R. Scott Heath

Dr. R. Scott Heath serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, where he interrogates intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Black American cultural production through literary, sonic, and visual frameworks.

• PhD in English Language & Literature, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
• MA in English Language & Literature, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
• BA in English and Afro-American Studies, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (Morehead-Cain Scholar)

His research spans African American literary studies with concentrated expertise in sound/screen cultures, speculative race theory, and hip hop epistemology. Current projects include the forthcoming monograph Head Theory: What Happens to Hip Hop (Oxford University Press) and Automatic Black: Race, Love, and Tech, examining technology's role in reconfiguring Black identity. Heath's scholarship appears in PMLA, African American Review, and Callaloo, where he guest-edited the landmark hip hop special issue.

Dr. Heath has designed innovative project-based courses such as:

• The Black 90s: Archiving the Love Jones Generation
• Octavia Butler Now! Reading Race, Gender, and Critical Futures
• Kanye Versus Everybody: Black Poetry and Poetics from Hughes to Hip_Hop
• James Baldwin Unplugged

His scholarly recognition includes the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellowship at Harvard University's Hutchins Center and the prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship during undergraduate studies.