Lecturer explores martial law in Philippines

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Christine Bacareza Balance, assistant professor of Asian American studies, University of California, Irvine, delivers her talk Nov. 4 for RIT’s Conable Distinguished Lecture Series.

Rochester Institute of Technology’s Conable Distinguished Lecture Series in International Studies continues with a talk by Christine Bacareza Balance, assistant professor of Asian American studies, University of California, Irvine, from 2 to 4 p.m. on Nov. 4 in 1829 Room, Student Alumni Union.

Balance’s talk, “Here Lies Love: Making Sense of the Philippines and Martial Law,” is an examination of the theatrical experience, Here Lies Love, created by musicians David Byrne and Fatboy Slim about the rags-to-riches story of former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos—from her upbringing and infamous obsession with shoes to the abuse of power and her family’s forced departure from the Philippines.

“What does this theatrical production do and, more specifically, how might it instruct us to move forward with new ways of ‘making sense’ of martial law in Philippine and U.S. histories?” asked Balance. “This is part of a work-in-progress, ‘The Afterlives of Martial Law,’ that investigates the affective politics emerging from, what performance studies scholar Lucy Burns has termed, the ‘fictions of dictatorship.’ This project hones in on the ways the Marcoses exploited the spectacular and the means by which contemporary U.S.- and Philippines-based artists work within and against this sensationalized history.”

Balance, a faculty fellow in the Society for Humanities program at Cornell University, is an expert in Filipino American studies, performance studies, popular music studies, queer/feminist theory and U.S. pop culture. Her writings on former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, Glee’s karaoke aesthetics, Asian-American YouTube artists, Bruno Mars and spree killer Andrew Cunanan, have been published in various journals. She is finishing her first book, Tropical Renditions: Popular Music and Performance in Filipino America.

The Conable Distinguished Lecture Series, which welcomes scholars to campus to shed light on topics affecting communities and citizens from around the globe, is named for former Rochester-area politician and diplomat Hon. Barber B. Conable Jr., who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1964 to 1984 and as president of the World Bank from 1986 to 1991. The series is presented by RIT’s Office of the Provost, international studies program and the College of Liberal Arts. The Hon. Barber B. Conable Jr. Endowed Chair in International Studies was made possible by a starting gift from the Starr Foundation.

Additionally, the fourth Conable Conference in International Studies will be held April 2–4, 2015, at RIT. “A Vision of Revolution: Exile and Deportation in Global Perspective” will examine the political, social, cultural, economic, philosophical and geographical dimensions of the intentional employment of deportation and exile in historical, comparative and contemporary perspective. Go to the RIT Conable Conference in International Studies for details.

For more information about the free lecture series, contact Benjamin Lawrance, the Hon. Barber B. Conable Jr. Endowed Professor of International Studies, at bnlgla@rit.edu. Interpreters will be provided upon request.