{"id":103824,"date":"2025-09-03T20:49:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=103824"},"modified":"2025-09-04T13:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:20:19","slug":"uri-humanities-series-takes-serious-look-at-pop-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/uri-humanities-series-takes-serious-look-at-pop-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 Humanities series takes serious look at pop culture\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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溏心vlog免费B站’s Center for the Humanities lecture series, \u201cThe Humanities and Popular Culture\/Counterculture,\u201d opens this fall with three presentations that will focus on music and social justice, art and Black Southern life, and Indigenous people\u2019s space in pop culture. (istock image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 4, 2025 \u2013 From a marching band to Shakespeare\u2013and Taylor Swift in between\u2013the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Center for the Humanities will take an academic view of pop culture with its annual lecture series this school year. But academic doesn\u2019t mean not fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Humanities and Popular Culture\/Counterculture<\/a>,\u201d which opens this fall with three presentations that will focus on music and social justice, art and Black Southern life, and Indigenous people\u2019s space in pop culture, comes at a perfect time in programming \u2013 snug between two weightier lectures series by the center at a time when it may be good to take a breath and focus on issues outside the nightly news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter engaging with a really serious topic on \u2018Sustaining Democracy\u2019 last year, and with plans for a theme related to the nation\u2019s 250th<\/sup> birthday next year, we thought our audiences would enjoy something a little more fun,\u201d said Evelyn Sterne, director of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Center for the Humanities<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a lighter theme, and, we hope, a nice distraction from the daily news. But we also want to send the message that popular culture and counterculture are serious academic topics that can be interpreted through the lens of the humanities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series\u2019 diverse range of topics should have an appeal within 溏心vlog免费B站 and its broader community. \u201cEveryone engages with popular culture at some level. Who doesn\u2019t listen to music or watch a professional sports game? Who hasn\u2019t heard of Taylor Swift?\u201d Sterne added. \u201cYet how many people have considered these pastimes as serious academic subjects worthy of deeper interpretation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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The series begins Thursday, Sept. 25, with a performance of “Make Loud!”<\/strong> by the Extraordinary Rendition Band. (Photo courtesy: Extraordinary Rendition Band)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The lecture series opens Thursday, Sept. 25, <\/strong>with the Extraordinary Rendition Band, a Providence-based street band that mixes performance with the belief that music has the power to fuel positive social change. The band\u2019s performance \u201cMake Loud!\u201d<\/strong><\/a> starts at 7:30 p.m. in Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, and will be livestreamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carolyn Betensky, chair of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s English Department, plays flugabone, a cross between a flugelhorn and a trombone, in the band. \u201cWe enjoy creating joyous and spontaneous musical mayhem wherever possible\u2013at protests, festivals, and different kinds of community spaces,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are an open band and we have two operative mottos: \u2018Make Loud\u2019 and \u2018Any Note is Better than No Note.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2009, the band of about 40 members plays for free\u2013in the streets, in public spaces, at scheduled performances, protests and benefits\u2013or shows up when least expected. Along with making people want to dance, the band is committed to social justice and building a strong, inclusive, and joyous community, according to its website. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Nancey B. Price will explore \u201cStories from the Soil: Collage, Culture, and the Black Rural Imagination,”<\/strong> in a two-part presentation, Oct. 9-10. (Photo courtesy: Nancey B. Price)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Nancey B. Price, a Black collage artist, storyteller, and rural Georgia native, will explore \u201cStories from the Soil: Collage, Culture, and the Black Rural Imagination,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> in a two-part presentation on Thursday, Oct. 9, and Friday, Oct. 10. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price\u2019s analog collage practice and fiction are rooted in Southern Black traditions, magical realism, and a deep connection to the land and ancestry. Her artwork has been featured in Southern Cultures journal, Garden & Gun Magazine, Oprah Magazine, and \u201cBlack Collagists: The Book,\u201d and has been displayed at institutions across the country. She also created the cover art for \u201cThe Unboxing of a Black Girl\u201d by Angela Shante, which was longlisted for a National Book Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 9, Price will discuss how Black Southern life, especially in rural communities, is a foundation for \u201cfuture-thinking,\u201d as she blends personal narrative, visual art, and storytelling in examining the ways in which tending the land, preserving culture, and imagining new worlds are inherently Afrofuturist acts. The talk will be held at 4 p.m. in the Hope Room of the Higgins Welcome Center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 10, Price will provide a hands-on community collage workshop in the Hardge Forum of the Multicultural Student Services Center at noon. Participants will use images, memory, and imagination to explore their own stories and collective visions of the future. The workshop is open to the first 45 people who register<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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On Thursday, Nov. 6, Lee Francis IV will present \u201cFrom Noble Savage to Tragic Chief: A Brief History of Natives in Pop Culture.\u201d<\/strong> (Photo courtesy: Lee Francis IV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The fall lectures will close Thursday, Nov. 6,<\/strong> with Lee Francis IV, who will present \u201cFrom Noble Savage to Tragic Chief: A Brief History of Natives in Pop Culture<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d at 5 p.m. in the Hope Room of the Higgins Welcome Center. Francis, aka Dr. IndigiNerd, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe, will discuss the past, present and future of Indigenous representation in popular media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs part of Native American History Month, we thought it would be interesting to invite a speaker who could analyze why Native American themes have been attracting so much attention in popular culture in recent decades and how Native Americans have been portrayed,\u201d Sterne said. \u201cRather than inviting a scholar to analyze these questions from a distance, we invited a speaker who has spent his career engaging with and creating Indigenous popular culture in a variety of spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis is the founder and chief imagination officer of the Indigenous Imagination Workshop, which is dedicated to sparking and cultivating the Indigenous imagination. An educator and entrepreneur, Francis is the founder of Indigenous Comic Con, Indigenous Worlds of Wonder, the Indigenous Futurism Festival, Native Realities, and Red Planet Books and Comics. He was also the host and lead writer for \u201cIndigiGenius\u201d on New Mexico PBS and co-producer for \u201cSovereign Innovations\u201d on PBS Digital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Humanities and Popular Culture\/Counterculture\u201d series will pick up again at the start of the spring semester, with presentations on gender, media and politics in global basketball; a crash course on Taylor Swift; and the staying power of Shakespeare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 4, 2025 \u2013 From a marching band to Shakespeare\u2013and Taylor Swift in between\u2013the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Center for the Humanities will take an academic view of pop culture with its annual lecture series this school year. But academic doesn\u2019t mean not fun. \u201cThe Humanities and Popular Culture\/Counterculture,\u201d which opens this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":103834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,1913,1912],"class_list":["post-103824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-public-engagement","tag-special-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103824"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103840,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103824\/revisions\/103840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}