معرفی
Earl Brooks is an Assistant Professor of English and musician at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), affiliated with the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. He is also the associate director of UMBC’s Dresher Center for the Humanities. His research focuses on the rhetorical power of Black music and its role in shaping public discourse, history, and social movements. Brooks teaches courses in sound studies, African American rhetorical traditions, media literacy, and composition.
Education: B.A. in Music Performance and American Studies from the University of Kansas (KU), M.A. in African American Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from Penn State University.
Research Interests: Brooks explores how Black music serves as a strategic tool for communication, liberation, and cultural expression, connecting figures like Harriet Tubman and Kendrick Lamar. His 2024 book On Rhetoric and Black Music highlights the 'sonic lexicon of Black music' and its impact on movements like the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement. He emphasizes music’s role as a refuge during crises, such as the pandemic and protests against police brutality.
Awards and Grants: Recipient of the 2018 Summer Research Faculty Fellowship, 2022 Early Career Excellence Award, and 2023 Residential Faculty Research Fellow. His work Black Sonority: Rhetoric and Black Music was supported by the Mellon Foundation-funded Dresher Center’s Inclusion Imperative.
Advising and Mentorship: A faculty mentor for the McNair Scholars Program, inspired by his mentor Dr. Maryemma Graham. He co-created the 'Sounds Like Social Justice' course, collaborating with the Meadow Community Fellowship Church to produce the 'Underwater/Underserved' podcast documenting community experiences during floods.
