Oppositions: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference

Call for papers
Oppositions: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference
28 and 29 September 2012
University of Salford

This conference seeks to explore ideas of opposition through the full range of disciplines in the arts, media, and social sciences.

In the context of the current crisis of capitalism, there are many examples of the forms ‘opposition’ can take: the Tea Party in the United States, the rise of fascist groups, campaigns run via new technologies and social media, religious fundamentalisms, and general strikes in Greece. Though it carries radical overtones, ‘opposition’ in itself is not tied to any particular dogma, left or right. We invite papers that explore the value and values of opposition as a position to be adopted by individuals or groups. Continue reading

2nd International Congress on Ambiances

2nd International Congress on Ambiances
Ambiances in action
Montréal Canada, 19-22 September 2012

The Congress will be held for four days at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), in Montreal, from 19 to 22 September 2012. It will seek to express advances in learning and new hypotheses proposed by the various disciplines and fields of activity which address the question of ambiances. Registration for the congress is still open. Registration is carried out online and payment by credit card is possible. Continue reading

2012 IASPM-Norden Conference

Call for papers
2012 IASPM-Norden Conference
Popular Music and the Nordic Region in Global Dynamics
Roskilde, Denmark 29-30 November 2012‏

Organized jointly by:
— The Nordic branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM)
— ‘Popular Music in the Nordic Countries in the Early 21st Century’, a cross-sector project funded by the Nordic Culture Fund

We are happy to invite proposals for entire sessions as well as for individual presentations for the 2012 IASPM-Norden conference. We welcome all topics related to the study of popular music, yet a specific emphasis in the conference is given to the politics of location of popular music in the Nordic countries.

The keynote presentations will be delivered by professor Simon Frith (University of Edinburgh) on the subject “What is different about popular music in the 21st century?”, and by professor Stan Hawkins (University of Oslo) on “Terror, Masculinity, and Music”. Continue reading

The Afterlife of the Film Song‏

Call for papers
The Afterlife of the Film Song: A One-Day Symposium
The Victoria Rooms, Bristol
8 December 2012

University of the West of England, Bristol
University of Bristol

In association with The Soundtrack and Intellect Books

Abstracts are invited for twenty-minute papers to be given as part of a one-day symposium on the afterlife of film songs. Continue reading

Musicians and Their Audiences – Workshop in London

One-day workshop
Musicians and Their Audiences
King’s College London
Saturday 1 December 2012

The musician/audience dichotomy has served as a constant subject of scrutiny for the sociocultural study of music practices. Both in ‘presentational’ and ‘participatory’ performances (Turino, 2008), the dynamic relationship between performing and being watched/heard has been central to the construction of music genres and identities. Moreover, as music cultures become re-contextualised from local communities to the world stage, and reversely from global scenes to subcultural formations, the dialectics of performance and spectatorship become more complex. Continue reading

Music, Politics and Agency Seminar 3: Sonic Radicalism

Music, Politics and Agency Seminar 3: Sonic Radicalism
23 May 2012
13:00-17:00
University of East London, Docklands Campus Room EB.1.03 (directions below)

Can sound subvert? Thinkers since Plato have assumed that it can, that social form and musical form are intrinsically linked, resonant, or pre-figurative of each other. In this seminar, leading and innovative thinkers will interrogate and explore these claims and their implications. Continue reading

Extended Call for Papers – From Adele to Zeca Afonso: The Singer-Songwriter in Europe

Extended call for papers
13-14 September 2012
University of Leeds

The deadline for proposals has been extended to Monday 14 May 2012. These should include the title of the conference paper, an abstract of 200 words, and your name, institution, a brief bio-bibliography and contact details. Individual papers should be no more than 20 minutes long. Proposals for 90-minute panels of three speakers will also be considered. Papers are to be delivered in English.

Proposals will be evaluated before Thursday 7 June 2012.

Please send proposals to Stuart Green and Isabelle Marc to euromusics@leeds.ac.uk Continue reading

Symposium: Spanish Musics and their [Western] Others: Negotiating Identity and Exoticism‏

Call for papers
Symposium: Spanish Musics and their [Western] Others: Negotiating Identity and Exoticism
7–8 December 2012
University of Melbourne, Australia

Western Music and entertainment have drawn on features of Spanish music and dance since at least the Napoleonic wars. In turn, constructions of musical exoticism based on Hispanic tropes have informed different manifestations of Spanish musical nationalism, as well as regional and popular musics of Spain. Continue reading