Novotny Lawrence

Biography

Dr. Novotny Lawrence is an associate professor of Cinema and Media Studies and the Director of the Black Film Center & Archive. A widely published scholar, Dr. Lawrence’s research focuses on Black cinematic/mediated experiences and popular culture, areas that reflect the historic racial discrimination that Blacks have endured and the tremendous strides that Blacks have made to overcome oppression. He is the author of Blaxploitation Films of the 1970s: Blackness and Genre (Routledge, 2007), the editor of Documenting the Black Experience (McFarland, 2014), and the co-editor of Beyond Blaxploitation (Wayne State University Press, 2016). He has also published journal articles/book chapters on Black Dynamite, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, This is Us, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Dr. Lawrence is currently co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Films and co-authoring a book on Oscar and BAFTA-winning screenwriter and University of Kansas professor, Kevin Willmott. He has made several media appearances, including participating in a roundtable discussion about Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) for the Criterion Collection box set, Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films. Dr. Lawrence is also the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Popular Culture.