Musicology Colloquium Series
Talk Title:
THE CRUELTY OF JAZZ: TOWARD A HEMISPHERIC POLITICS OF SOUND
Date and Time:
Thursday February 7, 2:00-3:30pm
Location:
Latin American and Iberian Institute (LAII) Conference Room
Talk Description:
Rooted in concepts of affect and Empire, this paper argues that jazz operated in various 20th century Latin American settings as a vital touchstone bearing the risks and benefits of urban modernization, hemispheric geopolitics, and transnational cultural production, “cruelly” echoing the United States’ cultural, political, and economic dominance in the hemisphere and beyond.
Biography:
Jason Borge is an Associate Professor of Latin American Culture at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses on Latin American and Hemispheric popular culture, music, film, and literature. He has published widely on such topics as vernacular music and sound studies, Hollywood in Latin America, popular vanguardism, and the intra-hemispheric dimensions of literature and film. His latest book is Tropical Riffs: Latin America and the Politics of Jazz (Duke University Press, 2018).
Caption for book cover: Tropical Riffs: Latin America and the Politics of Jazz (Duke, 2018)
Sponsored by The University of New Mexico Department of Music, The Department of Spanish & Portuguese, and The Latin American and Iberian Institute
Dr. Kristina Jacobsen awarded The Fulbright Con Il Sud Award for Teaching and Research
Dr. Jacobsen, was recently awarded the Fulbright Con Il Sud Award for Teaching and Research to support her upcoming research during her sabbatical year on the Italian island of Sardinia [Sardigna].
Heterophony: Texture, Technique, and Social Commentary
This lecture is in two parts: the first draws from my research on the 1960s jazz avant-garde and musicians’ interests in heterophonic musical textures. For the second part, I perform original music that utilizes heterophony and “noise” in a solo electronic and improvised format.
The Gay West: From Drug Store Cowboys to Rodeo Queens
The masculine ideal represented by the American cowboy is variously interpreted by spectators, dancers, musicians, and contestants at gay rodeos and country western dances across the U.S. Examining embodied gender practices within these communities, this talk articulates the sonic, social, and geographical spaces of the gay American West.