CALL FOR PAPERS
Studying Music
An International Conference in Honour of Simon Frith
University of Edinburgh
10-12 April 2014
Music scholarship has widened enormously in scope in the last several
decades, especially in response to developments in sociology and cultural
studies. Previously-accepted concepts such as excellence, authenticity and
value have become understood as social constructions rather than inherent
or aesthetically autonomous. As a result, long-established canons have been
questioned and the boundary between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture become less
secure, with questions of aesthetics becoming intertwined with questions of
politics and identity.
The work of Simon Frith has played a significant role in these
developments. His own career, starting in historical sociology and, in
turn, based in departments of Sociology, English, Film and Media Studies
and, finally, Music, reflects the increasingly inter-disciplinary nature of
contemporary music scholarship. Furthermore, his parallel career as a
journalist, critic and chair of the Mercury Music Prize poses interesting
questions concerning the relationship between sociology and criticism, and
between the academic study of music and the general audience.
This conference seeks to celebrate Frith's contributions to the study of
music and to evaluate and critique current orthodoxies in music scholarship
(including Frith's own work): Is the relationship between musicology and
sociology still problematic? Has popular music studies managed to develop a
convincing and coherent theoretical approach? Is 'popular music' still a
useful academic category? What new problems has a sociological approach to
music generated? Is the study of music still Eurocentric and Anglicised?
Does the idea of quality have any role in the sociological study of music?
We invite papers on any aspect of music scholarship which are in some way
informed by - or pose a challenge to - Frith's writing and thinking.
Possible areas for discussion could include, but are not limited to:
- Aesthetics and value
- Music industry
- Writing about music
- The relevance of music scholarship beyond the academy
- Music and politics
- Critical appraisal of the work of Simon Frith
There will be a Keynote Presentation by Robert Christgau. The conference
organising committee is comprised of Matt Brennan, Sara Cohen, Dave Laing,
Lee Marshall, Angela McRobbie, and Peter Nelson.
Please send proposals of up to 300 words, for 20 minute papers, together
with a short biography (50 words) of the author, to
[log in to unmask] by 30 May 2013.
--
Dr Lee Marshall
Senior Lecturer in Sociology
SPAIS
University of Bristol
11 Priory Road
Bristol BS8 1TU
(0)117 928 7504
http://bristol.academia.edu/LeeMarshall
New book: The International Recording Industries
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415603454/
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