February 13, 2013, Wednesday - A Sip of Science at Aster Cafe

Time: 5:30pm

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 SE Main Street

A SIP OF SCIENCE - Public Music, Public Land, Public Water: Connecting Sound and Sustainability

What does music have to do with the environment? For millennia humans have expressed their relationship to local environments through music, a phenomena with far reaching ecological consequences. Mark Pedelty, author of Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment (2012), demonstrates how humans use music to "make place." He argues that recent policies for the privatization of public lands, water, and culture, including music, have had significant ecological outcomes. On the bright side, musical performance has become an effective tool for environmental movements seeking to promote sustainability, biodiversity, environmental health, and environmental justice. Dr. Pedelty will draw in examples from Minnesota and the greater Mississippi River Watershed.

The talk will be accompanied by Leon Hsu, Robert Poch, and Samantha Pedelty of the UM faculty band, the Hypoxic Punks.  Bring your vocal cords to participate in a group sing-along!!

About our speaker:
 
Mark Pedelty is associate professor of Anthropology and Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from UC, Berkeley in 1993. He is the author of War Stories: The Culture of Foreign Correspondents (Routledge 1995), Musical Ritual in Mexico City: From the Aztec to NAFTA (University of Texas 2004), Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk and the Environment (Temple University Press 2012), as well as a number of journal articles dealing with music as environmental communication. Dr. Pedelty teaches courses in ethnographic methods, environmental communication, music as communication, and taught several study abroad seminars in Mexico.
  
A SIP OF SCIENCE bridges the gap between science and culture in a setting that bridges the gap between brain and belly. Food, beer, and learning are on the menu in a happy hour forum in which researchers pair with musicians, artists and storytellers to put science in context through storytelling. 

This talk takes place during happy hour at the Aster Cafe. Food and Drink Available for Purchase.