Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History James Denison will conduct a public lecture from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts titled “Hogan-Minded: Race and Place in Georgia O’Keeffe’s Southwest.”
Denison will discuss his recently completed dissertation, which argues that past interpretations of O’Keeffe’s New Mexican paintings have obscured her engagement with Southwestern indigenous cultures. He will highlight the influence of tourist contexts and period racial thinking on her work, describing how it relied upon and perpetuated romantic stereotypes about those cultures circulating within interwar New Mexico and the Manhattan avant-garde. Ultimately, her paintings and writings show that she saw the region much as countless others had before: as both deeply informed by the presence and history of its native peoples and as open, empty and ripe for claiming.
Denison, a native of the Washington, D.C., area and a graduate of Bowdoin College, completed his Ph.D. in art history at the University of Michigan. He joined the KIA and Kalamazoo College last summer as the postdoctoral curatorial fellow. The event is presented jointly by KIA and Kalamazoo College.
The lecture is free to attend, but registration is encouraged through the KIA website.
James Denison is a postdoctoral curatorial fellow at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and a visiting assistant professor of art history at Kalamazoo College.
Three upcoming events will spread the word of a new book by Kalamazoo College Assistant Professor of Religion and Director of Film and Media Studies Sohini Pillai titled Krishna’s Mahabharatas: Devotional Retellings of an Epic Narrative (the American Academy of Religion’s Religion in Translation Series at Oxford University Press, March 22, 2024).
The ancient Sanskrit Mahabharata is recognized as the longest poem ever composed and tells the tale of the five Pandava princes and the cataclysmic battle they wage with their 100 cousins, the Kauravas. The story is among the most widely-told narratives in South Asia, and many Mahabharatas were created in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu, as well as other regional South Asian languages.
Pillai’s book is a comprehensive study of premodern regional Mahabharata retellings, which argues that devotees of the Hindu god Vishnu and his various forms throughout South Asia turned the epic about an apocalyptic, bloody war into works of devotion focused on the Hindu deity Krishna. Krishna’s Mahabharatas examines more than 40 retellings in 11 regional South Asian languages composed over a period of 900 years while focusing on two of them: Villiputturar’s 15th-century Tamil Paratam and Sabalsingh Chauhan’s 17th-century Bhasha (Old Hindi) Mahabharat.
Hear from Pillai on her book through:
An in-person book celebration organized by K’s Department of Religion at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, in the College’s Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall.
A virtual book launch at 6 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 18, organized by University of Florida Distinguished Professor Vasudha Narayanan with Trinity University Assistant Professor of Religion Gregory Clines, University of Toronto Religion Professor Srilata Raman, and University of Chicago Associate Professor Tyler Williams. The event will be hosted by the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions at the University of Florida. Participate in this free event through Zoom.
Kalamazoo College Assistant Professor of Religion and Director of Film and Media Studies Sohini Pillai holds her dog, Leia the Ewok Princess, and her new book, “Krishna’s Mahabharatas: Devotional Retellings of an Epic Narrative.”
“I’m very excited about the publication of Krishna’s Mahabharatas,” Pillai said. “I started the research for this book as a first-year Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley in 2015, so I have been working on this project for nine years! The final avatara or ‘incarnation’ of this book came into being when I started teaching at Kalamazoo College. I am thankful for my supportive colleagues at K and for the many curious and enthusiastic K students I have had in my courses, and I hope that I have written a book that they will enjoy reading.”
Worldwide Climate and Justice Education Week, scheduled for April 1–8, has inspired faculty, staff and the Kalamazoo College Climate Action Plan Committee to conduct a series of campus events that will target environmental awareness as students return for spring term.
Worldwide Climate and Justice Education Week is a global initiative sparking real dialogue on climate and justice on campuses and in communities around the world. Here’s what the campus community can do to participate.
All day Monday, April 1, is Meatless Monday at Welles Dining Center. Plant-based proteins are a promising alternative to traditional meat products because they impact the environment about 50% less than real meat. Explore a variety of proteins that you can integrate into your diet to determine what might work for you.
Fight climate anxiety from 5–6 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, at Bissell Theater by becoming an agent of progress against climate change. Participants will talk about the overwhelming feelings some have over environmental concerns. Discover how to channel anxiety into positive action and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Journey through K’s green spaces with a scavenger hunt from 11–11:45 a.m. Wednesday, April 3. Explore locations such as the Hoop House, Jolly Garden and the Grove. Gather stamps at every stop to track your path before heading to the Environmental Stewardship Center to redeem a reward. Prizes are limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Also Wednesday, from 4:15–6 p.m., follow trails and get a guided tour of K’s Lillian Anderson Arboretum. Meet at Red Square for transportation to the arboretum.
