Yale Professor to Give Gates and Convocation Lectures

Sept. 26-27, 2018

Kathryn Lofton, professor of American studies, religious studies, history, and divinity at Yale University, will present the Gates Lecture at Grinnell College on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018. The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 7:30 p.m. in Room 1023 of the Noyce Science Center, 1116 Eighth Ave., Grinnell.

The lecture is titled “Consuming Religion: How Ivory Soap, Kim Kardashian, and Goldman Sachs Explain This Modern Age.” Gates Lectures were established in 1913 in memory of the College's second president, George A. Gates, who served from 1887-1900.

On Thursday, Sept. 27, Lofton will present the first Scholar’s Convocation Lecture of the fall semester. A historian of religion, Lofton has written extensively about capitalism, celebrity, sexuality, and the concept of the secular. Her convocation lecture is titled “The Present Life of Blasphemy: Kanye West in American Popular Culture.” She will examine the career of the American rapper, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer as an instance in the long history of blasphemy.

For nearly four decades, the Scholars’ Convocation series has created a common educational experience shared by the entire Grinnell College community. Three more Convocation Lectures will be presented during the fall semester.