- Eric Lott
Eric Lott (born 1959) is an American Professor of English and social historian.
Lott received his Ph. D. in 1991 from Columbia University. He has been a faculty member in the Department of English at the
University of Virginia since 1990.Lott's book about the origins, evolution, and cultural significance of
blackface minstrelsy, "Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class" (1993), received the 1994Avery O. Craven Award from theOrganization of American Historians and the first annual Modern Language Association's "Best First Book" prize, and the 1994 Outstanding Book on the Subject of Human Rights by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights. [ [http://newsroom.msu.edu/site/indexer/382/content.htm Nationally acclaimed author to give Nye Lecture as part of Ethnomusicology Forum] University of Michigan, April 15, 1999. Accessed online 10 August 2006.]Lott's writings have appeared in numerous publications, such as "
Village Voice ", "The Nation ", "Transition ", and "American Quarterly ".Bob Dylan is widely reported to have taken the title of his album "Love and Theft " from that of Lott's book; Lott, in turn, considered his own title "ariff on"Leslie Fiedler 's "Love and Death in the American Novel". [David McNair and Jayson Whitehead [http://www.gadflyonline.com/12-10-01/book-ericlott.html interview with Lott] on Gadfly Online. Accessed online 10 August 2006.]"Love and Theft" extensively documents the
racism andcultural appropriation inherent in blackface performance; Lott also argues that it demonstrates a current ofhomosexual desire for Black men's bodies; ["Love and Theft", "passim."] he also argues that "mixed in with vicious parodies and lopsided appropriation, minstrelsy involved a real love ofAfrican American culture." [ [http://www.emplive.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26&ccID=127&xPopConfBioID=566&year=2005 Abstract] for Lott's plenary talk "Love and Theft Revisited: Poseurs and Playas from Blackface to Hip-Hop (And What This All Means for Rock and Roll)" at thePop Conference ,Experience Music Project , 2005. Accessed online 10 August 2006.]Books
* "The Disappearing Liberal Intellectual: Or, How the Left Became the Center" (2006)
* "Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class" (1993)
* "The Cambridge Handbook of American Literature" (1986) (co-author)Notes
External links
* [http://www.engl.virginia.edu/faculty/lott_eric.shtml Eric Lott]
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