Alice Echols is Professor of History, and the Barbra Streisand Chair of Contemporary Gender Studies at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. Retrieved March 17, 2013

Education

Echols received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

, Minnesota in 1973. She obtained her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1980 and 1986 respectively.

Career

While in graduate school at the University of Michigan, Echols visited the Rubaiyat, a since-closed predominantly

gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once served as ...

where the "music just stunk." After persuasion from friends, she got a trial gig and then was hired, beginning her career as a Disco DJ. She was a visiting associate professor at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

starting in spring 2007. Echols began her career as The Barbra Streisand Professor in Contemporary Gender Studies and Professor of English and History at the University of Southern California on August 15, 2011.

Honors and awards

Publications

She authored ''Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America 1967-1975'' (with foreword by

Ellen Willis Ellen Jane Willis (December 14, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic. A 2014 collection of her essays, ''The Essential Ellen Willis,'' received the Nation ...

);'' Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

; Shaky Ground: The Sixties and Its Aftershocks;'' and ''Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture.'' Her book ''Shortfall: Family Secrets, Financial Collapse, and a Hidden History of American Banking'' was published by

The New Press The New Press is an independent non-profit public-interest book publisher established in 1992 by André Schiffrin Women's Liberation Movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

in William McConnell's book ''The Counterculture Movement of the 1960s''. Echols was also interviewed in the 2012 documentary, ''

The Secret Disco Revolution ''The Secret Disco Revolution'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Jamie Kastner and released in 2012.Daniel Pratt"The Secret Disco Revolution: Jamie Kastner" ''Exclaim!'', September 6, 2012. Profiling the disco genre of music and the clu ...

'', where she emphasized the political nature of disco and its role in Black, queer, and women's liberation.

Selected bibliography

*''Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America 1967-1975'' (with foreword by

) *''Shaky Ground: The Sixties and its Aftershocks'' (2002) *''Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of

'' (1999) *''Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture'' (2009)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Echols, Alice Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American historians Historians of the United States American cultural critics University of Southern California faculty Macalester College alumni University of Michigan alumni American women historians 21st-century American women writers Historians from California