Colloquium: Harvard Lecturer Alex W. Corey Discusses Music of Frank Ocean

FREDERICK, Maryland—Hood College will present the first humanities colloquium of the spring semester Jan. 18 when Harvard University lecturer Alex W. Corey, Ph.D., discusses the music of American R&B artist Frank Ocean at 7 p.m. in the Marx Center.

In this talk, Corey will explore how Frank Ocean’s “Blond/e” and “Endless” albums convey a historical consciousness in strikingly personal terms. These albums emerged in August 2016, a summer marked by attempts to ban trans folks from public bathrooms, police brutality, and the Pulse nightclub massacre. Ocean’s albums meditate on the pleasures and pains of life. Deeply personal stories take shape as the albums blend straightforward narrative with opaque lyricism and juxtapose energetic beats against atmospheric textures. Corey considers how these stories engage with their historical circumstances and why these historical implications matter today.

Corey is a lecturer on history and literature, teaching about American literature, musical culture and social movements. Corey is currently working on a book, “Beyond the Blues: Music, Gender, and Black Modernisms,” which explores how the gendering of sound led into and emerged out of the racial dynamics of 20th-century musical culture.

Funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant, this event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Aaron Angello at angello@hood.edu or visit humanities.hood.edu.

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