Richard Jean So

Professor of English and Cultural Analytics

McGill University

Richard Jean So is an assistant professor of English and Cultural Analytics at McGill University. He specializes in data science and computational approaches to the humanities, American literature and culture in particular. His first book is Transpacific Community (Columbia University Press, 2016) and he has published articles in Critical InquiryPMLARepresentations, and elsewhere. His current book project is Redlining Culture: A Data History of Race and American Writing. He also writes on culture and data science for a public audience; articles have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and The Guardian.

Participating Sessions

BEYOND INCLUSION: CHALLENGING ENTRENCHED INSTITUTIONS

Who gets to tell whose story? In October 2020 an essay by documentary filmmaker Grace Lee called PBS to account, questioning why PBS overwhelmingly privileges the work of a single white filmmaker, Ken Burns, to define our national story. Lee’s essay quickly galvanized the BIPOC community and allies through a BIPOC-led group of documentary filmmakers and executives called Beyond Inclusion. Richard Jean So, a cultural analyst, English professor and author...