The SINAS Fulbright Chair in American Studies
Since it was created in 1985, SINAS has benefitted greatly from co-operation with the Fulbright Program. SINAS has had the good fortune of hosting a number of Fulbright scholars and lecturers over the years, all of whom have taught courses or conducted research at the Institute. In the fall of 1996, a permanent Fulbright Chair was established at SINAS and Uppsala University. The Fulbright Chair, which is the only one of its kind in Sweden, is jointly financed by the Swedish Fulbright Commission, Stockholm University and Uppsala University. Fulbright chairs are appointed annually and generally for a full academic year.
The position is usually held by senior scholars in American studies, broadly defined. It entails teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in American Studies, pursuing research, and building contacts in Uppsala in particular and Sweden in general. Since its creation, the Fulbright Chair has provided an important opportunity for American scholars to lecture locally and nationally, which has contributed significantly to the spread of American Studies in Sweden.
Fulbright Chair 2023/24
Eric Weisbard, University of Alabama
SINAS is happy to welcome Professor Eric Weisbard, this year’s Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies!
Eric Weisbard is a professor of American Studies at the University of Alabama and an American music critic specialized in American popular music and culture in the 20th century.
He is author of the book Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music (University of Chicago Press, 2016), winner of the IASPM-US Woody Guthrie Prize for best book on popular music. His most recent books, Songbooks: The Literature of American Popular Music and Hound Dog were published by Duke University Press in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
From 2018–2021, he co-edited the Journal of Popular Music Studies. From 2002 to 2018, he was also organizer of annual EMP Pop Conference. Weisbard has edited three collections of conference presentations: This Is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project (Harvard University Press, 2004), Listen Again: A Momentary History of American Music (Duke University Press, 2007), and Pop When the World Falls Apart: Music in the Shadow of Doubt (Duke University Press, 2012).
Professor Weisbard can be reached at eric.weisbard@engelska.uu.se
A short film about the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in North American studies at SINAS, Uppsala University: