Exhibiting Cultures, Performing Cultures
1998-1999 Fellows

Fall 1998

Jane Taylor (University of the Western Cape) worked on a new script for a piece of music theater about forgetting called "E&O and the Arts of Memory." During her residence at Emory, a performance reading was staged of her acclaimed play about South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, "Ubu and the Truth Commission". The reading of Taylor's play was followed by a public conversation on issues of truth and reconciliation with two Nobel Laureates, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, both of whom were in residence at Emory during the fall semester.
Ricardo Trimillos, an ethnomusicologist and Chair of the Asian Studies Program at the University of Hawaii, worked on "Public Constructions of Philippine Cultures: Celebration, Contestation, and Critique," a research project about the Philippines program at the preceeding year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He also conducted an important survey of the public face of a little known Atlanta immigrant community, the Fillipinos of Atlanta.

Spring 1999

Carol Colatrella (Georgia Tech) was working on "Designs for Women," a project on gender, science, and technology that included exploring public understandings and displays of science and technology. Colatrella also completed her monograph on Herman Melville's fictions and prison discipline during the fellowship.
Bob White (McGill University) spent his residence working on the politics of popular musics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire). While at Emory, he also conducted preliminary research with the Atlanta area Congolese population and organized the Rumba Workshop, an event that brought together Africanist scholars, Congolese musicians and members of various cultural communities in Atlanta for a workshop-conference on the history, politics, and performance of Congolese popular dance music (also known as soukouss). A dance party followed in the evening.