FARMINGTON — Renato Rosaldo — renowned cultural anthropologist, poet and editor — will be a featured performer in University of Maine at Farmington’s continuing, semester-long “Encounters” University Forum series. The forum explores thought-provoking historical, cultural and political experiences and ideas and challenges the way we engage ourselves in the process of learning and becoming.

Rosaldo will be joined by Christian Amigo, composer and performer; Gustavo Aguilar, UMF assistant professor of experimental performance and an ensemble cast in a workshop performance of “Notes on a Balinese Cockfight.” One of anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s most influential essays, this article uses cock fighting as an insight into Balinese culture.

The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 20, in the Performance Space in the Emery Community Arts Center on the UMF campus. A brief reception will follow.

One of the world’s leading anthropologists, Rosaldo is the author and editor of many books on anthropology, including a study of the Llongots, headhunters in northern Luzon, Philippines. “Prayer to Spider Woman,” his first book of poetry, received an American Book Award in 2004. His individual poems have won the El Andar and Many Mountains Moving poetry contests.

He is currently a professor of anthropology at New York University and was previously a Lucie Stern Professor in the social sciences at Stanford University.

March “Encounters” events include:

* “Language Politics and Multilingual Poetics in the United States,” 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 17, The Landing, Olsen Student Center. Mary Louise Pratt, UMF Libra Scholar, will talk about language politics in the U.S. with a focus on the history of Spanish.

* Reading and workshop with Mary Louise Pratt, 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 19, Merrill 220. A reading and discussion of several bilingual artistic texts.

* “Notes on a Balinese Cockfight” featuring Renato Rosaldo, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20, Performance Space, Emery Community Arts Center. A workshop performance with Renato Rosaldo, Christian Amigo, Gustavo Aguilar and ensemble cast using cock fighting as an insight into Balinese culture.

* “The Borders of Identity: The Acadian Experience in the 21st Century,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, Emery Community Arts Center. New Brunswick-based singer, songwriter and storyteller Suzanne Leger will perform pieces that explore questions of identity and its borders, followed by a conversation with the artist.

The “Encounters” schedule can be seen in its entirety at umf.maine.libguides.com/encounters.

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