Harmonic Earthquakes and “Sonic” Notes from the Underground: Improvisation and Tremors of Transatlantic Discontent at Columbia University

A conversation with Sarita McCoy Gregory, Vassar College

This talk examines the musical festival documented in 2004 called Banlieue Bleues, which featured African American musicians from the AACM tradition. In scientific parlance, harmonic earthquakes are seismic pre-tremors that predict major earthquakes. Because the media tend to focus on the seemingly “spontaneous” events of “riots” or urban “protests,” what is often missed are the tremors and sonic notes of disquiet that precede these events. These “harmonic earthquakes,” while often neglected, can be valuable in learning the various strategies of resisting power by members of marginal communities. This talk will offer reflections on interpretations of the car burnings that took place outside of Paris in 2005 as well as on the current moments of political improvisation in Tunisia and Egypt. ...

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A conversation with Sarita McCoy Gregory, Vassar College

This talk examines the musical festival documented in 2004 called Banlieue Bleues, which featured African American musicians from the AACM tradition. In scientific parlance, harmonic earthquakes are seismic pre-tremors that predict major earthquakes. Because the media tend to focus on the seemingly “spontaneous” events of “riots” or urban “protests,” what is often missed are the tremors and sonic notes of disquiet that precede these events. These “harmonic earthquakes,” while often neglected, can be valuable in learning the various strategies of resisting power by members of marginal communities. This talk will offer reflections on interpretations of the car burnings that took place outside of Paris in 2005 as well as on the current moments of political improvisation in Tunisia and Egypt.

Sarita McCoy Gregory is an assistant professor of political science at Vassar College. She is currently working on a book, Improvising Politics: Citizen Engagement in an Age of Democratic Disappointment that examines the political acts of engagement by citizen improvisers who develop creative methods to express individuality, mobility, and resistance within constricted environments.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 8 pm
622 Dodge Hall, 116th Street & Broadway
http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/dodge.html
Free and open to the Public

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