Common Reading talk on the Role of Music in the Anti-Apartheid Movement

Melissa Parkhurst will present a Common Reading talk on “Song Gives Birth to Struggle: Music and the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa” at noon on Wednesday, April 28.

Parkhurst, a faculty member in the WSU School of Music and the 2021 awardee of the WSU Faculty Diversity Award, will use examples from several South African music traditions to explore the ways in which music sheds light on the indigenous cultures and the process of colonialism and post colonialism. These examples will include early South African jazz (marabi), a cappella music performed by migrant workers (isicathamiya), and numerous genres that emerged during the anti-apartheid struggles, 1948-1994.

Hosted by the WSU Pullman Common Reading Program as one of the final events of our year’s conversation on Trevor Noah’s memoir Born a Crime, this event can be accessed via Zoom at https://wsu.zoom.us/j/91551673456.

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