Dive into pop and politics at the UBC Chan Centre speaker series

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Phil Lind Initiative Pop Politics: Pop Culture and Political Life in the U.S.

When: Various dates, beginning Jan. 25, 6 p.m.

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Where: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, University of B.C.

Tickets: Free at tickets.ubc.ca

What is “pop politics?”

This year’s edition of the Phil Lind Initiative aims to provide answers to this question in a speaker series presented by UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and the Chan Centre showcasing popular artists who parlay their creative output into political positions.

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The Phil Lind Initiative is an annual dialogue series with an accompanying academic credit seminar made possible by a grant from Phil Lind. The Rogers Communications Inc. vice-chairman and Order of Canada recipient who died in 2023 received a University of B.C. BA in 1966 and an LLD in 2002.

Americans, particularly younger generations, typically engage and experience politics through mass media more than governmental means. Given pop culture’s commercial motivations and corporate connections, this has serious consequences for democracy in the U.S. and elsewhere. Beginning on Jan. 25, the series runs until April and features a wide range of participating presenters drawn from the world of music, TV, literature, stage and more.

All presentations take place in the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at 6 p.m. Tickets are free on a first-come/first serve basis on the sale date listed at tickets.ubc.ca. Note: Events sell out very quickly.

Also presenting are:

• Jia Tolentino: Who’s Afraid of Eating the Rich?, Jan. 25: New Yorker Magazine staff writer looks at recent waves of media and programs proposing extreme wealth is unjust.
• Suleika Jaouad and Jon Batiste, Feb. 15: Several Grammy award-winning musician Batiste and his partner, author Jaouad, are active in areas of social justice and healing.
• Viet Thanh Nguyen: Speaking for an Other, March 14: MacArthur Genius grant recipient and refugee advocate whose Pulitzer Prize-winning debut about the Vietnam War, titled the Sympathizer, is being adapted into an HBO series.
• Xiuhtexcatl Martinez, March 21: Climate justice campaigner and musician active in the environmental movement since childhood.
• Sasha Velour: The Big Reveal: Why Drag Matters, April 18: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 winner and author of The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifest of Drag.

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Dr. Gregor Sharp is the academic director of the Phil Lind Initiative and is also an instructor in UBC’s department of political science. He noted the following five things about this years offering, which diverges somewhat from previous year’s topics such the inaugural 2015 Politics of Inequality series, 2019’s American and the Climate Crises, or last year’s (Un(civil) Discourse:

The idea behind Pop Politics

“The whole conceit behind the series is there is a danger dismissing pop culture and believing that those who are involved in it have nothing to say. We want to acknowledge that, for a lot of folks today, they define, engage and participate in politics through pop culture and not necessarily traditional formal mechanisms. Of course, the same intellectual rigour and debate that has been a defining feature of the Lind Initiative is maintained.”

 Sourcing the speakers

“Historically, the Lind Initiative has always had world-renowned speakers, who might not have been that universally well-known. We are hoping that this year’s offer will be the breakout moment for getting us that wider popular appeal as well as bringing in a younger audience. It’s an immense amount of work for the team.”

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Why American politics and culture are the focus

“What Phil initially envisioned for the series was offering a window into the American life and politics for Canadians, because we risk conflating the two countries when they are quite different in many important ways. He also saw Vancouver as being somewhat isolated and wanted to see these kinds of names coming to be exposed to our students and the greater public and having the opportunity to engage with them.”

The series and the seminar

“While the series is open to students and the public, there is also the competitive entry graduate and upper level undergraduate three-credit seminar designed around each year’s series. Each year is taught by a different team from different faculties, with department of English language and literatures assistant professor Kimberly Bain and social justice institute associate professor Christopher B. Patterson presenting Pop Politics: Making Cultural Lives and Livelihoods in the U.S. this year.”

The Pop Politics series’ goal

“We are very fortunate to have a very engaged audience to attend these talks in Vancouver, but that has typically been older generations. But we really wanted to make sure that we are getting students engaged and part of the goal of the initiative and series as a whole was to offer this window on American life and politics for the future leaders of the next generation. We’ve really emphasized that this year and the shift in approach and substantive content really appealing to youth seems to be working.”

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sderdeyn@postmedia.com

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