Pop and Politics:

State of the Field/State of the World

Annual Conference of the Popular Culture Association of Canada

Concordia University, Montreal, QC, May 7-9, 2020

After a one-year hiatus, the annual conference of the Popular Culture Association of Canada is back and looking forward—as well as up, left, right, down, and back. For our 9^th annual conference, which will take place at Concordia University in Montreal, QC from May 7^th-9^th, 2020, we’re reflecting on the state of our field by inviting discussion on the relationship between popular culture and politics, broadly conceived.

Maynooth University Arts & Humanities Institute

24-25 March 2020

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Rachel Harris (SOAS)

Dr Thomas Irvine (Southampton)

It is well understood that sound and music operate as media of governance in various historical and contemporary colonial matrices of power. As such, they have been central not only to processes of territorial colonization, but also to cognitive and behavioural colonization. Indeed, efforts to displace or ‘write over’ other soundscapes and to delegitimize and render mute other forms of knowledge production, other aural/musical epistemes, are integral to colonial and imperial processes of epistemicide.

deadline for submissions: June 30, 2020full name / name of organization: Murray Leeder/University of Manitoba
contact email: murray.leeder@nucleus.com

Big Sounds from Small Places

IASPM Canada Annual Conference 2020 Call For Papers

Cape Breton University: Sydney, Nova Scotia

12 – 14 June 2020

Submission Deadline: 15 December 2019

As we enter into a new decade it’s apt to question our place in the world. Almost sixty years ago, Marshall McLuhan notably coined the term Global Village to refer to the global spread of media content and consumption, and yet Canada still struggles with its position in the world as an imposing landmass with a relatively small population, and how that influences where and how its cultural texts are encountered. This conference seeks to address the concept of voice and sound as tied to space and place, in the broadest sense. In regards to popular music in Canada, we have established a strong identity, but one that is often defined in opposition to our more vocal neighbours to the South. As we continuously define and redefine Canadian cultural identity, and cultural outputs, this conference questions how our musical landscape has historically adapted, and will continue to adapt, to an increasingly globalized environment.

15^th IASPM UK and Ireland Biennial Conference: London Calling
London College of Music, University of West London, 3^rd – 5^th September 2020

In 1992, Allan Moore hosted the 2^nd IASPM UK & Ireland conference at the Polytechnic of West London. 28 years later the conference returns to the same building – now the University of West London. As one of the key focal points of 20^th and 21^st century popular music practice, London has not only projected its musical voices all over the world but has also been a hub for incoming influences that have stimulated a rich and vast array of new musical cultures. The 2020 IASPM UK & Ireland conference seeks to use this amazing heritage to provoke discussion about this and many other subjects. In addition, we are aiming to continue the recent trend for weaving popular music practice and music business and management into the IASPM tapestry. And this practice-based specialism harks back to another key figure in the academic world of music, Christopher Small, who also taught in the same building until 1986 and who coined the term musicking.

University of Antwerp, Belgium, 14 – 16 May 2020

RE-peat, please!

According to the online Cambridge Dictionary, the prefix ‘re-’ stands for “do again” or “returning something to its original state”.

These two letters can be used in various combinations, many of which relate to core issues of pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, dance, and many other genres.

The 7th Inter-Asia Popular Music Studies (IAPMS) Conference Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

23-25 July, 2020

Organised by Inter-Asia Popular Music Studies Group (IAPMS Group)

Hosted by

Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract Submissions Deadline

15 December 2019

Theme: Asia’s Sonic (under)Currents and Currencies

The recent international popularity of Korean pop groups BTS and Blackpink placed Asia from passive recipients to active participants of otherwise US and UK dominated global pop music. However, the extent in which they represent and personify the rich undercurrent of popular music circulation in Asia remains debatable in Asia’s culturally diverse landscapes. While the digital platform and social media as well as travel have intensified the flows of popular music participation, it is probably premature to idealistically suggest the levelling of more enduring historical and cultural boundaries and borders. The post•global or post•digital condition needs discussion.