51����

Kathryn Lofton, a Yale University professor of history and divinity, will speak at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 11th, at 51���� on “Celebrity, Politics, Power” as part of the Phi Beta Kappa Society Visiting Scholar Program.

Lofton, who also serves as Yale’s Lex Hixon Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies and as its Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean of humanities, will discuss celebrity and political power and explain how those who analyze American politics need to understand — among many politically consequential facts — “what Kanye West is saying and why Madison Cawthorn’s marriage matters.”

The talk explores, among other issues, how popularity is a resource to be molded as much as it is chased and how studying celebrity culture can help us understand how the world can be influenced within and beyond elections.

Lofton has written much about capitalism, popular culture, and the secular, including in her books “Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon” and “Consuming Religion.”

The talk, which is free and open to the public, will be in the Alma McDonough Auditorium. A reception with food will follow.