Call for Papers
Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal
(www.rds.hawaii.edu)
Dance Beneath the Diamond Sky with One Hand: Disability and Music
Alex Lubet and Na'ama Sheffi, Guest Editors
Disability studies scholars as distinguished as Simi Linton and Rosemary
Garland-Thompson have spoken at length about the unique beauty and
iconic cultural status of the dance that is a highlight of the annual
meeting of the Society for Disability Studies. This is but one
indication of the major role that music plays in the lives of our
community. Sam Sullivan, the quadriplegic mayor of Vancouver, prepared
himself to lead the world's most livable city in part by founding and
directing the Vancouver Adapted Music Society and leading the band
Spinal Cord. And Neil Young, contemporary music's great anti-war poetic
voice, is also a disability activist.
We are honored that the theme for the special forum of The Review of
Disability Studies: An International Journal will be disability and
music. We implore our potential contributors to show our community's
customary fearlessness by casting aside dependence upon the
all-too-often oppressive paradigms of music theory, music criticism, and
musicology, and by refuting the negative disability stereotypes of
popular media (such as the Black-Eyed Peas' "Let's Get Retarded").
Marginalized cultures worldwide have rich, centuries-old musical
traditions to draw upon to build community. As in verbal literatures,
our community is far too often defined by the dominant culture rather
than by ourselves. One problem has been the inability of a broad
public to eroticize disability in the manner of "Others." If sex is
sexy and race racy, where has that left disability? The nature of the
music business has provided few opportunities for broad public venues
for disability-positive lyrics and other forms of presentation. While
music has often provided employment for blind people worldwide, lyric
content has been primarily in response to the demands of sighted
audiences.
Traditional academic disciplines in music are cultural institutions that
have so far thoroughly excluded or otherwise marginalized people with
disabilities. Popular music criticism continues to portray extreme
stereotypes of disability as the norm. Our project must be an entirely
new paradigm, an authentic, utterly interdisciplinary disability studies
of music. Thus, we urge potential contributors, regardless of their
fields of training, to articulate their ideas about music and disability
through heretofore unimagined and unarticulated means and methods.
Potential contributors to this Special Issue might consider:
1. Is there "disability music" and what is its nature?
2. What is the intersection of music composition and impairment?
3. How have disability and impairment been expressed lyrically?
4. How is disability represented in visual performance by PWD and
able-bodied artists?
5. How has disability played a role for people choosing music as a
career?
6. What has been/will be the role of technology in enabling
universal participation in music?
7. What is the relationship of music with Deaf Culture and
deafness?
8. How can music education transcend the limitations of music
therapy?
9. How might "mainstream" repertoire (such as the line from Bob
Dylan from which our title derives) serve disability culture?
10. What are the heretofore hidden stories of disability that are
manifest in mainstream music? (For example, country legend Hank
Williams had Spina Bifida.)
11. How does music serve the needs of those whose cognitive,
neurological, and emotional disabilities and mental illnesses are rooted
in political conflicts, including violent altercations and the threat
and implantation of terror tactics?
.
We welcome contributions from all disciplines as they intersect with
issues of disability and music. In the interest of accessibility, we
encourage a jargon-free environment and cannot accept articles with
examples in music notation. We hope to provide web access to audio
examples, but at this time encourage authors to make this optional-only.
Send via email 250-word abstracts, by March 1, 2007 to Guest Editors
Alex Lubet (School of Music/Center for Jewish Studies/Program in
American Studies, University of Minnesota) [log in to unmask] and Na'ama
Sheffi (School of Communication, Sapir Academic College, Israel)
[log in to unmask] Please be sure to send abstracts to both editors.
For those abstracts that are selected, we will request completed
articles of approximately 3000-5000 words. Note that an invitation to
submit an article based on an abstract does not guarantee publication of
that article in The Review of Disability Studies.
For more information about The Review of Disability Studies, please go
to www.rds.hawaii.edu
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