[ecrea] cfp: Songs of Social Protest

Songs of Social Protest

A two day symposium

Thursday 30th April & Friday 1st May 2015, University of Limerick, Ireland

Following on from successful symposia on The Smiths, Morrissey, Riot 
Grrrl and David
Bowie, the research cluster ‘Popular Music and Popular Culture’, in 
conjunction with ‘Power,
Discourse and Society’ at the University of Limerick, Ireland, now 
convene a two day
symposium to examine songs of social protest from a global perspective.

An approach that takes into account the radical contexts of music is 
central to examining
processes of empowerment and disempowerment in the current neoliberal 
age. Underpinned
by a theoretical framework derived from the work of Stuart Hall, Richard 
Middleton, Ian
Peddie, Serge Dennisoff, Philip Tagg, and Johnathan Friedman we take as 
our starting point
that popular culture (in the broadest sense), and music in particular, 
may reproduce or
challenge the cultural / political status quo in contemporary societies 
across the globe. In this
interdisciplinary conference, we therefore particularly welcome papers 
that address (but are not limited to) the following:


• What defines songs of social protest?

• Can songs of social protest create change?

• What makes a protest song efficacious?

• What forms do the discursive constructions of protests take within 
song – i.e. what are

the structures of feeling?

• How is protest ‘performed’?

• Can we map typologies of protest song?

• Are particular music genres best suited to protest and if so, why and 
what are they?

• How do songs of social protest address inequalities on the basis of 
‘Race’, Class,

Gender, Disability, Colonialism and Post-Colonialism, LGBTI identities, etc.

• How do we talk about and assess the relationship between songs of 
social protest and

social movements?

• What informs discourses of ‘authenticity’ in songs of social protest?

• What are the musical roots of protest songs – Punk, Riot Grrrl, Folk, 
Oi! etc?

• How do protest songs take on local and regional shape in different 
parts of the world?

• What are the foci and impetuses of contemporary songs of social 
protest across the

globe?

• How can we trace (and critique) the social significance of commercial 
artists’ occasional

forays into the ‘protest’ song genre?

• Have particular artists’ (Bob Dylan, Swarathma, Billy Bragg, Las 
Cafeteras Saul

Williams, Public Enemy, Kiyoshiro Imawano, Rage against the Machine, Piñata

Protest, etc.) contributions made an impact of any social significance?

• Do protest songs today need a music video to create an impact?

• What are the different ways in which governments treat singers of 
social protest songs

and how is that discursively framed in their respective media?



Please submit a Word document containing your paper title, a 250 word 
abstract, and author
information including full name, institutional affiliation, email 
address, and a 50-word bio to
(popmusicandculture /at/ ul.ie) by 9th January 2015.

A maximum of 30 minutes will be allocated to each conference paper (20 
minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for questions). Panel proposals 
(three presenters - 90 minutes) should include a 150 word overview and 
250 word individual abstracts (plus author information listed above). We 
also welcome proposals for workshops, film screenings, performances etc. 
Notifications regarding acceptance will be sent by January 30th 2015.

Planned Academic Outputs:
The organisers are editors of the Discourse, Power, and Society book 
series published by
Rowman & Littlefield International. It is their intention to propose an 
edited collection arising
from fully revised papers initially presented at this symposium to the 
publisher as part of that
series. It is also envisaged that symposium outputs will include a 
special issue of a journal.

Symposium Conveners:
Dr. Martin Power, Dept. of Sociology, University of Limerick.
Dr. Aileen Dillane, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University 
of Limerick.
Dr. Eoin. Devereux, Dept. of Sociology, University of Limerick.
Dr Amanda Haynes, Dept. of Sociology, University of Limerick.
For further information please contact: (popmusicandculture /at/ ul.ie)
‘Popular Music and Popular Culture’ and ‘Power, Discourse and Society’ 
are interdisciplinary research clusters
based at the University of Limerick, Ireland, which provide a platform 
for researchers working within sociology,
ethnomusicology, cultural studies, sociolinguistics, political science, 
education, and social geography to come
together to advance their shared interest in the critical analysis of 
popular music, popular culture and public
discourses and the elucidation of their social meaning, significance and 
material impacts.






All the best

Eoin


Dr. Eoin Devereux
Senior Lecturer Sociology
Department of Sociology
University of Limerick
IRELAND
Tel: 353 (61) 202341
Twitter: @drdevereux



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