), pp. p. 46-58.
Other
  • Ethington, P. J. The Public City: The Political Construction of Urban Life in San Francisco, 1850-1900, UC Press, 2001.
  • Ethington, P. J. Los Angeles and the Problem of Urban Historical Knowledge. American Historical Review, 105:5, December 2000.
  • Ethington, P. J. The Metropolis and Multicultural Ethics: Direct Democracy versus Deliberative Democracy in the Progressive Era, In Sidney Millkis and Jerome Mileur, eds., Progressivism and the New Democracy, Amherst: University of Massachusettes Press, 1999.

Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works

  • Multimedia Scholarship, Los Angeles and the Problem of Urban Historical Knowledge. American Historical Review, 105:5, December 2000, 12/1/2000  
  • Multimedia Scholarship, "Urban Icons," Multimedia Companion to Urban History. http://journals.cambridge.org/fulltext_content/supplementary/urban_icons_companion/index.htm, 6/1/2008  

New Courses Developed

  • MDA 399a+b Researching the LA Riots, Multidisciplinary Activities, This is a "Team Research Community" course, developed at the request of Hilary Schor, then Vice Dean for Undergraduate Curriculum, LAS. The students work with major collections held by the USC libraries concerning the 1965 and 1992 LA civil disorders., 2007-2008   
  • TO 104 Change and the Future "Don Quijote in Los Angeles", Thematic Option, Cervantes first explored the entanglement of illusion and rationality in the modern world. His Don Quijote is the first comprehensive portrait of the modern self. In his quest to restore the truths of the past, Don Quijote creates his own identity but is caught in a web of illusions. The students will embark on a quest as well: to map the ways that world history, as it can be found all around us in the landscape of the present, affects our lives today. The course is based on the instructor’s forthcoming book, Ghost Metropolis: Los Angeles and the Cartography of Time, 1900-2001. Students will also read other histories of Los Angeles, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’s Don Quijote. , Fall 2005   

Honors and Awards

  • USC Center for Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship, 2004-2005  

Service to the University

Administrative Appointments
  • Associate Dean for Regional Initiatives, University Libraries, 9/1/2002-8/31/2007  
Committees
  • Joint Senate-Provost Library Advisory Committee, 2007-2008   
  • Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Science Initiative Committee, 2007-2008   
  • Co-Chair, History Department Program Committee, 2007-2008   
  • Member, College Natural Sciences and Mathematics Personnel Committee, 2007-2008   
  • Dean of Libraries Search Committee, 2006-2007   
  • Member, Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Science Initiative Committee, 2006-2007   
  • Chair, History Department Appointments Committee, 2005-2006   
Media, Alumni, and Community Relations
  • Chair, Academic Community Advisory Board for the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission, 1/1/2003-12/31/2008  
  • Member, Executive Committee, LA as Subject Archives Forum, 1/1/2002-12/31/2008  

Service to the Profession

Conferences Organized
  • Organizer, First Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, Huntington Library and Gardens, PUblic exhibition of area archives that hold materials about Los Angeles. Attended by more than 800 people, according to LA Times article by Larry Gordon (LA Times, 5 Nov. 2006). The success of this first Bazaar was followed by an even larger turnout in November 2007, estimated at more than 1,000., 11/4/2006  
  • Co-organizer, "Transnational Urban History: The Local-Global Nexus." Funded by the Los Angeles-Osaka Comparative Urban Studies Project University of Southern Calif, University of Southern California, Co-Organized by Prof. Joan Piggott, 10/24/2005-10/25/2005  
  • Co-organizer, "Urban Icons: Studies in Urban Visual History" , USC, Co-organized by Prof. Vanessa Schwartz, 3/4/2004-3/5/2004  
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