Rhythm Changes: Jazz Cultures and European Identities
PhD Studentship
Rhythm Changes is a 3-year research project which examines the inherited traditions and practices of European jazz cultures. The project has been funded as part of the Humanities in the European Research Area’s (HERA) theme, ‘Cultural Dynamics: Inheritance and Identity’, a joint research programme funded by 13 national funding agencies to ‘create collaborative, trans-national research opportunities that will derive new insights from humanities research in order to address major social, cultural, and political challenges facing Europe’. Led by the University of Salford, the research programme will be delivered by a team of experienced researchers working in five European countries and will draw on expertise from the Universities of Amsterdam, Birmingham City, Copenhagen, Music and Performing Arts Graz, Lancaster, and Stavanger. Research work will include a number of activities such as cultural analysis, data gathering, performances, educational workshops, oral histories and interviews. Specifically, Rhythm Changes will:
• Investigate the concepts of national thought and identity in jazz using international comparison. Rhythm Changes will break new ground by presenting a trans-national view of jazz as an exchange of ideas and inspirations, and the way national movements in one country both influence, and are influenced by, developments from abroad.
• Collate jazz-related data, including relevant research, performance projects, interviews, and cultural policies, from 5 key countries in Europe, and from various disciplines, and will move from specialist analysis towards interdisciplinary and trans-national synthesis.
• Study national identities, representations and stereotypes in jazz. The project will investigate the development of national jazz identities as a constant interaction between a nation’s self-image and its view of others.
• Examine the interaction between cultural memory, arts and tourism by showing how jazz venues and festivals preserve, reflect and inform a sense of cultural memory.
• Further pan-European humanities research by establishing networks that encourage trans-national co-operation, collaborations and the work of early career researchers.
• Implement a programme of targeted dissemination activities which communicate findings to a trans-national audience of relevant policy makers, academia and the public.
PhD Studentship 3 years full-time*
The University of Salford invites applications for a full-time PhD studentship to support Work Package 3 (WP3) of the Rhythm Changes project, dealing specifically with questions of Identity, Hybridization and Communities in Flux. WP3 will use a mixed methodology of performance-led research and critical investigation. The Project Leader, Dr Tony Whyton (University of Salford) and Principal Investigator Dr Petter Frost Fadnes (University of Stavanger), will establish 5 performance projects and 4 extended workshops across the Collaborative Research Project (CRP) to explore jazz’s ability to challenge or reinforce dominant codes and conventions. A database of trans-national performance projects will be created in addition to a performative investigation of jazz venues, and these research outcomes will inform the study of national/trans-national identities in music. The PhD research studentship, overseen by the University of Salford, will support the development of this database through data collection and management.
Questions to be considered within WP3 include:
How does jazz negotiate its functions of identity-affirmation within trans-national contexts? How does the adoption of jazz (popular culture) in high culture negotiate the registers of traditionalism and avant-garde? How does jazz culture take account of high culture (parody, subversion)? What forms of hybridization occur in different European contexts?
As WP3 will investigate hybridity in jazz and the formation of trans-national identities, the project team welcomes PhD proposals that tackle these issues directly. The project team will consider applications from researchers working within any arts and humanities discipline and research work can be realised either practically or theoretically.
Applicants should complete an online application form accessed via the University of Salford website (http://www.salford.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/postgraduate-research/applying/) and submit a project proposal that demonstrates a clear set of objectives, how the PhD will support WP3 and how the programme of doctoral study will build on existing scholarship. The proposal should also include a discussion of research methods and provide a summary of experience to date. The project team welcomes proposals that engage with interdisciplinary perspectives.
Fees: 3 years full--time
Student stipend: c.£14,500
Deadline for proposal: Friday 30 April 2010
*Funding for this PhD studentship is subject to successful negotiations with the Humanities in the European Research Area.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the Rhythm Changes project, please contact Project Leader, Dr Tony Whyton [log in to unmask]
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