BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:15420-b5682ec95568041e831697f03cbc2044@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260420T214139Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250523T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250523T110000 SUMMARY:African Studies Global Virtual Forum: Decoloniality and Southern Epistem ologies—Priya Parrotta DESCRIPTION:\nTitle:\n\n“From Archives to Soundscapes: Integrating Histo riography\, Music and Environmental Consciousness in Courses on Tropical Islands\n\nAbstract”\n\nHistorical understanding and artistic depth are two essential elements of decolonial pedagogy and environmental movemen t-building. Drawing upon original work as a historian\, musician\, and e nvironmental activist\, this talk explores the ways in which academic hi storiography and artistic practice can be integrated in the classroom\, to provide students with a deep and holistic engagement with pressing en vironmental issues on tropical islands. More specifically\, this talk wi ll introduce a course which I hope to one day make accessible to student s in public universities on Caribbean\, Pacific and Indian Ocean islands . The course consists of two parts: a historical study of the commercial ization of tropical ecosystems for the purposes of tourism and real esta te development\; and an exploration of the power of environmental art to resist these dynamics of commercialization. I will present findings fro m my research on the creation of the beach tourism industry in Waikīkī\, Hawai’i (1890–1930)\, as well as material from a manuscript titled To D ream Again: Island Environmentalism Through Music. I will also briefly d iscuss two modules which I have taught in San Juan\, Puerto Rico which i ntegrate these areas of study: ‘The Island Sessions’ (2017-19) and ‘Isla nd Environmentalism and the Arts’ (2025).\n\nBio: Priya Parrotta is a hi storian\, composer\, singer\, author\, and artist whose work dismantles and transcends borders to unite humans with each other and the more-than -human world. She is the founder and director of Music &\; the Earth International\, an academic and artistic initiative which explores and c elebrates the role of music in fostering environmental dialogue across b orders. Through this initiative\, Priya has organized conferences\, publ ished and presented articles\, produced podcasts\, created curricula\, a nd composed five albums of original music. She is a Senior Fellow with t he Safina Center\, a United States Artists Fellowship nominee\, and an e lected member of the Royal Historical Society. She is also the author of The Politics of Coexistence in the Atlantic World (2016)\, as well as n umerous popular and scholarly articles on the relationships between cult ural and musical diversity\, decolonial philosophy and environmental jus tice.\n\nFor more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/afr-global-vi rtual-forum-priya-parrotta/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Title:
“Fr om Archives to Soundscapes: Integrating Historiography, Music and Enviro nmental Consciousness in Courses on Tropical Islands
Abstract”
Historical understanding and artistic depth are two essential elements of decolonial pedagogy and environmental movement-building. Drawing upon original work as a historian, musician, and environmental activist, thi s talk explores the ways in which academic historiography and artistic p ractice can be integrated in the classroom, to provide students with a d eep and holistic engagement with pressing environmental issues on tropic al islands. More specifically, this talk will introduce a course which I hope to one day make accessible to students in public universities on C aribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean islands. The course consists of two p arts: a historical study of the commercialization of tropical ecosystems for the purposes of tourism and real estate development; and an explora tion of the power of environmental art to resist these dynamics of comme rcialization. I will present findings from my research on the creation o f the beach tourism industry in Waikīkī, Hawai’i (1890–1930), as well as material from a manuscript titled To Dream Again: Island Environmen talism Through Music. I will also briefly discuss two modules which I have taught in San Juan, Puerto Rico which integrate these areas of s tudy: ‘The Island Sessions’ (2017-19) and ‘Island Environmentalism and t he Arts’ (2025).

Bio: Priya Parrotta is a historian, composer, sin ger, author, and artist whose work dismantles and transcends borders to unite humans with each other and the more-than-human world. She is the f ounder and director of Music & the Earth International, an academic and artistic initiative which explores and celebrates the role of music in fostering environmental dialogue across borders. Through this initiat ive, Priya has organized conferences, published and presented articles, produced podcasts, created curricula, and composed five albums of origin al music. She is a Senior Fellow with the Safina Center, a United States Artists Fellowship nominee, and an elected member of the Royal Historic al Society. She is also the author of The Politics of Coexistence in the Atlantic World (2016), as well as numerous popular and scholar ly articles on the relationships between cultural and musical diversity, decolonial philosophy and environmental justice.

For more details : https://events.la.psu.edu/event/afr-global-virtual-forum-pr iya-parrotta/

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