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| Fred Moten | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fred Moten |
| Birth date | 1962 |
| Birth place | Las Vegas |
| Occupation | Poet, Critic, Scholar |
| Notable works | Hughson/Blues; In the Break; The Feel Trio |
| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship, Casa Velázquez residency |
Fred Moten
Fred Moten is an American poet, scholar, and cultural critic known for interventions in African American studies, performance studies, and critical theory. His work intersects with voices from Black cultural theory, jazz, Afrofuturism, and Marxist theory, engaging with figures and institutions across Harvard University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, Brown University, Columbia University and international festivals. Moten's writing and performances connect to traditions represented by Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka, Paul Gilroy, Saidiya Hartman, Stuart Hall, Édouard Glissant and others.
Moten was born in Las Vegas and raised in contexts shaped by Nevada history, the growth of Las Vegas Strip, and networks tied to African American migration in the United States. He pursued undergraduate work and graduate training that brought him into contact with archives and mentors associated with Black Studies programs, including institutions like University of California, Berkeley, Yale University and other centers where scholars such as Frantz Fanon-influenced theorists and figures from Harlem Renaissance studies convened. His education exposed him to literary lineages from Zora Neale Hurston, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, and poetic experiments from Gertrude Stein and John Cage.
Moten has held faculty and visiting positions across prominent universities and cultural institutions, including appointments at Brown University, New York University, Princeton University, Yale University and University of California, Berkeley. He has participated in seminars and residencies at research centers such as The New School, Columbia University's institutes, and international venues like Goldsmiths, University of London, Paris programs and the School of Oriental and African Studies. His teaching encompassed courses linked to African American literature, performance studies, critical race theory, and dialogues with theorists connected to Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy, Saidiya Hartman, Homi K. Bhabha and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.
Moten's poetry collections, including Hughson/Blues and The Feel Trio, enter conversations with poets such as Langston Hughes, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Gwendolyn Brooks and experimental writers like John Ashbery and Gertrude Stein. His poetics often reference musical forms from jazz figures like Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and cultural movements tied to Harlem Renaissance and Beat Generation lineages involving Jack Kerouac. His writings have appeared alongside journals and publishers connected to Poetry Foundation, New Directions Publishing, Faber and Faber, and small presses associated with contemporary poets such as Tracie Morris, Myung Mi Kim, and Charles Bernstein.
Moten's theoretical work, most notably In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition, engages with thinkers including W. E. B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, C. L. R. James, Frantz Fanon, Saidiya Hartman, Fredric Jameson, and Jacques Derrida. He dialogues with traditions from Marxism-inflected critics and poststructuralists like Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, while addressing debates in Black Studies and diaspora scholarship linked to Paul Gilroy and Stuart Hall. His essays appear in edited volumes and journals associated with institutions such as Routledge, Duke University Press, Critical Inquiry, and conferences organized by Modern Language Association and American Studies Association.
Moten has collaborated with musicians, poets, choreographers, and visual artists including partnerships with Jason Moran, Roscoe Mitchell, Larry Neal-influenced performers, and contemporary ensembles tied to Brooklyn's experimental scenes. He has performed at festivals and venues such as New York Philharmonic-adjacent programs, Tate Modern, Whitney Museum, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Kitchen, and international festivals in Paris, Berlin, and London. Collaborators span fields connected to John Akomfrah, Adrian Piper, Toni Morrison-era editors, and contemporary cultural producers linked to Pitchfork Festival-style circuits and academic conferences at Harvard University and Yale University.
Moten's recognitions include fellowships and residencies from institutions such as the Guggenheim Fellowship, Ford Foundation, MacDowell Colony, and international prizes tied to cultural institutes like Casa Velázquez and grants from foundations connected to National Endowment for the Arts-adjacent programs. He has been cited and honored in lists compiled by organizations such as The New Yorker, The Guardian, and scholarly awards presented by associations including the Modern Language Association and American Comparative Literature Association.
Category:American poets Category:African American writers Category:Literary critics