The 2009-2010 speakers’ line-up for the Centre for American Studies (CAS) is slated to be a world-class affair featuring renowned scholars, a famous author and an iconic musician.
The CAS’s eclectic Speakers’ Series this year includes David Clayton-Thomas, the former lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears; Harold Holzer, a renowned expert on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War; and Andrew Keen, the author of the runaway bestseller Cult of the Amateur: How the Internet is Killing Our Culture.
“A lot of people who aren’t academics have a lot to say about America,” says Monda Halpern, Associate Director of the CAS and organizer of the annual series. Halpern says she hopes the series will show that American studies are not confined to history and politics, but include popular culture, gender issues, and music and visual arts.
Clayton-Thomas will discuss Blood, Sweat & Tears’ experiences as one of the most popular bands in the world in the heyday of the late 1960s, says Halpern. Since this year marks the 40th anniversary of the iconic Woodstock concert in New York state, at which Blood, Sweat & Tears performed, Clayton-Thomas’ talk will be even more relevant.
Halpern wants Western students to understand how influential the band was in its time, a fact of which many young undergraduates born in the late 1980s and early 1990s will be unaware.
“My sense is that (Clayton-Thomas) is really interested in reaching out to undergraduate students,” says Halpern. “This is a powerful opportunity for people to learn about the 1960s.”
Clayton-Thomas offers a particularly unique perspective on American culture, she says, given that he is Canadian and currently resides in Toronto.
The title of Holzer’s talk is “Lincoln and Obama: Lessons from the Past, Inspiration for the Future.” Halpern explains that during a trip to Washington, D.C., she noticed many books written by the leading Lincoln scholar and wrote him a letter, asking if he was interested in coming to speak at Western.
“I’ve had so many American scholars who are always very impressed (by their visit),” says Halpern. “They love Canada, particularly Ontario.”
Keen will be discussing his newest book, Digital Vertigo: Inequality, Anxiety and Loneliness in the Social Media Age. As in his previous work, Cult of the Amateur,
Keen will focus on the Internet’s cultural impact.
In Cult of the Amateur, Halpern explains, Keen argued that widespread use of communications technologies is “undermining the expert. We’re losing our intellectual edge.”
“We were very, very lucky to have him,” says Halpern, a fact evidenced by the author’s website, which states that Keen has been written about in hundreds of periodicals, appeared on major television and radio programs, and presented speeches and lectures around the world.
The series also includes two Western professors: Emily Abrams Ansari of Music, whose topic is: “A Cold War Composer-Diplomat in the Civil Rights Era: The Case of Ulysses Kay,” and Frank Schumacher of History, whose topic is: “Small Worlds: Visions of Globalization and Empire at the St. Louis World’s Fair, 1904.”
“We have a lot of faculty who do American studies in different disciplines,” says Halpern, an assistant professor in the history department.
The CAS, established in 1984, is neither pro- nor anti-American, says Halpern, but rather “puts the information out there.
“We’re inundated with American culture. Students are immensely fascinated with America.”
The writer is a graduate of Western’s journalism program.
Centre for American Studies Canadian jazz-rock singer David Clayton-Thomas leads off this year’s speaker series on Sept. 22 in SSC 3036 at 3:30 p.m. More information is available at https://cas.uwo.ca/