Lauren Michele Jackson (born 1991) is an American culture critic and assistant professor of English and African American studies at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. Her first book, ''White Negroes'' (2019), is a nonfiction collection of essays that explores

cultural appropriation Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...

Career

Jackson attended

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

for her bachelor's degree. She received her doctoral degree in English Language and Literature from

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. Her dissertation is titled "Black Vertigo: Nausea, Aphasia, and Bodily Noise, 1970s to the present." In 2019, Jackson was hired at

as an assistant professor in the departments of English and African American studies. Jackson began freelance writing when she was a doctoral student. She has written for ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

'', and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

,'' among others. Jackson's debut book, ''White Negroes: Cornrows Were in Vogue... and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation'' "explores how appropriation manifests in music, art, memes, and more." It was published by

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as James B ...

in November 2019. The title was inspired by the 1957

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...

essay "

The White Negro ''The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster,'' a 9,000-word essay by Norman Mailer, connects the "psychic havoc" wrought by the Holocaust and atomic bomb to the aftermath of slavery in America in the figuration of the Hipster, or t ...

". Reviewing the book for '' Vox'', Alanna Okun wrote, "Using case studies ranging from the Kardashians to Miley Cyrus to Paula Deen to Big Dick Energy, she explores and pinpoints the term with nuance, curiosity, and wryness." She was named a contributing writer for ''

'' in September 2020.

Bibliography

Books

* ''White Negroes: Cornrows Were in Vogue... and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation'' (2019), Beacon Press;

Essays and reporting

*
Drake's Playground
(January 12, 2016) on TheAwl.com * Online version is titled "Alice Walker's journals depict an artist restless on her laurels". ——————— ;Notes

References

External links

Official website
on Northwestern.edu {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Lauren Michele 1991 births Living people African-American women academics American women academics 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics African-American women writers American critics University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni University of Chicago alumni Northwestern University faculty 21st-century African-American women The New Yorker people