Guest Lecture Harri Heinilä (University of Helsinki): Harlem And Its African-American Jazz Dance Experience Reflected in Popular Culture

Harri Heinilä discusses how African American jazz dance and particularly its Harlem invention, the Lindy Hop, arguably the most successful African American dance in the 20^th century, have been part of American popular culture and music almost since their inception. He brings out how Harlem-related jazz dance spread in the entertainment industry through the decades and practically is embedded as part of the American mainstream.

Harri Heinilä is jazz dance historian, Doctor of Social Sciences (political history), and the former Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Political and Economic Studies at the University of Helsinki. He researches Harlem jazz dance and its political and social connections. In his doctoral dissertation in 2016, Heinilä discusses how Harlem jazz dance was perceived in the mainstream press between 1921 and 1943, and how jazz dance affected the image of African Americans.

Currently he is working on two projects. He is doing the continuation study which follows ideas of his doctoral dissertation and it concentrates on years between 1944 and 1959. On the other hand, he is writing a book which discusses Hip Hop and jazz dance: how Hip Hop has been part of jazz dance.

 
The event is free and open to the public.

This lecture is organized by the Department of American Studies in cooperation with the Center for Inter-American Studies (CIAS) Graz.

Department of American Studies Graz
Institut für Amerikanistik
Attemsgasse 25/II
A-8010 Graz
Tel. +43/316/380-2465
amerikanistik(at)uni-graz.at