Dr. Leslie King Hammond will open FYE’s Spring Forum Lecture Series with her talk on “The Research and Makings of Kindred” and share her work researching the material culture context of Octavia Butler’s 1979 Kindred for the Disney FX adaption of the novel, now streaming on Hulu. The lecture will focus on practices for investigating the history of material culture, consideration of material culture in contemporary storytelling, and how we might understand history through making, with particular emphasis on the symbols of resistance used across the African diaspora. The lecture supports MICA’s FYE Common Read Kindred in Forum classes, which will also involve a visual art and design assignment in classes this spring. King Hammond will visit classes and engage first-year students. The theme of the lecture “Integration and Collaboration” instills the spirit of this massive project. From Butler’s book to research and the makings of “Kindred” visual production that took place at MICA, it is through the integration of medium and collaboration of many people involved that made it possible to create the set for the scenes of Kindred Disney FX mini-series.