Dr. George Blake holds a PhD and a Master’s Degree from the Department of Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research focuses on the hidden musical histories of Black Cleveland, while examining how performers throughout the region negotiate the racialized borders of urban space.
His teaching in urban ethnomusicology challenges students to use digital humanities tools, such as ArcGIS, to engage alternative musical archives and imagine place in new ways. An award winning teacher, Dr. Blake has taught university courses on improvisation, Black film, jazz, music of the African diaspora, gender and sexuality, hip hop, world music and popular music. His work includes research on blackface minstrelsy and his ongoing research on Robert Lockwood Jr. is supported by a grant from the UCSB Center for Black Studies Research.