Langston Collin Wilkins

Biography

Langston Collin Wilkins is an Assistant Professor of Folklore and African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include African American folklife, African American music, urban folklore, car culture and public folklore. Dr. Wilkins received his PhD from Indiana University’s Department of Folklore & Ethnomusicology in 2016. He also holds a MA in African American and African Diaspora Studies from Indiana University and a BA in English from the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Everybody Inherits the Hood: Place, Identity and Hip Hop Heritage in Houston (University of Illinois Press, 2023), which explores the relationship between music creation, place attachment and local heritage within Houston, Texas’ hip hop music scene. His work has also appeared in the Journal of Folklore Research, The Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, and several other publications. From 2019-2022, Dr. Wilkins served as the Director of the Center for Washington Cultural Traditions, a public program that seeks to document and preserve the traditional culture of Washington State. Dr. Wilkins is currently an executive board member of the American Folklore Society.

Education

• Indiana University, PhD in Folklore & Ethnomusicology: Ethnomusicology Institute (2016)
• Indiana University, MA in African American and African Diaspora Studies (2010)
• Indiana University, MA in Folklore & Ethnomusicology (2010)
• University of Texas at Austin, BA in English (2006)