Dr. Michael Eric Dyson (b. Detroit, Michigan, October 23, 1958), American writer, professor, and radio host.
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Career
Academics
Dyson has a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University. He is an ordained Baptist minister. Dyson taught at DePaul University, Chicago Theological Seminary, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University and Brown University, before going to the University of Pennsylvania in 2003. There he was the Avalon Professor of Humanities. On July 3, 2007 it was announced that Dyson would become a University Professor at Georgetown University, where he will teach theology, English, and African-American studies. A University professorship is said to be the highest position that a faculty member can have at Georgetown.
Commentary
From January 2006 to February 2007 Dyson was the host of a daily syndicated talk radio program, The Michael Eric Dyson Show, which aired on weekdays from 10AM to 1PM (EST) on the Syndication One Radio Network (owned and operated by Radio One). He is also a regular commentator on National Public Radio, CNN, and the HBO TV program Real Time with Bill Maher. Dyson is best known for his commentary on American culture, particularly as it pertains to African Americans. Dyson uses the terms "Afristocracy" and "ghettocracy" to describe a bifurcation in American black society. He is also a leading scholars on the hip-hop music genre and the culture that surrounds it, as well as its roots in African and African-American cultures and influence on American popular culture.
Social Critic
Dyson has recently entered into public controversy over statements made by African-American comedian-actor-philanthropist Bill Cosby in a 2004 speech. Cosby, considered by many a role model and patriarch in the African-American community, drew criticism from Dyson for stating that poor urban blacks add to the long-standing social and economic ills that afflict them. Cosby also stated that one of the reasons for the persistence of these ills is due to poor urban blacks' failure to take responsibility for the care of their families and communities. Cosby went on to state that poor urban blacks sometimes exacerbate the problem by depending on society for sustenance and by blaming their difficulties on racism and racially biased social institutions. Dyson stated that Cosby's criticism is an example of Dyson's theory of abuse and criticism by what he calls the "Afristocracy"—or well-to-do blacks (of which both Cosby and Dyson are)—upon the "Ghettocracy" or poor urban blacks.
References
- Nishikawa, Kinohi. "Michael Eric Dyson." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature. Ed. Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 469-70.
Further reading
- Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison Wesley, 1996. | ISBN 0-201-91186-8
- I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr., New York: Free Press, 2000. | ISBN 0-684-86776-1
- Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002 | ISBN 0-465-01756-8
- Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002. | ISBN 0-465-01765-7
- Why I Love Black Women, New York: Preseus Books Group, 2002. | ISBN 0-465-01763-0
- The Michael Eric Dyson Reader, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002. | ISBN 0-465-01771-1
- Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Minds?, New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2005. | ISBN 0-465-01719-3
- Pride, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. | ISBN 0-19-516092-4
- Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, New York: Perseus Books Group, 2006. | ISBN 0-465-01761-4
- Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip Hop, New York: Perseus Books Group, 2007.
