Shaman Drum's Pohrt Honored by U-M Professor

Karl Pohrt, owner of the Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, recently received the honor of having a professorship at the University of Michigan named for him. The honor was conferred by U-M German history professor Geoff Eley. Eley was given the title of distinguished professor, which allows him to name the position after a "person of distinction" in a related field of interest. He chose the name "The Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History" to recognize Pohrt's role in fostering relationships between the local community and the university.

"At a time when academic work is often attacked for its 'ivory tower' quality and remoteness from the rest of life, particularly scholarly work in the humanities, I wanted to find a way of highlighting the relationship between what we do in the university and the circulation of ideas in the society outside," Eley told BTW. 

Shaman Drum Bookshop, which opened in 1980, provides the Ann Arbor university community with a place to find and discover both scholarly and literary titles. The store stocks a wide selection of literature and poetry and, according to its website, offers the widest selection of academic and scholarly titles in Michigan. The bookstore serves as a community center for both "town and gown" and offers a busy events calendar.

Pohrt, a former ABA Board member, is also one of the organizers of Reading the World, a collaboration between booksellers and publishers that aims to bring international voices to the attention of American readers. Reading the World celebrated its second year in May at BookExpo America.

Eley said that it was just such involvements between the bookstore and the community that led him to select Pohrt. "For me the university stands for a set of values and responsibilities that remain vital for the well-being and strength of our culture, including the encouragement of critical thinking and the production of knowledge that can sometimes be uncomfortable and challenging.  In the profoundest sense, I'd argue, this is about citizenship and political ethics," said Eley. "In his relationship to the world of the book, both in his local community and in the country at large, Karl Pohrt stands for exactly these same things, and without such advocates in the wider society academic work soon becomes insulated and remote.  My new appointment gave me a chance both to honor Karl and to make a strong statement about this principle." --Karen Schechner