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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261028T190000
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SUMMARY:Wendy S. Walters at Harvard Book Store
DESCRIPTION:Harvard Book Store welcomes Wendy S. Walters—associate professor of nonfiction in the Writing Program of the School of the Arts at Columbia University and author of Multiply/Divide: On the American Real and Surreal—for a discussion of her new book\, A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint. \nAbout A Dead White\nAn impassioned\, boundary-pushing work of criticism traversing an array of subjects\, from fine arts to design to architecture\, taking aim at the ubiquity of white paint in our society and what its prevalence reveals about our values.  \nIt’s hard to identify a material that takes up more sensory space and has received less critical examination than white paint. As the default color of our built environment\, it asks us to believe that it’s neutral—that it has no signifiers or\, perhaps more troublingly\, that what it does signify\, whether it be calmness\, cleanliness\, blankness\, or purity\, is unassailable and value-free. In this expansive\, impassioned examination\, cultural critic Wendy S. Walters interrogates all that we have taken for granted about the substance that colors\, or fails to color\, the structures and objects that surround us—and what the collective impulse toward white paint can tell us about culture\, politics\, and individual desire. \nTracing the unquantifiable impact of white paint on our lived environment and in our collective imaginary\, A Dead White braids together multiple narrative threads and associations. Exploring the role of white paint in art history\, architecture\, and consumer culture\, it follows its influence into the home\, the halls of the workplace\, the galleries and studios of the contemporary art world\, and larger forums of mass culture and national identity\, never losing sight of how this cultural inclination manifests in our choices and habits as individuals. Deeply investigated and anchored by Walters’s immediate sensory experiences and instincts\, her intelligence and lucid prose ground this encompassing\, utterly fresh work of cultural criticism.
URL:https://harvardsquare.com/event/wendy-s-walters-at-harvard-book-store/
LOCATION:Grolier Bookshop\, 6 Plympton Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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SUMMARY:Charrise Barron at Harvard Book Store
DESCRIPTION:Harvard Book Store welcomes Charrise Barron—minister\, a gospel artist\, and Assistant Professor of Music at Harvard University—for a discussion of her new book\, The Platinum Age of Gospel: The Years When Crossover Music Changed Everything. She will be joined in conversation by Jeremy D. Battle—senior pastor at The Avenue: The Historic Massachusetts Avenue & Western Avenue Baptist Church. \nAbout The Platinum Age of Gospel\nThe story of gospel music’s chartbusting mainstream success and the accompanying shifts in Black Christian theology. \nFrom the clandestine spirituals of the enslaved—songs that voiced sorrow\, hope\, and an unshakeable belief in divine deliverance—to the rousing anthems of the Civil Rights era\, gospel music has shaped and reflected the deepest yearnings of Black Americans striving toward freedom. During gospel’s celebrated golden age (ca. 1945–1965)\, the music became inseparable from the struggle for racial justice. At the same time\, the genre gained unprecedented visibility in Black churches and the American mainstream. Performers such as Clara Ward\, Mahalia Jackson\, and Sam Cooke expanded the reach of sacred music\, carrying its message across cultural and religious boundaries. \nEthnomusicologist\, minister\, and singer Charrise Barron explores the next major era in Black gospel: the two decades between 1993 and 2013\, which she calls the platinum age. In this transformative period\, gospel music fully embraced the aesthetics of popular culture. Artists like Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary topped the charts\, adopted contemporary styles\, and reached audiences far beyond traditional church settings. Commercial success both fostered and responded to profound shifts. Influenced by Pentecostal megachurches and new theological trends\, platinum-age gospel retained its spiritual resonance while largely dispensing with the golden age’s political impulses. \nWhile the platinum age delivered popularity and financial returns\, it also diluted gospel’s historical role as a prophetic voice against injustice. Combining music criticism\, cultural history\, and theological insight\, Barron offers a compelling account of how gospel music has continually reinvented itself—and what it gained and lost in the process.
URL:https://harvardsquare.com/event/charrise-barron-at-harvard-book-store/
LOCATION:Harvard Book Store\, 1256 Massachusetts Ave\, Cambridge\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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