Latina hip-hop audio-visual producer and scholar Melisa Rivière will discuss her research at a 6:30 to 8 p.m. program Thursday, Nov. 5, in Room 100 of McNeely Hall on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
Melisa Rivière
Free and open to the public, the program is hosted by Multicultural Student Services at St. Thomas. For more information call (651) 962-6460.
A post-lecture dialogue will be led by Dr. Nakeisha Ferguson, a member of the Marketing Department faculty in the Opus College of Business at St. Thomas, where she teaches courses in promotion management.
Rivière is a MacArthur Scholar and Ph.D. candidate in the Anthropology Department at the University of Minnesota.
As a hip-hop scholar, she teaches courses in anthropology and global studies at colleges and universities in the Twin Cities. Her research focuses on the global diffusion of the four elements of hip-hop in Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Her work includes documenting hip-hop conferences, festivals and live performances; leading workshops; and producing audio recordings and music video clips.
She is founder of Emetrece Productions, an audio-visual production company and independent label, and is a co-founding director of B-Girl Be: A Celebration of Women in Hip-Hop, a multimedia festival of MCing, DJing, break dancing and graffiti.
The Nov. 5 event is one of several fall semester lectures and programs that comprise the CommUNITY Series at St. Thomas this semester. The series, which has "Building a Socially and Intellectually Conscious Community" as its theme, is an expanded version of the CommUNITY Week programs held in recent years.
Remaining programs in the university's 2009 CommUNITY Series are:
- A panel will discuss the challenges of veterans coming home after military service at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Room 100 of McNeely Hall, St. Paul campus.
- Mixed Blood Theater will stage "Theory of Mind," a play about a young man with Asperger's Syndrome, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the auditorium of O'Shaughnessy Educational Center, St. Paul campus.
- A celebration for Native American Heritage Month will be held from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, in the auditorium of O'Shaughnessy Educational Center, St. Paul campus.
More information about programs can be found at the CommUNITY Series Web site.
