April 03, 2009

Lecture will explore performance and politics

by Andrea Hahn

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University Carbondale welcomes D. Soyini Madison for a guest lecture exploring performance and politics.

Madison is a professor of performance studies at Northwestern University’s School of Communication. She will discuss “Water as a Human Right/Rite: Performance Tactics and the Spirituality of a Political Economy of Water” beginning at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, in the Marion Kleinau Theater. The theater is on the second floor of the Communications Building.

At Northwestern, Madison is cross-appointed with the African American Studies department and the Department of Anthropology. She served as a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Ghana, where her field research examined the “interconnections between traditional religion, political economy, and indigenous performance tactics.”

She is the author of “Critical Ethnography: Methods, Ethics and Performance,” and the co-editor of “The SAGE Handbook of Performance Studies.” According to her publisher, Madison is one of the top scholars in performance studies and critical ethnography.

Madison is the recipient of several awards from the National Communication Association.

This presentation is free and open to the public. The Fine Arts Activity Fee supports this guest presentation.