To mark the 50th anniversary of Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, CSSD is organizing a full-day symposium and accompanying concert dedicated to the groundbreaking album’s insights into life in the wake of civil rights and decolonial movements across the African world, and on the legacies of Wonder’s hopeful vision of a future grounded in love and shared humanity. The symposium and concert kick off a yearlong series of public events and study sessions that responds to the U.S. semiquincentennial and offers a critical counternarrative to officially sanctioned accounts of the country’s past by focusing on works with alternative anniversaries that illuminate the conditions and experiences of minoritized communities.  

Held in partnership with The People’s Forum, the symposium features four panels, each focusing on one side of Wonder’s four-sided album and bringing together scholars and musicians for conversations that incorporate close listening and improvisational demonstrations. Themes broached in discussions will range from urban Black and brown impoverishment and jazz as a form of Black resistance to Black familial love and joy and Global South solidarities. Confirmed panelists include Marcus J. Moore, LaFrae Sci, Samora Pinderhughes, Naomi Extra, Naima Cochrane, and Shana L. Redmond. The symposium will end with a jam session building off of the album’s bonus tracks, led by Dr. Guthrie Ramsey’s Musiqology, and a reception.

Register for the symposium here.

Interested in registering for our concert afterwards? See event details here.