Book Launch: “Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons

Dr. Benjamin Barson, saxophonist, historian, and radical educator will present his new book, Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons (Wesleyan University Press). This work uncovers the deep connections between Afro-diasporic musical traditions, fugitive landscapes, and radical political thought in the Americas—particularly through the lens of jazz’s early development in New Orleans and its and its transnational echoes across Mexico and the Caribbean.