Christopher Hugh Gair

Christopher Hugh Gair is a Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Culture at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. His career spans institutions including the University of Birmingham (1998–2007) and visiting roles at the University of Chicago (2001) and Yale University (2009).

• Education:
  • First Degree, Loughborough University
  • MA and PhD, University of Nottingham

Specializing in 19th–20th century American literature, Gair's research explores Naturalism, Beat Generation, American Counterculture, and Transatlantic Cultural Relations. His recent work revisits the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, 1893), analyzing its impact on American literary and visual cultures amid immigration, imperialism, and class/ethnic redefinitions. He also examines C.L.R. James's legacy in postnational studies, focusing on transdisciplinary boundary-crossing.

Gair's publications, including The Beat Generation (2008) and The American Counterculture (2006), analyze how countercultural movements redefined American identity through art and capitalism. His 2018 co-edited work Marxism, Colonialism, and Cricket recontextualizes James's Beyond a Boundary (1963), emphasizing intersections of race, empire, and sport.

As co-editor of Symbiosis: A Journal of Transatlantic Literary and Cultural Relations (since 1997), he has shaped transatlantic scholarship. His articles often bridge literary analysis with cultural theory, spanning authors like Jack London, Mark Twain, and C.L.R. James, while integrating topics such as disability studies, visual culture, and regional politics.