Vanderbilt University will welcome xwélmexw (Stó:lō/Skwah) artist, curator and writer Dylan Robinson as a visiting Patterson Fellow the week of Nov. 7. Among other events, Robinson will participate in a conversation with University Distinguished Professor of Music Joy H. Calico on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at the Blair School of Music’s Choral Hall from 12:20 to 1:10 p.m.
The Patterson Fellowship, established in 2019 with philanthropic support from bestselling author and Vanderbilt University alumnus James Patterson, MA’70, brings distinguished visiting scholars to the university. Patterson Fellows stay for up to a week in Vanderbilt’s residential colleges, where they discuss their work and interact regularly with students.
Robinson visits from the University of British Columbia, where he is an associate professor. Prior to this role, he served as the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada.
Robinson’s curatorial work includes the international touring exhibition Soundings (2019–25), co-curated with Candice Hopkins. His current research project, “xoxelhmetset te syewa:l, Caring for Our Ancestors,” involves working with Indigenous artists to reconnect kinship with Indigenous life incarcerated in museums. His book, Hungry Listening (University Minnesota Press, 2020), examines Indigenous and settler colonial practices of listening and was awarded best first book honors by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Canadian Association for Theatre Research and the Labriola Centre American Indian National Book Award.