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Tulane Sociology


Joel A. Devine

Professor (Ph.D. Indiana University)
Director, Urban Studies

216 Newcomb Hall
Phone: (504)862-3003
Fax: (504)865-5544
Email: devine@tulane.edu

Research Interests


Urbanization, Urban Policy & Development, Sociology of Film, Political Economy

Current Research Projects

Current research focuses on the role of mass entertainment and the construction of "place"; my concern being commercial cinematic representation and cities, particularly as it relates to the inter-connected processes of place-making and place-identity.  Using New Orleans as a case study, my students and I are exploring how the city and culture of New Orleans figure prominently as both a character and context in commercial entertainment film by examining the production, reproduction, and transformation of the city's culture and its cinematic expression across numerous film genres and a body of about 150 extant films produced since the 1930s. 

Selected Publications

2009   Elliott, J. R., Hite, A. B., Devine, J. A.  “Unequal Returns: The Uneven Resettlement of New Orleans' Uptown Neighborhoods”, Organization and Environment(forthcoming)

Devine, Joel A. “The Built Environment.” Concise Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. George Ritzer and Michael Ryan (eds.) New York: Blackwell Publishers.

Courses Taught


SOCI 246 - Cinematic New Orleans
SOCI 631 – Urban Experience
URST 202 – The City II		  devine-photo

Tulane University, Department of Sociology, 220 Newcomb Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118 504-865-5820 menrigh@tulane.edu