Postwar Culture

DR. JULIAN SAPORITI is a Vietnamese Italian American songwriter and scholar born in Nashville, Tennessee. His multi-media work "No-No Boy" has transformed his PhD research on Asian American history into concerts, albums, and films which have reached a broad and diverse public audience. No-No Boy's latest album "1975," released through Smithsonian Folkways, has been hailed by NPR as "one of the most insurgent pieces of music you'll ever hear" which "re-examines Americana with devastating effect" and American Songwriter called it "insanely listenable and gorgeous." No-No Boy compositions and performances have been commissioned by cultural institutions such as Lincoln Center, the LA Philharmonic, the National Parks, and Carnegie Hall. As a professor, Saporiti has taught courses in songwriting, music, literature, history, Asian American studies, and ethnic studies at the University of Wyoming, Colorado College, and Brown University and has served as an artist+scholar in residence at dozens of universities and high schools across the country. Saporiti holds degrees from Berklee College of Music, the University of Wyoming, and Brown University. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon spending his days exploring the local forests and cultivating a new research practice at the intersection of culture, ecology, and art. By using art to dive into highly divisive issues such as race, refugees, and immigration, Saporiti allows his audiences to sit with complication as his music and visuals open doorways to difficult histories.