Brian Ward is a professor of American Studies at the University of Northumbria and the former president of the British Association for American Studies. He has published several books on cultures of the US South, with a focus on race and music. At the SRG, Brian will circulate work from his forthcoming project on the intersections between southern music and medical history. Brian will share a piece-in-progress from this project, titled “Sex, Drugs, and Country Music: Loretta Lynn, Gender Politics, and the Health Environment in Mid-Twentieth Century Kentucky,” to consider how music might offer valuable insight into lived experience of sickness, medicine, folk-healing, and professional healthcare in the modern US South. It brings together perspectives from the health humanities and cultural, political, and social history, so we hope this should be of interest to many of you.
We hope to see many of you there, and please write to Suzanne Enzerink (suzanne.enzerink(at)unisg.ch) with any questions, and to Matthew Scully (our matthew.scully(at)unil.ch) to sign up for the reading group so that you can receive the readings ahead of time.
Venue: University of Sankt Gallen (01-01-104, main building)
Date: May 18, 2024
Time: 11:00 (lunch to follow)