City-Wide Café Society: The Art of Political Dissent: Exploring New Global Identities through the Lives of Tourists, Soldiers, Immigrants and Exiles in the Age of “McJihad”

Is a Pakistani cabdriver, who listens to prayers recorded in another time and world while he drives through the modernist monuments of downtown Chicago in the process of forging a hybrid global identity? As corporate and financial interests, war, migration and technology link people all over the world, how are different communities resisting cultural homogenization?

In this Citywide conversation, we will explore the possibility of creating new and diverse identities in the world of so-called “McJihad.”

Join us for a free tour of the MCA’s stunning exhibit, ” UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye,” followed by refreshments and conversations with diverse people from around the city of Chicago.

DJ Warp/ Brian Keigher and anthropologist, Dr. William Mazzarella, will be joining this City-Wide Cafe Society.

DJ Warp will spin some tunes and share some comments on how global music is shaping the cultural landscape of Chicago and other places around the world.

Dr. Mazzarella, the author of the award winning book, Shoveling Smoke: Advertising and Globalization in Contemporary India, will provide insights on the intersection of culture, consumerism, political identity and the experience of globalization.

For more information, please contact Kristin Millikan at 312.422.5580.