You are warmly invited to attend a free, half-day online symposium – the Popular Music Studies Research Day – with renowned speakers Laina Dawes (US), Prof Steve Waksman (US) and Dr Paula Wolfe (UK) to discuss: what it means to be a black artist, the advent of arena rap, and the poetry of the recording studio.

When? Tuesday, 25 May, 1-5 pm.

Where? Zoom.

More information, presentation abstracts and the compulsory free registration can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/afro-futurism-arena-rap-the-self-producer-a-popular-music-research-day-tickets-151480441077

Schedule

1:00-2:00: Laina Dawes: Fugitive Ontology and Black Static: Afro-Pessimism vs. Afro-Futurism in Popular Music

2:15-3:15: Steve Waksman: Rock, Rap, and Race in the U.S. Concert Industry

3:30-4:30: Paula Wolfe: Songwriting, Music Production, Self-Production: Locating the Emotion, Maintaining the Objective, Positioning Genre

This event is the final event of our research group’s 2020/2021 Research Seminar series, linked to the University of Huddersfield’s music research centres focused on ‘Culture, Music and Identity’ (CMCI) and ‘Performance Practice’ (ReCePP), in collaboration with the Popular Music Studies Research Group (PMSRG), and is a mixture of expert presentation and interactive discussion.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you!