Courtesy of Dillard University
The Dillard University Ray Charles Program in African-American Material Culture will be holding the two-day Rising from the Depths of Slavery: Legacies of Cultural Expression symposium beginning on the campus at 2601 Gentilly Blvd. in the Georges Auditorium. Other activities will take place off-campus. The keynote speakers will be Dr. Peggy Brunache in conversation with Dr. Ibrahima Seck.
“We know that New Orleans has a unique story to tell,” said Zella Palmer, director of the Ray Charles Program. “A big part of that is the city becoming a national and global hub of food, music and tourism. This conference will create much-needed awareness of how those elements and legacies of slavery helped shape the cultural expression that birthed American culture, as we know it.”
The symposium will bring together local and national scholars from a variety of disciplines to put into perspective the vital role that cultural creativity plays in understanding history and society. The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) Legacies of American Slavery grant defines cultural creativity as the cultural expression, in all its forms, as a way to understand and cope with slavery and its aftermath, including artistic legacies in theater, art, dance, music, poetry and fiction throughout popular culture, folklore and folkways.
Brunache will begin the conference with “Sacred Resistance: Finding Black Joy through the Culinary Aesthetics of an Enslaved Past.” Three panel discussions will focus on food, tourism and music. Additional activities for registered attendees include a dinner with Dakar Nola (Chef Serigne Mbaye), a DJ lecture/performance with Amsterdam based DJ Lynnée Denise, a cooking demonstration at the Hermann-Grima House in the French Quarter, walking tour with Know Nola Tours and dinner at Dooky Chase Restaurant.
The regional collaboration is supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation with supplemental funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
