February 6, 2024
The Institute for Advanced Study, Northrop, and partners are pleased to announce the Spring 2024 (In)Justice Series and Spotlight Series event lineup. This semester's events will shine a light on how different communities use joy as a form of resistance.
The (In)Justice Series from the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Advanced Study brings together scholars, artists, activists, and community leaders to discuss the most pressing issues of our time. The multi-year series, launched in Fall 2023, focuses on exploring different visions for what justice might look like. These events aim to shine a spotlight on those reckoning with issues including how Mexican immigrants are preserving culture and tradition through mariachi music, how Indigenous approaches to ecosystem management can reshape the future, how Black artists confront disappointment and produce intellectual revolutions, and much more. Featured guests will offer different lenses to approach today’s social problems, and together we will gain a deeper understanding of how to build a better future and a more just world.
The Spotlight Series is a collaborative partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study and Northrop to present lectures, conversations, performances, exhibits, and other events focusing on racial and social justice. The 2023–2024 offerings explore the theme Moving Through Injustice. Join for conversations about the timeless and powerful art of puppetry, and an inspiring conversation with arts leaders and scholars about Asian American representation in the performing arts.
All (In)Justice and Spotlight Series events include captions, are offered in person and online, and are free and open to the public. Note that, due to scheduling constraints, some events occur on Wednesdays, some on Thursdays.
Spring 2024 IAS (In)Justice Series & Spotlight Series
Spotlight Series | Strings of Resilience: A Puppetry Celebration
Thu, Feb 22, 3:30 p.m. CT
In-person / Online
Northrop, Best Buy Theater
Immerse yourself in the magical world of puppetry as we explore how this timeless art form serves as a powerful tool for expressing joy and resilience. Join special guests and artists from In the Heart of the Beast, Open Eye Theatre, and Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop in a conversation that celebrates the transformative potential of puppetry. Presented in partnership with Northrop.
(In)Justice Series | Mariachi Country
Wed, Mar 13, 3:30 p.m. CT
In-person / Online
Northrop, Best Buy Theater
Dive deep into the world of mariachi in the United States and explore how this rich musical tradition serves as a powerful vessel for immigrant communities to preserve their culture, traditions, and identify. Join for a lively, onstage performance by Academia Cesar Chavez’s “mariachito” (little mariachi), followed by a discussion with renowned author and journalist Cecilia Ballí and others. Presented in partnership with the Voice, Art, Community Series from the Office of the President.
(In)Justice Series | Everything is Connected: Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Practices
Thu, Mar 28, 3:30 p.m. CT
In-person / Online
Northrop, Best Buy Theater
How do Indigenous knowledges shape environmental policy, governance, and science? How can a broader understanding of these knowledges reshape the future? Scholars Wendy F. K’ah Skáahluwáa Todd and Clint Carroll share their community-based research in tribal communities (Haida and Cherokee, respectively) and discuss how the environmental changes we face today make Indigenous environmental knowledges and strategies both more critical than ever and more difficult to practice. Presented in partnership with the Mellon Environmental Stewardship, Place, and Community Initiative (MESPAC) and Open Rivers: Rethinking Water, Place, and Community.
Spotlight Series | 10,000 Dreams for Artistic Legacies
Wed, Apr 10, 3:30 p.m. CT
In-person / Online
Northrop, Best Buy Theater
Phil Chan, co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, leads a conversation with arts leaders and scholars in Minnesota to discuss Asian and Asian American representation in the performing arts. Professor Josephine Lee’s academic work in Asian American Theater and Literature provides essential context as we celebrate legacies in our artistic and geographic communities and look joyously toward the future. Presented in partnership with Northrop.
(In)Justice Series | No Weapon Formed Against Me: The Black Intermezzi of a Vigilante State
Thu, Apr 11, 6:30 p.m. CT
In-person / Online
Northrop, Best Buy Theater
An interdisciplinary humanist and multigenre writer, Dr. Shana L. Redmond thinks and creates at the intersection of music, identity, and power. With the protection and celebration of Black living at its center, “No Weapon” discusses the suspended state(s) of Black survival, anti-Black violence, and the music that informs and exceeds each. Reception to follow. Presented in partnership with the Department of American Studies and the David Noble Lecture.
(In)Justice Series | Political Disappointment
Thu, Apr 18, 3:30 p.m. CT
In-person / Online
Northrop, Best Buy Theater
Disappointment has proved to be a durable, perhaps even inevitable, feature of the democratic project, yet so too has the resistance it precipitates. Join for a riveting discussion between author Sara Marcus and Minneapolis/St.Paul-based artists Tish Jones and Sam Gould about how Black writers and artists in particular confront disappointment directly and help to produce new political meanings and possibilities. Together, they will reflect on how defeat time and time again gives rise to novel modes of protest and new forms of collective practice, keeping alive the dream of a better world.
Media Contact: Abby Travis, [email protected]