Kia ora koutou,

With the usual apologies for cross posting. I am pleased to announce a call for abstracts for a special issue of Popular Music History Journal on jazz and gender. Please see below for details:

Special Issue of Popular Music History (2023)

Title: Gender and Jazz: Histories and Scenes

From the latter half of the twentieth century there has been increasing interest and work in gender and jazz, with several collections examining the roles of women and gay and lesbian musicians in the jazz world, both historically and contemporarily. Nichole Rustin-Paschel and Sherrie Tucker’s 2008 collection Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies has now become an eminent text in the area, and more recently, the Jazzinstitut, Darmstadt held its 14th Jazzforum on the topic of gender and identity in jazz (resulting in a published collection by the same name in 2016). These, and other collections and articles, have delved into gender and its roles in the jazz world, however there are still many more aspects to explore.  Gender, and gender binaries, have shaped the jazz world since the 1920s. Now in the 2020s, the centennial of the Jazz Age gives us an opportunity to explore the many ways that perceptions of gender have been defined and evolved over the last 100 years. There is a need to examine where we are at in the 2020s, and to give thought to the work ahead as creative practitioners, researchers and historians. This themed issue seeks to explore both the known and unknown about gender in the jazz world. Asides from issues around femininity and masculinity (and men and women) in jazz, we seek articles that explore musicians, bands, and scenes who have been ignored or shunned because their performance of gender and/or sexual orientation did not comfortably fit into the perceptions held by critics and audiences. We also seek explorations around power dynamics and gender on and off the bandstand, #MeToo, and collectives such as We Have Voice and Keychange.

Please submit a short abstract (no more than 200 words) to guest editor, Aleisha Ward: a.ward@auckland.ac.nz Abstracts deadline: 1 June 2022

Special Issue of South Asian History and Culture: Western Popular Music and the Making of Indian Modernity 

Description of Topic 

From the colonial period onwards a variety of Western musical forms and practices have traveled to the sub-continent interacting with domestic sound cultures and contributing to making of Indian modernity. While other influences from the west – in science and technology, political governance, and market mechanisms – have received considerable academic attention, the impact of western popular music in the Indian context is a relatively ignored area of inquiry. This special issue of South Asian History and Culture is based on the premise that our understanding of Indian modernity is enhanced by a deeper exploration of the ways in which western music – beginning with colonial army bands to MTV and beyond – has contributed to the formation of modern sensibilities in India. The issue focuses exclusively on the western pop music (as opposed to western influences on indigenous music-making) that reached Indian audiences as well as local production of English-language pop and seeks to ask a set of questions surrounding these musical encounters to refine and develop our understanding of how popular cultural flows are constitutive of local modernities. What was/is the nature of the audience for western music in India? Was the reception of this music tied to elite-formation? Can one speak of a sub-culture around western pop? Was there any clearly formed state policy regarding What part did this music play in creating an urban youth culture in postcolonial India? Was the Indian recording industry able to nourish homegrown western pop artists? What the was the role of Indian radio and television in creating an enclave of western pop that was distinct from vernacular popular culture?