With the “Hear, Here” series, we aim to facilitate conversations around new research in the humanities. Faculty fellows at the Institute for the Humanities will discuss a part of their current project in a short talk followed by a Q & A session.

Today's talk engages late-70s/early-80s output of music artist Prince to think about how his sonic, lyrical, and sartorial choices disrupted and challenged prevailing industry structures and parameters that dictated performances of blackness and masculinity in popular music. The project also traces the ways that Prince's music and affect contributed to the author's own relationship to gender and sexuality, and his development as a writer.

Scott Poulson-Bryant is a 2023-24 Steelcase Faculty Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities and Assistant Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies.