James Lull (born December 23, 1944) is an American social scientist and author known for ethnographic research on the interaction between communications technology and culture. In addition to his academic career, Lull worked for many years as a media professional. His most recent scholarly work focuses on the decisive role of communication in human evolution. Early life and education Lull was born in Owatonna, Minnesota. He began working at age fifteen as a radio announcer in his home town. He joined the US Army after graduating from high school and trained to become an information and broadcast specialist at the Armed Forces Information School, Fort Slocum, New York, in 1963. Lull was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, for nearly two years. During off duty hours he worked as an announcer for WCLS, WDAK, and WRBL radio in Columbus, Georgia. He was sent to Vietnam in 1965 as a combat journalist with the Army's 1st Air Cavalry Division. In 1966 Lull transferred to Armed Forces Radio Vietnam in Saigon where he became a staff announcer during the “Good Morning, Vietnam” era. After being honorably discharged from the military Lull took degrees in History from El Camino College (Torrance, CA) and Radio-TV-Film from San Jose State University, California. As an undergraduate student he also worked full-time as staff announcer and later program director of KSJO-FM, San Jose. Lull received an MS degree with Honors in Telecommunication and Film from the University of Oregon. His graduate work continued at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the tutelage of the rhetorical scholar, Edwin Black. An article based on Lull’s doctoral dissertation, “Mass Media and Family Communication: An Ethnography of Audience Behavior,” won the Golden Monograph Award from the National Communication Association. Career In 1976 Lull became Assistant Professor of Speech at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he taught for seven years. During that time he began a program of ethnographic research in China that led to the publication of China Turned On: Television, Reform, and Resistance. Lull maintained a second career in media at KTYD-FM, Santa Barbara, where he was employed as program director and staff announcer until 1983. He returned to his undergraduate alma mater, San Jose State University, to direct the Radio-TV-Film Program in 1982, and later transferred into the university’s Communication Studies Department, where in 2015 he is Emeritus Professor. He has also been Visiting Professor at the University of