John Christ is the Community and Economic Development Field Specialist in Merrimack County. He provides community and economic development planning assistance and project implementation support that builds community and regional leaders' capacity to grow and sustain the economy and strengthens communities. His areas of focus include Main Street vibrancy, housing, community planning, and regional collaboration on plans and projects.
John comes to the UNH Cooperative Extension with extensive experience in higher education, most recently at Plymouth State University where he taught courses in the social sciences and worked as a PI for a National Park Service project to produce an ethnographic assessment of Lowell, MA. He holds a PhD in History, Theory, and Criticism from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Planning and a BA in Art History from CUNY Queens College's Art Department.
In his community, John serves on the Plymouth Planning Board, Lakes Region Planning Commission, and on the Board of Directors of the Plymouth Historical Society and has collaborated in various capacities with other local organizations. Outside these roles, you might find him in his kitchen looking for new culinary adventures or out and about canoeing, cycling, skiing, and exploring towns and cities.
BA, Queens College, City University of New York; PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John Christ brings his interdisciplinary background to PSU as a member of the social sciences faculty, teaching courses reaching across political science, human geography, and community planning. Beyond the classroom, he is currently working with the National Park Service to perform an Ethnographic Overview and Assessment of Lowell, Massachusetts.
Dr. Christ’s research examines how individuals and communities represent themselves and gain a meaningful voice as they shape our world and seek social and economic justice. His current projects explore these themes with respect to the effectiveness of creative placemaking as a development strategy, the value of public art and historical monuments in shaping inclusive environments, and the regional and cultural impact of tourist economies.
As a member of his community, Dr. Christ serves as chair of the Plymouth Planning Board and as secretary of the Plymouth Historical Society’s Board of Directors. He has also collaborated in various capacities with regional cultural institutions, including the Museum of the White Mountains in Plymouth, and volunteers as a member of the Family Committee at Mountain Village Charter School.
Selected Publications and Presentations
“Stuart Davis as Public Artist: American Painting and the Reconstruction of the Public Sphere,” Oxford Art Journal 37, no. 1 (March 2014), pages 65-82.
“Stuart Davis and the Politics of Experience.” American Art 22, no. 2 (Summer 2008), pages 42-63.
“A Short Guide to the Art of Dining, Slumming, Touring, Wildlife and Women for Hire in New York’s Chinatown and Chinese Restaurants.” Oxford Art Journal 26, no. 2 (Fall 2003), pages 71-92.
“Bodies in Heat: A Discussion of Pia Lindman’s Sauna Projects.” Rethinking Marxism 15, no. 2 (April 2003), pages 197-211.
“The Art of Landscape Tourism in the White Mountains,” Adventures in Learning series (“The White Mountains: Adventure, Beauty, and Danger in our Backyard”), Colby-Sawyer College, March 4, 2020.
“Siting the Pemigewasset House within the Changing Landscape of American Tourism,” Museum of the White Mountains in connection with the exhibition “The Grand Hotels of the White Mountains,” August 8, 2019.
“Can Creative Place Making Serve the Public Good?: The Case of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge,” Justice Studies Association Annual Conference, Bridgewater, MA, May 30-June 1, 2019.
“How American Artists Won the Right to be Monitored,” Space Between Society annual conference, “Under Surveillance in the Space Between, 1914-1945,” Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June 2-4, 2016.
“Socialism and American Culture: Then, Now, and into the Future,” New England American Studies Association, “Beyond the Ballot Box,” Weston, MA, April 2, 2016.
“Collaboration and Collectivity in Search of a Model: Free and Open Source Art,” Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association annual conference, Visual Culture subject area, New Orleans, LA, April 1-4, 2015.
“Resiting History in Lowell, Massachusetts: The Role of Public Art in Articulating Place and Imagining the Public,” Wellesley Deerfield Symposium, “Outside the Gallery: Public Sculpture in New England,” Deerfield, MA, March 14, 2015.
“The Aesthetic Control of the City: The Case of Tompkins Square at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” Association for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery annual conference, “The Image of the Outsider in Literature, Media, and Society,” Colorado Springs, Colorado; March 9, 2013.
with Sarah Moser: “’Little Cambodia’: Manifestations of Cambodian Identities in the Built Environment.” Negotiating Immigrant Identities: From the Outside In and the Inside Out, Lowell, MA; October 22, 2011.
“Coenties Slip, New York: Envisioning the Past and Future of Urban America.” Artistic Manifestations in Architecture; Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA; December 11, 2010.
“Davis, Benton, and the Struggle to Define American Experience.” College Art Association Annual Conference; Boston, MA; 2006.
