Call for articles
Cyphers: Hip Hop and Improvisation
Critical Studies in Improvisation

Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation invites submissions for a special issue with the theme “Cyphers: Hip Hop and Improvisation”, guest-edited by Rebecca Caines and Paul Watkins. This special issue of CSI will draw together artists and academics to investigate the crucial role improvisation plays in the international field of Hip Hop, and in the related field of critical Hip Hop studies. We seek contributions from artist/practitioners and from scholars working across the disciplines. Continue reading →

Call for articles
Music, Politics and Dictatorships in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula During the 20th Century
Resonancias – A music research journal
Deadline: 17 January 2014

Recently there has been an expanded interest in the connections between music making and the political life that Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries experienced under the authoritarian regimes of the 20th century. This concern has been expressed in a critical analysis of the topics and methodologies traditionally used to tackle the relationship between music and politics. Among the topics that have marked a turning point in the intersection between the social sciences, the humanities and music research are: the “industry’s” appropriation of music for political ends; the changes in the legal frameworks advanced by local cultural politics; the clandestine lives of politicized musicians, and the activities of resistance in which they participated. Furthermore, the connections between theatre, dance and film, and the role of television in legitimizing symbolic violence against political dissidence (as well as the social effects of such violence) have begun to be studied in order to understand the role of music in political contexts — not to mention how social memory and forgiveness have been currently addressed in ongoing post-dictatorial times. Continue reading →