LEWISTON — Alexander Weheliye, an authority on African-American culture at Northwestern University, will give a lecture, titled “Ring Ring Ring: Popular Music and Mobile Technologies,”on Monday, Feb. 14, at Bates College.

His talk will be presented as part of the college’s “Race in a Post-Human World,” series, which explores the collapse of social categories caused by advances in technology.

The term “post-humanism” expresses what many believe is our current condition as human beings. Thanks to technological advances — such as medical interventions like smart prosthetics and implanted defibrillators, and human-emulating capabilities such as artificial intelligence — the old boundaries between animal and machine are increasingly blurred.

Similarly, post-humanism challenges long-held notions of other categorizations of humanity such as gender, race and species.

Weheliye teaches courses in African-American and African diaspora literature and culture, critical theory and popular culture. He is the author of the book “Phonographies: Grooves in Sonic Afro-Modernity.”

His lecture will begin at 7:15 p.m. in Pettengill Hall’s Keck Classroom (G52), 4 Andrews Road.

Next in the series, on March 3, is a lecture by Alondra Nelson, associate professor of sociology at Columbia University, titled “Roots Revelations: Genetic Ancestry Tracing and the YouTube Generation.”


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