Fort Lewis College will host The College Music Society’s regional conference keynote address and performance by Dr. Kristina Jacobsen and guest Candice Craig at 1 p.m. Saturday at Roshong Recital Hall, Jones Hall, room 205. The combined talk and musical performances examine the long tradition of performing country music on the Navajo Reservation.
Based on two and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork singing and playing with Navajo country western bands in Arizona and New Mexico, Jacobsen will discuss the songs and music, and research collaborator Candice Craig of Crownpoint, Navajo Nation, will analyze Craig’s approach to issues of gender and social class through her performative interpretation of classic country songs.
She then focuses on “ethnographic songwriting,” or songwriting that is informed by ethnographic fieldwork, performing songs she has written based on her time living on the Navajo Nation. She ends by reflecting on the ways that ethnography can productively inform songwriting and ways that songwriting can productively inform ethnography and anthropology fieldwork.
The presentation is free as part of the conference.
For more information, visit www.fortlewis.edu/music/CMSRockyMountainRegionalConference.aspx.
