During block 3, Julian Saporiti, a singer/song-writer, researcher, and professor, came to CC and performed a series of songs with his colleague Emilia Halvorsen. Saporiti and Halvorsen are both doctorate students at Brown University. Saporiti was a visiting professor who taught Intro to Asian American Studies during block 8 last year. He is a leading voice behind No-No Boy which is a multimedia project that merges music and history, particularly various Asian and Asian American narratives. On the evening of October 22nd, Saporiti and Halvorsen performed a series of songs relating to different Asian and Asian American histories, such as Japanese internment, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the fall of Saigon. To complement their song and story performances, a slideshow played behind them to more vividly portray the different narratives. They related those histories and prejudices to current events, showing how history repeats itself. For example, an image of Vietnamese refugees who fled to America on overcrowded boats – known as boat people – was connected to today’s refugees coming from Middle Eastern countries, addressing the stark similarities in conditions and structural prejudices. Another example is the structural impediment to Chinese immigration in 1882 and its similarity to today’s Mexican immigration and detainment which experience heavy institutional policing and control. No-No Boy’s music not only illuminates the racial prejudices and narratives from the past, but connects those histories to current events. No-No Boy travels around the country, presenting Asian and Asian American experiences through music to diverse audiences with a goal of inspiring challenge and change to how the histories of marginalized groups are taught.
Professor Julian Saporiti will return for block 8 this year to teach a course that intersects arts, activism, and academia, speaking to how we can do school work in a way that is more creative and connected with real world events. How can academic research inspire and fortify one’s political awareness and involvement with social justice causes? How can artistic practice be used as a mode of expression to engage a wider audience with one’s research? How do individuals create projects which push the traditional university boundaries and enrich their studies through the application of non-traditional methods? The course will look at case studies which provide different answers to these questions, while exploring topics such as race, gender, displacement, immigration, incarceration, ecological devastation, climate refugees, and more. Students will be asked to participate in daily mindfulness exercises in an effort to think about how academics, artists, and activists can maintain better mental health while doing difficult, often emotionally taxing work.
For further information please reach out to Professor Julian Saporiti at julian_saporiti@brown.edu