At 5:30 p.m. Thursday in Dewing Hall Commons, discover K’s array of student organizations dedicated to environmental sustainability in Klimate Fest. Connect with like-minded individuals seeking a sustainable future and learn about their initiatives aimed at fostering a greener campus and community. Afterward, stay for popcorn and a film screening of Inhabitants: Indigenous Perspectives on Restoring our World beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Conclude the week with a climate conversation in Friday’s community reflection from 11 a.m.–11:45 a.m. at Stetson Chapel. K students, faculty and staff will share experiences and discuss climate solutions in a collaborative gathering to foster understanding and dialogue while reflecting on everyone’s role in a sustainable future.
Kalamazoo College’s Hoop House will be one of three sites on campus utilized in a scavenger hunt from 11–11:45 a.m. Wednesday, April 3, during Worldwide Climate and Justice Education Week.
K’s Lillian Anderson Arboretum has recreational trails and is a great place for students to perform environmental research. Learn more about the arboretum in a tour from 4:15–6 p.m. Wednesday, April 3. Meet at Red Square for transportation.
For more information on these events, email the Larry J. Bell ’80 Environmental Stewardship Center at EnvironmentalStewardship@kzoo.edu.
A writer, author and professor will visit Kalamazoo College to deliver the 2024 Moritz Lecture at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in 103 Dewing. A livestream will also be available.
University of Delaware Professor of English Martin Brückner will discuss “The Social Life of Maps in Early America: A Material History of Design, Technology and Nation-Building.” Brückner has been the acting director and director of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, a co-director of the Center for Material Culture Studies, a co-director of the Delaware Public Humanities Institute, and a visiting curator of the Winterthur Museum. He also is known for writing more than 30 essays for journals such as American Quarterly, American Art, American Literary History and English Literary History; and two award-winning books, The Social Life of Maps in America, 1750-1860 (2017) and The Geographic Revolution in Early America: Maps, Literacy, and National Identity (2006).
Brückner’s honors have included the Fred B. Kniffen Book Award, the Louis Gottschalk Book Prize, and numerous grants and fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia, the American Antiquarian Society and the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at the University of Mainz in Germany.
The history department’s annual Edward Moritz Lecture honors the late professor Edward Moritz, who taught British and European history at K from 1955–1988 and served for many years as the department chair. For more information, contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at alumni@kzoo.edu or 269.337.7300.
University of Delaware Professor of English Martin Brückner will be the featured presented in the 2024 Moritz Lecture.
A new Kalamazoo College student organization will participate in the winter term’s International Percussion concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.
The Steel Drum Club—dedicated to classic rock, modern pop and calypso music—will play mainstream songs such as Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and Story of My Life by One Direction.
Separately, the music department’s Taiko Drums group, led by International Percussion Ensemble Director Carolyn Koebel, also will perform. The Taiko ensemble unites individuals with varied musical backgrounds from K, nearby institutions and the general community. The ensemble’s performances regularly include solos, group drumming and collaborations with other complementary instruments.
The concert is free and open to the public. For more information on this event and others sponsored by the Department of Music, visit music.kzoo.edu/events, call 269.337.7070 or email Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
Taiko drummers will be among the performers featured Wednesday, Marc 11, during the winter International Percussion concert.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will spotlight three composers in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts. All three are known for taking the smallest components of their music and transforming them in brilliant ways to show how contrasting passages can share many of the same fundamental features.
The performance will include music from mid-20th century Czech composer Miloslav Kabeláč, who developed inspiration from a divine cosmic order of stars into The Mystery of Time; German composer Johannes Brahms who looked to the stately St. Anthony Chorale of Joseph Haydn for his inspiration in the piece Variations on a Theme by Haydn; and American composer Samuel Barber, who took the contrasts of a four-movement symphonic form and combined them into a unified piece titled Symphony in One Movement.
The Philharmonia, conducted by Music Director Andrew Kohler, unites students, faculty, amateur musicians and professional musicians of a variety of ages to perform symphonic music. Having grown since its inception in 1990, the ensemble has been recognized as an arts organization of high importance in greater Kalamazoo.
Tickets are available at the door and cost $7 for general admission, $3 for students, and are free for students of Kalamazoo College. For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts.
Black identity, racism and allusions to the slave trade will be put center stage this week when Kalamazoo College’s Festival Playhouse presents Dutchman.
The 1964 play—written by Amiri Baraka, who then was known as LeRoi Jones—is the second of the Festival Playhouse’s 60th season, which has a theme of “Systems as Old as Time,” focusing on the harmful systems that hold back the oppressed and how people fight against them.
