Thomas S. Rankin, Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies

Please note: Thomas has left the "MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts" group at Duke University; some info here might not be up to date.

A photographer, filmmaker, and folklorist, Tom Rankin has been documenting and interpreting American culture for nearly twenty years. His books include Sacred Space: Photographs from the Mississippi Delta (1993), which received the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Photography, 'Deaf Maggie Lee Sayre': Photographs of a River Life(1995), Faulkner's World: The Photographs of Martin J. Dain (1997), and Local Heroes Changing America: Indivisible (2000).

Contact Info:

Office Location:	1317 W Pettigrew St, Durham, NC 27705
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://cds.aas.duke.edu/

Teaching (Fall 2025):

• ARTSVIS 216S.01, DOC PHOTO/SOUTH CULTURE Synopsis

  CDS 201, Tu 01:25 PM-03:55 PM

  (also cross-listed as DOCST 215S.01, PHOTO 216S.01, VMS 215S.01)

• MFAEDA 703.01, EXPER AND DOC ARTS Synopsis

  Carpentry 201, Tu 09:00 AM-12:15 PM

• ARTSVIS 717S.01, DOC PHOTO/SOUTHERN CULTURE Synopsis

  CDS 201, Tu 01:25 PM-03:55 PM

• MFAEDA 720.01, CRITIQUE I Synopsis

  Carpentry 201, F 10:15 AM-01:00 PM

• MFAEDA 722.01, CRITIQUE III Synopsis

  Carpentry 201, F 10:00 AM-01:00 PM

• CINE 205.01, CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTARY FILMS Synopsis

  Rubenstein 123, M 01:25 PM-04:25 PM

  (also cross-listed as ARTS&SCI 206.01, DOCST 270.01, POLSCI 276.01, PUBPOL 374.01, VMS 264.01)

Education:

M.F.A.	Georgia State University	1987
M.A.	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill	1983
B.A.	Tufts University	1980
Other	School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA	1978

Specialties:

Photography, Filmaking & Folklore
Production - Documentary

Research Interests:

A photographer, filmmaker, and folklorist, Tom Rankin has been documenting and interpreting American culture for nearly twenty years. His books include Sacred Space: Photographs from the Mississippi Delta (1993), which received the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Photography, 'Deaf Maggie Lee Sayre': Photographs of a River Life(1995), Faulkner's World: The Photographs of Martin J. Dain (1997), and Local Heroes Changing America: Indivisible (2000).

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. Rankin, T, Truths of the Matter: Traditions in Documentary Studies (2012)
2. Rankin, T, A Place of Tender Images: Paul Kwilecki’s Four Decades of Photography of Decatur County, GA (2012)
3. Colors of Confinement: Color Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II, edited by Rankin, T; Hill, IT (2012), University of North Carolina Press  [author's comments]
4. Jackson, B; Christian, D, In This Timeless Time, edited by Hill, IT; Rankin, TS (2011), University of North Carolina Press  [author's comments]
5. Rankin, T, The Cruel Radiance of the Obvious, in Southern Cultures, Southern Cultures (2011)