Prof Joins Library of Congress Symposium
Tulane professor Nick Spitzer, host of “American Routes,” the nationally syndicated public radio program devoted to exploring the American experience through music, is one of the presenters at “Work and Transformation: Documenting Working Americans,” a free, two-day public symposium starting on Monday (Dec. 6) at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Nick Spitzer, Tulane professor and host of the public radio show “American Routes,” will participate in a Library of Congress symposium in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
At the symposium, Spitzer, a professor of anthropology and American studies, will conduct an interview with Derrick Tabb of New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band. Tabb is the founding director of Roots of Music, an after-school program that provides middle school students with band lessons and academic tutoring.
“Roots of Music is a community response to the loss of music education, practice and performance in New Orleans in the flooded wake of Hurricane Katrina,” says Spitzer. “And, as a working musician himself, Tabb understands the importance of marching bands in the sustainability of New Orleans culture.”
The event, presented by the American Folklife Center, will highlight ongoing ethnographic research and cultural programs undertaken by the center's 2010 Archie Green Fellows, of which “American Routes” is a part.
“Archie Green was my mentor for work in vernacular culture, and he played that role for many others in our field,” says Spitzer. “With the support of the fellowship, we at 'American Routes' have been able to produce a series of programs about how music, occupational creativity and other expressive forms in community-based cultures hold a key to recovery from the recession and other catastrophes.”
These programs include: “New Orleans: Five Years After the Storm,” “Horsepower: Cowboys Ride into the Future,” “Living with the Blues,” “Philadelphia: A Soundscape for the Post-Industrial City,” “Detroit: 'By Day I Make the Carsâ¦'” and “The Culture of Migration.” The entire Routes to Recovery series also was sponsored by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“American Routes” is produced in collaboration with Tulane and distributed by American Public Media to nearly a million listeners on more than 200 radio stations nationwide.
