Josephy Center Presents: Marika Straw

Marika Straw is a Wallowa County native, anthropologist, human rights advocate, writer, and singer-songwriter. Marika traveled to India first in 2012 to attend a four-month study abroad program in Pune, Maharashtra. After becoming involved with a community youth drumming ensemble, she conducted ethnomusicological research on the ways these ensembles both cause and reflect changes in Pune society. She returned to India in the fall of 2016 to drum, travel, and volunteer more extensively.

Wednesday’s presentation will include an overview of her 2012 research, and impressions upon returning to the drumming ensemble in Pune, interviews with an environmental NGO focused on adaptations to climate change in Bangalore, and visits to the Attari-Wagah border with Pakistan, the Jallianwalla Bagh Memorial, and the Tibet Museum in North India. Finally, pictures and words from a biking trip with Marika’s brother in South India.