The plot features Clay, a 20-year-old, college-educated Black man portrayed by Jared Pittman ’20, who also played Martin Luther King, Jr. last winter in the Festival Playhouse’s production of The Mountaintop. Pittman notes that Clay is traveling on the subway to a friend’s house for a get-together when he meets Lula, a young white woman.
“He’s shy and timid upon his introduction to Lula on the train, given the racial climate during the 1960s,” Pittman said. “He’s polished in his three-piece suit and speaks with great intellect. Clay doesn’t want to be grouped amongst the stereotype of Black men, so he makes a conscious effort to be above the stereotype.”
Abigail Nelson ’24 and Jared Pittman ’20 portray Lula and Clay in the Festival Playhouse production of “Dutchman” being staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 3.
Lula, however, played by Abigail Nelson ’24, is symbolic of white America during the Civil Rights Movement. She enters the train eating an apple beginning references to Adam and Eve that occur throughout the play as Clay attempts to be his own man even though his name might suggest that he should be easily shaped and molded.
“She’s very flirtatious with Clay, and although he is shy, he is intrigued by Lula, so he entertains her advances,” Pittman said. “She has a bipolar personality, and it keeps Clay on his toes, not really knowing if she is joking or serious. This allows her to antagonize Clay, and ultimately push him over the edge.”
The play is guest directed by Anthony J. Hamilton, a former visiting assistant professor of theatre arts at K and guest professor and director at Western Michigan University. His career directing credits include The Piano Lesson, The 1940s Radio Hour and Once on This Island at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre; Into the Woods and Skeleton Crew at WMU; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at Hackett Catholic Prep; Grandma’s Quilt and Playwright’s Competition at the Negro Ensemble Company in New York; and Next to Normal at the Festival Playhouse last spring.
Dutchman will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 29–Saturday, March 2, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 3, in the Festival Playhouse Theatre at 129 Thompson St. Thursday’s show will include American Sign Language interpretation and an audience talkback.
Tickets are available online or by calling the Festival Playhouse at 269.337.7333. K students, faculty and staff are admitted free with a College ID. Adult tickets are $25, seniors are $20 and children younger than 12 are $5. Audiences should be aware that the play’s content includes adult language, themes and situations that include simulated violence and may be triggering.
Pittman said that audiences are certain to appreciate the performances, even as they provoke a profound emotional response. “I think those who come to see the show, should know that this is theatre, and we are people portraying characters,” he said. “Although a very real experience for some people, we ask that the audience members provide the performers with grace. We’ve worked hard to tell this iconic story and we understand the sensitivity of it all.”
Two Kalamazoo College music ensembles, the Bayati Ensemble and College Singers, will blend their instrumental and vocal talents in a unified concert this Sunday, February 25.
The Bayati Ensemble specializes in Middle Eastern music. Its members range from people who grew up with Middle Eastern music and culture to others who are learning about it for the first time. The group is co-directed by Associate Processor of Music Beau Bothwell and Ahmed Tofiq. The College Singers, led by Associate Professor of Music and Director Chris Ludwa, includes about 30 students who are music majors and non-music majors, offering a different approach to choral singing with a focus on social justice.
The free concert is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Dalton Theatre. For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
The Bayati Ensemble was created from the Bahar Ensemble, a group of five professional members, who played Middle Eastern music and performed frequently at events in Kalamazoo.
A handful of musical classics such as The Girl from Ipanema, Unforgettable, Red Clay, Nutville and Dat Dere will highlight the Kalamazoo College Jazz Band winter concert—themed “Inside the Night Café”—this Friday, February 23.
The ensemble, directed by Professor of Music Thomas Evans, pulls together an expansive collection of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide the students participating and audiences with an electric experience. This group varies in size each year, making the music selections continuously diverse and exciting.
The concert, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Dalton Theatre, is free and open to the public, although free-will donations are gratefully accepted.
For more information on the concert, contact Susan Lawrence in the Department of Music at 269.337.7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.
A national tour featuring a period chamber orchestra without a conductor will make its final stop in the Great Lakes at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Dalton Theatre at Light Fine Arts, 1140 Academy St.
Relic connects with audiences through intimate, imaginative and dramatic representations of early music. This performance’s instrumentation will include violins, violas, cellos, bassoon, basses, theorbos and harpsichords in a concert titled Enchanted Forest.
As a whole, the ensemble will tell stories of dancing elves, frolicking nymphs, marching trolls and more through drama and curiosities through English and French baroque. General admission tickets are available for $10 through EventBrite. Kalamazoo College students will be admitted free.
