Erich Nunn

Erich Nunn is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of English at Auburn University's College of Liberal Arts. His research focuses on 20th to 21st-century American literature, American studies, and the U.S. South, with particular attention to cultural studies, critical theory, and women's and gender studies. Nunn holds a PhD from the University of Virginia.

His major publication is the book Sounding the Color Line: Music and Race in the Southern Imagination (2015), which explores intersections of music, race, and regional identity. He has also published articles in venues like PMLA, Criticism, and The Faulkner Journal, addressing topics ranging from Mark Twain's Reconstruction-era narratives to Willie Nelson's queer iconography in country music.

Nunn has held fellowships at prestigious institutions including Emory University's Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin, and the Harrison Institute at UVA. His work bridges musicology, literary analysis, and cultural studies, often examining how Southern identity is constructed through artistic expression.

Recent research explores speculative Southern futures in contemporary media, transatlantic musical exchanges in colonial contexts, and the role of folk traditions in shaping cultural narratives. His scholarship emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the South's complex cultural landscape.