Al Martin

About Al

Alfred L. Martin Jr., PhD, is a media and cultural studies scholar. His work is concerned with the complex interplay between media industry studies and audience/fandom studies as related to television and film studies, critical black studies, sexuality, and gender studies.

Martin has published articles in scholarly journals including International Journal of Cultural Studies, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Communication, Culture & Critique, Feminist Media Studies, Popular Communication, and Television and New Media.

Martin is currently a Board Member At-Large for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and serves on the editorial boards of Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies and Queer Studies in Media and Popular Culture.

Martin earned a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

​Prior to becoming an academic, Martin worked in public relations and marketing for consumer brands including Lava Brand Motion Lamps, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, Wendy's International, SC Johnson, and Georgia-Pacific before joining Kaplan Publishing to provide marketing communications programming for real estate and personal finance authors. For 10 years, Martin was president and founder of What Works Communications, an independent marketing communications consultancy.

​A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Martin was also a ballet dancer and choreographer prior to working in marketing communications. His choreographic work has been performed by Detroit Ballet Theatre, Ballet West Conservatory, Deeply Rooted Productions, and the School of the Sacramento Ballet. Martin currently teaches ballet classes at Nolte Academy in Coralville, IA.