special events:

The Curriculum in Folklore's "New Directions in Folklore" Colloquia Series Presents:

Robert Cantwell, Townsend Ludington Professor of American Studies: "If Beale Street Could Talk: Towards a Vernacular Music Criticism"

Thursday, September 25, 2008
3:30 p.m., Donovan Lounge, 3rd Floor of Greenlaw Hall

Robert Cantwell looks at the basis for a vernacular music criticism in a process of reflexive listening where memory and history come together.

In July, Cantwell became the Townsend Ludington Professor of American Studies at UNC. He arrived here in the early '90s, having taught literature at Kenyon College, Exeter University, the University of Iowa, and Georgetown University. His research includes work on bluegrass music, the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife, and the folk revival. A new collection of essays, If Beale Street Could Talk, due from Illinois in October, includes the essay upon which this lecture is based.

Click here for complete list of speakers in the New Directions 2008 Colloquium Series.