Randolph, Edward (Ned)

Ned Randolph is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Communication and the Environmental Studies Program. A former journalist and speechwriter for the mayor of New Orleans, Randolph investigates intersections of power, social justice and the environment, particularly in the Gulf South. Randolph received his PhD in communication from the University of California–San Diego and teaches courses on political communication, cultural studies, the public sphere and environmental journalism. He has a forthcoming article in Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies and won the Randy Martin Prize for best student paper at the 2018 Cultural Studies Association Conference, which was subsequently published in Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association. He recently co-authored a column on teaching environmental studies at the edge of a disappearing coast for Inside Higher Ed and wrote in The Lens about revamping his spring environmental journalism class to meet the pandemic. As a recent graduate, Randolph is developing a book proposal from his dissertation titled Clearing the Mud: the Unsung Agent in Louisiana's Environmental Tragedy, which frames mud as a material and cultural analytic for the environmental and economic history of the Lower Mississippi River Delta. Randolph is a Monroe Fellow at the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South and a member of the Gulf South Anthropocene working group. An undergraduate of Tulane University, Randolph received master’s degrees in journalism from the University of California–Berkeley and in creative writing from Eastern Michigan University. He is also a governing board member of the Cultural Studies Association. View CV.