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NEA Big Read Bolivar County presents “Expansion, Contraction, and Transformation: The Creation of Sacred Space through Music for Communal Healing and Social Justice” with Dr. Lisa “Osunleti” Beckley-Roberts
March 30, 2023 @ 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm
| As part of the 2022-2023 NEA Big Read: Bolivar County project, Dr. Lisa “Osunleti” Beckley-Roberts, Chair and Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at Jackson State University, will present her new research. Through the study and exploration of African and diasporic music and movement practices, Dr. Beckley-Roberts shares experiences with facilitating communal healing in the planning, preparation, and performance of a work in honor of Trayvon Martin. Her research explores the ways that the terms expansion and contraction, borrowed from Ifa cosmology of the Yoruba ethnic group, may be applied to the practice of reimagining African and African diaspora music and dance, in order to respond to and navigate the emotional turmoil of social injustice. Furthermore, additional instances of the use of music and the reimagining of musical ideas have been used to aid in communal healing.
This event is free and open to the DSU campus and general public. Refreshments will be available for attendees. The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, in partnership with Arts Midwest, is designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Delta State University is one of 70+ nonprofit organizations to receive a grant to host an NEA Big Read project. For more information, please contact Michelle Johansen at mjohansen@deltastate.edu or visit www.deltastate.edu/dei/big-read. |
