Daniel Herbert

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Dan Herbert

Assistant Professor

Office Location(s): 6413 North Quad
Phone: 734.647.3363
danherb@umich.edu
View Curriculum Vitae

  • Fields of Study
    • Contemporary American media
    • Home video
    • Media industries
    • Media geographies
    • Adaptations and remakes
  • About

    Daniel Herbert is a scholar of contemporary media culture with particular interests in media industries, geography, and cultural identities.  His dissertation explored cinematic globalization through the lens of Hollywood remakes of foreign films.  His current book project examines the ways that video rental stores altered movie culture during the 1970s through the 2000s.  Drawing from copious fieldwork conducted from 2008-2012, this book provides a critical reflection upon the brick-and-mortar video industry at the very moment of its disappearance.  More than a simple story of an industrial rise and fall, however, this work conveys the importance of video stores as lived spaces for the many people who shopped and worked inside them.

    Herbert was appointed as a visiting lecturer at the University of Michigan in 2007 and became a member of the regular faculty in 2008.  Prior to that, he worked for several years as a clerk at the best video store in Albuquerque, NM, Alphaville Video, where he watched thousands of foreign and American independent films.  He then attained his MA and PhD in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California.  He likes to think that his work at the video store was as important to his education as his graduate studies, even if it does not appear on his CV.

    Recent Courses Taught

    New Line and New Hollywood Cinema
    The Contemporary Film Industry
    Apocalyptic Film and Television
    Adaptations

  • Education
    • Ph.D. in Critical Studies, University of Southern California, 2008
    • Master of Arts in Critical Studies, University of Southern California, 2004
    • Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts, University of New Mexico, 2001
  • Awards
    • Recognition Award for Outstanding Research Mentorship, UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program), for “Study of the Criterion Collection” with Jacob Mendel as undergraduate student research assistant. (Winter 2009)
  • Grants
    • Spring/Summer Research Grant, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan. Awarded for “How Video Rental Changed the Movies,” with Peter Alilunas as graduate student research partner. (2011)
    • Faculty Research Grant, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan. Awarded for “Rewind: The History, Theory, and Practices of the American Video Rental Store.” (Winter 2010)
  • Presentations
    • “Michigan and Home Video Culture,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Chicago, IL (2013)
    • “‘A Different Middle of Nowhere’ : Video Rental in the American Deep South,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Boston, MA (2012)
    • "From Art House to Your House: Boutique Video Distributors and their Challenges," Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Los Angeles, CA (2010)
    • “City of Quirk: Eclecticism in Boutique Video Rental Stores in the Los Angeles Area, “What is Film? Change & Continuity in the 21st Century” Conference, Portland, Oregon (2009)
  • Invited Talks and Lectures
    • Interlocutor, “Agnieszka Holland and Her Place in Film History: A Conversation,” Ann Arbor, Michigan (2012)
    • “Feeling for History: Non-Linear Time Structures in Contemporary Korean Cinema,” Ann Arbor, Michigan (2012)
  • Works in Progress
    • Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store (UC Press, forthcoming)
  • Selected Publications:
  • Articles
  • Book Chapters