Events

Muslim Masculinities: Gender, Religion, and the Everyday brings together Penn, national, and international scholars examining Muslim masculinities in all their complexities within and beyond the United States. While there has been extensive focus on Islam and gender, it has been predominantly in relation to femininities. This conference intervenes in the dominant discourse by shifting the conversation to Muslim masculinities. We seek to theorize Muslim masculinity not only as an embodied performance and discursive representation, but also as a practice of power, de-linked from the male body. Hence, we will bring together scholars across the disciplines of religious studies, anthropology, political science, literature, history, and gender, sexuality and women’s studies whose work examines masculine posturing by women, nation-states, religious groups, and/or development organizations. Relatedly, we will also examine militant masculinities enacted by both men and women. This symposium will be a forum for people to share current work and discuss issues and concerns, and to plan future directions for collaborative research

Guthrie Ramsey, Kahn Professor of Music, School of Arts and Sciences,

"Hide/Melt/Ghost: Writing the Early History of African-American Music"
This lecture – drawn from Prof. Ramsey's work in progress, "Soundproof: Black Music, Magic and Racial Intimacies," a history of African American music from the slave era to the present – describes how the musical practices of the enslaved were deployed as a sign of humanity, as a melting pot for the diverse African cultural groups that would become African American people, and as a soundtrack for paranormal events like spirit possession. Music is a powerful cultural transaction with allegorical potential. It doesn't just reflect community values, it “makes” communities and creates social bonds.

As a part of its Visiting Scholars of Color lecture series Penn GSE welcomes Travis Bristol, an assistant professor at Boston University who studies the experiences of teachers of color. Among other things, Bristol’s work has furthered research by Penn GSE’s Richard Ingersoll on the teaching profession.  Event details to follow.

Speaker - Jemima Pierre