Irvin Mayfield offers a new course for Fall Semester.

HUMS 2090, Special Topics in Art, Humanities, Music:

New Orleans as Discourse: Music, Art and Culture in Context.

Wednesdays from 3:00-5:40pm

This course will take an interdisciplinary approach to the culture of New Orleans, the food, the art and music, and examine how these traditions have uniquely intersected creating a city of unparalleled cultural vibrancy. From Mardi Gras Indians and Gumbo variations to the geographic differences in tambourine playing and Lionel Ferbos, the oldest living trumpet player and master roof-builder, over the course of a semester, students will get a broad survey of the cultural phenomena for which New Orleans is singular in the world. As professor, Irvin Mayfield will use his extensive experience a musician, bandleader, businessman and cultural ambassador to the city of New Orleans to deepen student¹s appreciation of culture¹s role in making a city.

Students will also benefit from a host of guest speakers in leadership roles, from the entertainment business to city government and beyond in order to understand that New Orleans culture is more than just art, music and food; it permeates every aspect of the life of a city. By the end of the semester students will have developed a critical understanding of the scope and power of cultural identity, but most of all will learn what it means to be a New Orleanian.

There will be a number of guest speakers representing the diversity of New Orleans' citizens, including: James Carville, Wynton Marsalis and Wendell Pierce (from HBO's The Wire) among others.

Additional to the classroom experience, students will have extra curricular opportunities, including a back-stage field trip to this year's Voodoo Fest where students will meet Steven Rehage, the event's producer, to get a glimpse of how such events come together.

In the course of the semester, 2 student "apprentices" will be chosen to directly participate in creating New Orleans events.