In Collaboration with the Griot Institute for the Study of Black Lives and Cultures
Hello everyone! I know you guys just heard from me about Mr. Dobson, but guess what? You guys get a two-for-one special as I want to tell you folks about another special lecture I was able to attend as part of the many events going on at the Griot Institute with MLK Week among us! Pictured above is established writer, academic, and musician, Stephen Stacks, who among those prestigious achievements teaches at North Carolina Central University and is a proud member of the Lumbee Tribe. His research as a musicologist is dedicated to the relationship between music and topics like race, identity, and social protest — something similar to what I am looking into with music and the Caribbean!
That research would lead to the development of his monograph, The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song after 1968, which dives deeply into how freedom singing became a site of political resistance after the “end of the Civil Rights Movement.” It also touched on new insightful vocabulary when it comes to the thinking of singing as a tool of protest; for example, ‘cultural memory, counter-memory, and disremembering.’ As you may find, these phrases hold a common theme of being techniques of memory and how we may keep history alive. Cultural memory has to do with the focusing of divisions and agendas which are set in our everyday lives while counter-memory is crucial to the challenging of known memories or historic narratives so we can reevaluate hidden history and formulate new ideas to benefit the world as a whole. When used hand-in-hand, they become a prominent tool of resistance and open a new path to building a better future.
This lecture was important as it pertains to current events and gives new perspectives to already established concepts. I thank Dr. Stephen Stacks for his time and am honored to have attended such a speech as it was encouraging and provided me with hope. I hope you all have enjoyed my blogs and I’ll see you all next time!!
Sincerely,
Jesse Leon
Class of 2028
Research Student Intern