Deadline for Music in Action Conference Extended
ECHO is seeking submissions for this year’s conference taking place April 27th-29th 2017 @ University of California, Los Angeles with keynote speaker Regina Bradley
On both global and local scales, the current state of affairs is at a moment of great flux and portentous adversity. We face issues of global warming, war, oppression, and social violence. As humanists we investigate notions of power structures and knowledge bases, as well as the cultures that give rise to these systems and the resulting contentions. Music, a ubiquitous art form throughout social strata, can react to and engage with these issues – it can express a voice that is perhaps otherwise unheard or silenced by the rest of society.
From Billie Holiday and the People’s Songs movement of the 1940s to war protest songs and the Civil Rights movement, through Punk’s disquieting significance and the solidarity of anthems, music mobilizes social activity and impacts political landscapes. As an art tradition that historically foments new collective identities and galvanizes movements, music’s fluidity and malleability in the service of activism relays a complex relationship between cultural tradition and cultural change. How does music reflect and respond to evolving political climates? What solidarity arises from the unifying effect of music implemented in action? How can music elicit social and political change? This conference seeks to investigate the intricate and infinite ways in which music, culture, and social movements interact.
Music in Action welcomes submissions on a broad range of topics related to sound, music, and activism. We are particularly interested in alternative format presentations, lecture-demonstrations, roundtable discussions, performances, poster sessions, and other collaborative activities. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
Music as social or political criticism
Biopolitical music
Issues of gender and/or sexuality
Political Strife
Subaltern Studies
Microhistories
Ecomusicology
State of the field
Musical/cultural appropriation
Please send 300-word proposals as a Word document [last name_first name.docx] to musicinactionconf@gmail.com by 20 December 2016. Along with your name, affiliation, and email address, indicate any audio, visual, or other needs for the presentation.
