Recent anthropology Ph.D alumna, Maya Stovall's book launch

Join Wayne State Anthropology Alumna, Dr. Maya Stovall, Thursday, December 3rd at 6:30 pm for a virtual book launch and panel discussion in celebration of the release of her new book, Liquor Store Theatre.

Published by Duke University Press with a foreword by Whitney curator Christopher Y. Lew, the new title focuses on Stovall's Liquor Store Theatre, a series of site-specific dance interventions that began in 2014, staged in front of liquor stores in her McDougall-Hunt neighborhood in Detroit. In an area with few operating storefronts, the liquor stores have become the de-facto centers of commerce - including groceries and electronics - and a place for residents to socialize. After each performance, Stovall engages her neighbors in conversation and documents their personal experiences, musings, and predictions on Detroit's socioeconomic condition and future. In this book, Stovall uses the project as a point of departure for understanding everyday life in Detroit and the possibilities for ethnographic research, art, and knowledge creation.

The event will feature Dr. Stovall in conversation with moderator Michael Stone-Richards, Professor of Critical Practice and Visual Studies at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit; and panelists Christopher Y. Lew, Nancy and Fred Poses Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art; Rehema C. Barber, Chief Curator at Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; and Matthew Higgs, an artist, Director and Chief Curator of White Columns who recently organized a solo exhibition of Stovall's work, on view at the gallery through December 12th.