Reuben A. Buford May University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA
Reuben A. Buford May, Ph.D. is the Department Head, Florian Znaniecki Professorial Scholar, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign. He is the author of three books: Urban Nightlife: Entertaining Race, Class, and Culture in Public Space (2014), the award-winning book Living Through the Hoop: High School Basketball, Race, and the American Dream (2008), and Talking at Trena’s: Everyday Conversations at an African American Tavern (2001). He has been a fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visiting professor at MIT. May received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago, and his research focuses on race and culture, urban ethnography, the sociology of sport, and the sociology of the everyday. May’s current research is an ethnographic study that focuses on the experiences of Chicago nightclub staff as they carry out the work of providing entertainment and enjoyment for nightclub patrons. In addition to his research May has been the winner of numerous teaching awards.
