Tamara Levitz

Tamara Levitz is a Professor of Comparative Literature and Musicology and Chair of the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA. She holds a B.Mus. from McGill University (1984), an M.A. from Technische Universität Berlin (1987), and a Ph.D. in Musicology from the Eastman School of Music (1994). Her research explores intersections between word and music in global modernism, systemic racism in academia, and critical university studies.

Her work includes the Otto Kinkeldey Award-winning monograph Modernist Mysteries: Perséphone, and current projects on settler colonialism in Zora Neale Hurston’s music education and racial exclusion in academic disciplines. She teaches Hip Hop poetics within comparative frameworks and critiques the racial capitalist foundations of academic freedom.

Her research interests span music-text relationships, critical theory, and disciplinary history. Recent publications analyze Eminem’s lyrical identity, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, and archival studies of colonial music correspondence. She advocates for decolonizing music disciplines and rethinking pedagogical approaches.

Scientific Awards: Recipient of the Otto Kinkeldey Award (2013). Her work bridges musicology, critical theory, and social justice, influencing both academic and public discourse on race, art, and institutional critique.