NEPCA 2022 Keynote Speaker

We’re ecstatic to share that our Keynote Speaker for NEPCA 2022’s virtual conference is Dr. Novotny Lawrence.

Dr. Novotny Lawrence is an Associate Professor at Iowa State University where he holds a joint appointment between the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and the English Department. He is an award-winner teacher, and his research focuses on representations of Blacks in film, media, and popular culture. Lawrence 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 and book chapters on Black Dynamite, religious iconography in Good Times, The Comedy of Dave Chappelle, The Twilight Zone, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. He has been a member of the Popular Culture Association since 2006, and in 2017, he was elected to the Governing Board. From 2019-2022, Lawrence served as the PCA’s Vice President of Diversity, Outreach, and Inclusion, and worked with the Board members to make the PCA and the National Conference more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. He is now the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Popular Culture. 

The Keynote talk occurs on Friday evening and all registered members of the conference are encouraged to attend. For more information about the 2022 NEPCA Virtual Conference please see our conference page. If you woul like to register for the conference, please visit the registration page.