[ecrea] Rethinking Jazz Cultures conference, MediaCityUK Salford, April 11-14 2013

*Rethinking Jazz Cultures* provides an opportunity to explore a number 
of critical questions bound up with jazz and the dynamics of culture, 
from Americanisation to the politics of migration and race, from the 
impact of globalisation and the hybridisation of musical styles to the 
creation of social institutions and distinct communities, from jazz's 
shifting aesthetic status from popular to canonical 'art' music. Jazz 
continues to play a complex role in the cultural life of nations 
worldwide, shaping scenes, constructing communities and cultural values; 
the music feeds into historical narratives that are marked by conflict 
and contradiction but the role the music plays in everyday life is 
rarely understood. Whilst jazz has developed in a range of national 
settings through different influences and interactions, as evidenced in 
the first Rhythm Changes Conference in Amsterdam 2011, the music is also 
a transgressor of the idea of nation. 'Rethinking Jazz Cultures', 
therefore, aims to explore wider issues surrounding identity and 
inheritance, enabling unique perspectives on how culture is exchanged, 
adopted and transformed.

*Rethinking Jazz Cultures *is a three day multi-disciplinary conference 
that brings together leading researchers in the fields of jazz studies, 
media and cultural studies, history and American studies. The event will 
take place at the University of Salford's prestigious new building at 
Media City UK, Salford Quays, commencing with a reception on Thursday 11 
April 2013. The Conference committee invites papers and panel proposals 
that feed directly into the Conference theme and is interested in 
featuring perspectives from a range of international contexts. Although 
not restricted to specific themes, possible topics could include:

*. Jazz, Americanisation and the politics of globalisation
. Sonic cultural identities (African American, the Nordic Tone, South 
African jazz etc.)
. Jazz cosmopolitanism
. Migration and trans-cultural exchange
. Jazz scenes, contexts and places
. Sub-cultural practices
. Genre boundaries and hybridity
. Trans-national or post-national jazz sounds
. Postcolonial settings for jazz
. Jazz collectives and communities
. Media dissemination and the spread of jazz culture
. Venues, festivals and the dynamics of culture
. Jazz, censorship and political struggle
. Jazz in urban and rural spaces
. Jazz traditions
. Cultural politics of jazz
. Cultural memory and jazz
. Revising jazz history*

The Conference committee welcomes individual papers and proposals for 
panels and roundtable discussions. For individual papers, abstracts of 
no more than 300 words should be submitted. Panels and roundtable 
proposals should include a session overview, participant biographies and 
description of individual contributions. Abstracts and proposals (as 
well as event queries) should be sent to Professor Tony Whyton ( 
(t.whyton /at/ salford.ac.uk) ) by 5 November 2012.