The Orion
Lecture Series in Fine Arts

Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the School of Music, University of Victoria, is pleased to present:

Abdoulaye Niang

Teacher-Researcher

1:30 – 3:30 pm (PST) Saturday, February 12, 2022

David Lam Auditorium, MacLaurin Building, A-Wing

Free & open to the public in-person or online

Presented by UVic’s School of Music

For more information on this lecture please email: music@uvic.ca

Turn it up!: Music, citizenship and social change

Music is a powerful medium that crosses all cultures and boundaries, mobilizes movements and expresses the complex emotions of our times. For this Orion Lecture, join us for an exciting exploration of how music is being used by youth activists’ movements in Sénégal and Indigenous peoples in Canada to enrich the lives of listeners and empower and affect social change.

Orion guest Dr. Abdoulaye Niang will present on African rap, politics and the renewal of citizenship, followed by Ry Moran, who will present on the relationship between music, truth, reconciliation and justice.

After a short break, Kirk McNally from the School of Music will moderate a conversation between our guests that seeks to uncover the opportunities and challenges for music and musicians in both countries as we collectively work towards positive social change.

Dr. Abdoulaye Niang was awarded a PhD with distinction at the University Gaston Berger (UGB) in Saint-Louis, Senegal in 2010 for a thesis entitled, Social integration and professional insertion of young b-boys though the hip hop movement in Dakar. His prior affiliations and visiting sessions as a guest lecturer include Cape Town University, Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and Harvard University. Currently, Dr. Niang is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the UGB. His research interests include youth, social change, social movements, music and creative industries, the use of information and communication technologies, social uses of digital technology, identities, urban cultures, and the theories and methods of the social sciences.

Ry Moran is Canada’s inaugural Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation at UVic. Ry’s role within UVic Libraries’ focuses on building and sustaining relationships to introduce Indigenous approaches and knowledge into the daily work of the Libraries and across the campus community. Ry came to this position from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) hosted by the University of Manitoba. Ry has also contributed to major national initiatives such as the creation of the National Student Memorial Register, designation of multiple residential schools as national historical sites, development and launch of the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, and a major educational broadcast which reached over three million Canadians. Prior to the NCTR, Ry served with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). Ry’s life-long passion for the arts and music continues to be an important part of his life as he continues to write and produce original music. He is a distinguished UVic alumni and was awarded a Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General. Ry is a proud member of the Red River Métis.

About the Orion Fund

Established through the generous gift of an anonymous donor, the Orion Fund in Fine Arts is designed to bring distinguished visitors from other parts of Canada—and the world—to the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Fine Arts, and to make their talents and achievements available to faculty, students, staff and the wider Greater Victoria community who might otherwise not be able to experience their work.

The Orion Fund also exists to encourage institutions outside Canada to invite regular faculty members from our Faculty of Fine Arts to be visiting artists/scholars at their institutions; and to make it possible for Fine Arts faculty members to travel outside Canada to participate in the academic life of foreign institutions and establish connections and relationships with them in order to encourage and foster future exchanges.