Resume

• 2007

  Ph.D.

  Dissertation: \"The Gossip Industry: Producing and Distributing Star Images

  Celebrity Gossip

  and Entertainment News

  1910 - 2010.\"

  Media Studies

  The University of Texas at Austin

• 2005

  M.A.

  English and Film Studies

  University of Oregon

• 1999

  French

  B.A.

  Rhetoric and Film Studies

  Whitman College

  Summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa

• Meet Dr. Anne Helen Petersen

  Anne Helen Petersen received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas in Austin

  Texas

  where she wrote her dissertation on the industrial history of celebrity gossip and spent a lot of time eating breakfast tacos. At Whitman

  she teaches classes in television

  stardom

  feminist media studies

  and theory.

  These Writers Are Launching A New Wave Of Native American Literature

  With two highly anticipated books

  Terese Marie Mailhot and Tommy Orange are part of a new generation of indigenous writers

  trained in a program that rejects the standards of white academia.

  These Writers Are Launching A New Wave Of Native American Literature

  There’s So Much to Learn From the Montana Special Election

  It's not a referendum on Trump. But the election — between a 'singing cowboy' and a 'carpetbagging billionaire' — can teach the rest of the country about how to actually cultivate and persuade indepen

  There’s So Much to Learn From the Montana Special Election

  Jennifer Lawrence And The History Of Cool Girls

  Jennifer Lawrence and the History of Cool Girls

  Why Is Justin Timberlake Pivoting Into The Woods?

  The Western motif of Justin Timberlake’s new album

  Man of the Woods

  is the image equivalent of a trip to a dude ranch: an accidental projection of his greatest vulnerabilities

  and a desire to immer

  Why Is Justin Timberlake Pivoting Into The Woods?

  How Nashville Became One Big Bachelorette Party

  Over the last decade

  Nashville has become one of the nation’s leading non-Vegas bachelorette party destinations. The bachelorettes are a vivid symbol of the city’s rapid gentrification — and the pitfalls of a new

  “experience”-driven brand of tourism.

  How Nashville Became One Big Bachelorette Party

  Here’s What Happens When Republicans Have No One To Fight

  The “whiteopia” of North Idaho has become one of the most desirable places in the West for conservatives to relocate. So why is the local GOP tearing itself apart — and who’s responsible?

  Here’s What Happens When Republicans Have No One To Fight

  Public Speaking

  Television

  Blogging

  Pop Culture

  Celebrity

  Copy Editing

  Social Media

  History

  Storytelling

  Writing

  Editing

  Proofreading

  Interviews

  Creative Writing

  Entertainment

  Research

  Producing

  Film History

  Petersen

  Anne Helen

  Petersen

  BuzzFeed

  Whitman College

  Missoula

  Montana Area

  I write about culture

  broadly defined — with a focus on the Mountain West and celebrity culture.

  Senior Culture Writer and Western Correspondent

  BuzzFeed

  Walla Walla

  Washington

  Visiting Assistant Professor

  Whitman College