The international symposium, "Lost in Diversity: A Transatlantic Dialogue on the Social Relevance of Jazz" will be taking place from November 8th - 9th at the Heidelberg Centre for American Studies, Heidelberg, Germany. The symposium features a keynote address by project researcher, Daniel Fischlin, a University Research Chair and Full Professor of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. Sessions include the following topics of note: "Jazz and Human Rights," "American Idols - European Identity," and "Jazz and Politics." The symposium will also feature "Piano Lectures" by Alexander von Schlippenbach and Vijay Iyer, as well as a "DJ Lecture" by Thomas Meinecke.

From the official symposium program: "During the 2012 Enjoy Jazz Festival, distinguished experts, artists, and journalists will meet at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) to look at the diversity of jazz in Europe and the United States. They will discuss the social relevance of the genre on both sides of the Atlantic, similarities and differences of European and American jazz, and their effects on our societies. On the occasion of the initiation of the UNESCO World Jazz Day this year, the participants of the symposium will try to explore the political dimensions of a genre that was seen as the epitome of freedom in the 1960s and trace transatlantic reciprocities. With this symposium, the HCA, in cooperation with Enjoy Jazz, attempts to establish a venue where intellectual curiosity and musical zest will feel equally at home. This symposium was conceptualized by Christian Broecking and is generously supported by BASF."

For a copy of the official program, please click here.

For a copy of the schedule of events, please click here.