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Free public lecture: Georgina Born on music and anthropology in the digital age

Oxford scholar to deliver keynote address at fine arts deans conference co-hosted by Concordia
September 25, 2013
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By Marissa Neave


Georgina Born, Professor of Music and Anthropology at Oxford University. Georgina Born, Professor of Music and Anthropology at Oxford University.

Oxford University music and anthropology professor Georgina Born will visit Concordia on October 3 to deliver a much-anticipated keynote presentation that is open to the public and free of charge.

Born’s appearance at the university is the hallmark event of this year’s annual national conference for the Canadian Association of Fine Arts Deans (CAFAD). The 2013 conference is being co-hosted by the Faculty of Fine Arts, as well as the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and the Faculté des arts at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

Professionally, Born — who was recently named the Schulich Distinguished Visiting Chair in Music at McGill’s Schulich School of Music — epitomizes interdisciplinary scholarship. She blends not only theoretical and field-based research but also an array of topics that come together through collaborative ethnographic studies.

Music and music digitization, cultural institutions such as television networks, and public policy all feature prominently in her pioneering work. Born also considers each of these factors in the broader social contexts of globalization, neoliberalism and commercialization.

In addition to having an impressive musical repertoire, Born comes by her interdisciplinary spirit honestly: she is the granddaughter of Nobel prize-winning atomic physicist Max Born and cousin of singer-actress Olivia Newton-John.

Catherine Wild, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, is thrilled to have Born at the CAFAD conference. “Professor Born’s lecture will greatly contribute to our goal of facilitating discussions on cultural policy, pedagogical issues and professional development,” Wild says.

In her October 3 keynote address, Born will uncover the ways in which music and musical practices are exemplary of social and political conditions and transformations. She plans to draw on her findings from an ongoing international research program — the winner of an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council.

Concordia faculty and staff are also participating in the CAFAD conference. Janis Timm-Bottos, an assistant professor in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies, will present at UQAM about La Ruche d’Art, while Senior Advisor on International Strategy David Graham and Associate Vice-President of Student Services Bradley Tucker are leading an intensive workshop on “Key Performance Indicators” at the Schulich School of Music.

When:           Thursday, October 3, 2013, at 5:30 p.m.
Where:
          York Amphitheatre, Room EV-1.605, Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex, 1515 Ste-Catherine St. W., Sir George Williams Campus



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