March 6: Public Practice Event with Leo Blanken
Global cultural flows: How Reggae Shaped the Modern World: Systems of Culture, Technology, and Political EconomyIn collaboration with RISD faculty member Tom Weis (Industrial Design), Center for Complexity welcomes Leo Blanken for a lecture and conversation about global cultural flows titled How Reggae Shaped the Modern World: Systems of Culture, Technology, and Political Economy.
Date: Monday, 61 March 2023
Time: 6:30 pm EST
Location: Industrial Design Department, 6th Floor (Room 600), 161 South Main Street, Providence, RI
Drawing from perspectives in engineering, critical social science, and public administration, In this presentation, Blanken will explore how the modalities of globalized modern music can be traced to the Jamaican music industry of the 1960s-70s. This multimedia presentation takes a systems-level approach to show interdependencies among culture, technology, economics, and politics to explain outcomes. The evening will include the use of turntables to spin records and will segue into some spinning of 1960s African diaspora music (including reggae, soul, and related genres on vinyl). Folks may want to bring dancing shoes!
Leo Blanken is an associate professor in the Defense Analysis Department at the Naval Postgraduate School where he focuses on the role of special operations forces in global conflict. He is the author of Rational Empires: Institutional Incentives and Imperial Expansion (University of Chicago Press) and is co-editor of Assessing War: The Challenge of Measuring Success and Failure (Georgetown University Press). Leo collects and DJs rare soul, girl group, and gospel records from the 1960s.