*Apologies for cross-posting*
*Music, Political Activism and the State*
*Wednesday 13 April 2016. University of Southampton, Highfield Campus,
Southampton SO17 1BJ *
*One-day conference sponsored by the IMR and the University of Southampton*
*Keynote Speaker: Professor John Street (UEA)*
In this one-day conference we seek to cultivate a dialogue concerning the
intersections between music, political activism and the State, both among
scholars from a range of disciplines and practitioners seeking to use music
to contribute to social change. Whilst the importance of musical
performance to political activism has long been reflected within the
scholarly literature, more remains to be said about the ways that practices
of protest or activist musicianship emerge in relation to the State, as an
entity with a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, as a set of
bureaucratic institutions (often with conflicting interests), and as a
concept which individuals construct in everyday and official discourse.
Particularly deserving of further attention are the ways that States – as
legal institution and socially negotiated concept – may condition and
create possibilities for creative musical practice.
In this conference, we aim to stimulate a cross-disciplinary debate
addressing a number of important questions relating to this topic:
- How do protest musicians represent the State within their
performances, and how may this relate to their own sense of marginality in
relation to it?
- In what ways may the so-called “conspiracy theories” that often result
from State opacity create possibilities for creative responses in music?
- Moving beyond the notion of musical performance as protest, how may
the practice of music be seen to contribute to the formation of activist
*communities* seeking to undermine State control?
- How has music contributed to, reflected upon and contested historical
processes of State formation, and what insights into internal
contradictions among State actors may be gleaned from the study of musical
practice?
- How have politically engaged musicians used creative practice to
challenge, undermine or reinforce State legitimacy, and what kinds of
practical relationships between musicians and State institutions underpin
these forms of expression?
- Conversely, how may musical performance function as a social practice
within so-called “stateless societies”, as well as “failed states”?
- Finally, taking into account the disjunction between the intimacy and
exclusivity often adhering to musical performance and the construction of
State power as indiscriminate and universal, how can we adequately research
and represent the relationships between States and musicians?
Contributions are invited from researchers working in musicology,
ethnomusicology, popular music studies, anthropology, politics, sociology
and related disciplines, as well as from musicians and activists. We
welcome 20-minute papers or shorter presentations for panel discussion
addressing the conference themes. We particularly wish to encourage
proposals involving small-scale live musical performance.
Please submit a 250-word abstract, a short biographical note (including
name, affiliation/independent scholar, e-mail) to [log in to unmask]
by 1 December 2015.
Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by 5 January 2016.
Funding is available to support travel expenses for contributing Early
Career Researchers without access to alternative funding residing within
the United Kingdom and Ireland. Please email Andrew Green at
[log in to unmask] as soon as possible indicating requirements and
interest.
Conference organiser: Andrew Green, Institute of Musical Research
Mentor: Hettie Malcomson, University of Southampton
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