CFP: Music, Sound, and Protest in the Twenty-First Century, AMS/SEM/SMT Alternative Format Panel, New Orleans, Nov 2012

CFP: Music, Sound, and Protest in the Twenty-First Century

AMS/SEM/SMT New Orleans, November 2012

We invite short proposals from all branches of music studies for an alternative-format discussion panel at the 2012 AMS/SEM/SMT meeting in New Orleans on the topic of music, sound, and protest in the twenty-first century.

We are specifically interested in proposals that consider the role of music and sound in the wave of protest movements that has gained momentum since 2010: the ongoing protests in the Arab World; labor protests in Madison, WI; the Occupy movement; protests against austerity measures in Europe and elsewhere; demonstrations disputing the results of recent parliamentary elections in Russia; and the uprising currently unfolding in Wukan and elsewhere in China. Musical and sonic practices relevant to the discussion include (but are not limited to) the collective performance of protest songs; crowd chants; drum circles; the human microphone; the use of sound cannons for crowd control; live performances by professional musicians; and the participation of activist street bands in protest. Among the theoretical issues to be considered are: the use of music and sound as emotional and affective components of political experience; the role of sound in the formation, cohesion and maintenance of crowds; the politics of volume and amplification; the violence of sound; the link between music and hope; negotiations of translation, religion, and cultural difference; the articulation of social, cultural, and class identities through sound; and the role of sonic media in both propagating and framing protest actions to the public.

Proposals should be around 200 words. Please email them to edrott at sbcglobal.net by January 10, 2012.

Eric Drott, Associate Professor of Music Theory
University of Texas at Austin

Michael Gallope, Collegiate Assistant Professor of the Humanities
University of Chicago