In honor of Carol Folt’s inauguration, USC held a faculty symposium showcase on Thursday that displayed the many diverse studies and research on campus. The first day of the event took place on Wednesday on the Health Sciences Campus and featured interdisciplinary research with a focus on scientific and medical discovery, creativity and innovation. Day two of the event took place in Bovard Auditorium and featured presentations from a number of schools on the University Park Campus.
The symposium served as the last in a series of celebratory events before Folt’s inauguration ceremony. Staff representatives stemmed from the Sol Price School of Public Policy, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and the Viterbi School of Engineering, among others.
Assistant Professor of Practice Jennifer McQuiston Lott of the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and Associate Professor Andrew Norman of the Thornton School of Music gave a joint presentation on their collaboration with filmmaker Nathan Johnson. Together, alongside students from both Kaufman and Thornton, they created a video piece that displayed the intersectionality between live art and performance and the use of a camera.
In order to create a “life-like” performance, the video was shot in one take and recorded with live music. “We are interested in exploring and perhaps reframing the live concert experience,” Norman said.
Professor Elizabeth Currid-Halket of the Sol Price School of Public Policy talked about inconspicuous consumption, which she defines as investments in human, social and cultural capital. These sort of investments include education, childcare, and the buying of services that make our lives easier.
According to Currid-Halket, this kind of spending “reproduces privilege in a way that material items never could.” Currid-Halket went on to explain that rich people tend to consume these luxuries, like piano lessons or listening to NPR, without understanding the detrimental way it enables the poverty cycle.
Currid-Halket believes that in order to level the playing field we as a society must figure out a way to “democratize cultural capital.” She suggests that things like museums, newspapers and piano lessons be more accessible to low-income households.
Dr. Alissa V. Richardson represented the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism by talking about her book, “Bearing Witness While Black: Theorizing African-American Mobile Journalism after Ferguson.” Richardson stressed the idea that a smartphone has the potential to be a newsroom.
Throughout her presentation, Richardson alluded to the history of black people in America bearing witness to their own dehumanization. Historically, African-Americans have used photography and journalism to get the mainstream media to pay attention.
Richardson sees hope for the future in the face of current struggles. “I am very hopeful because the ‘movement to see’ is growing,” Richardson said. She then alluded to other marginalized communities using the mobile journalism method to be heard.
Folt concluded the symposium by expressing her gratitude to the university’s staff and students for sharing their diverse achievements and skillsets with the world.