[ecrea] cfp: music / media / politics symposium

*Call For Papers*


 *music / media / politics symposium*


   Wednesday 16^th April 2014


   Department Media, Film and Communication


   University of Otago


 *music / media / politics*

Popular music is one of the key cultural sites for contemporary 
political struggle. In the media, we see rock songs and stars harnessed 
by politicians in order to gain credibility with demographics and the 
antics of pop stars generate public discussion on issues such as gender, 
race, class and sexuality.

However, music is most often encountered as a part of our everyday 
mediated lives. These moments of banal engagement -- listening to music 
on the train, pirating tracks at work, following musicians on twitter -- 
are also political. Media representations of music (music videos, social 
media feeds, lyrics etc.), as well as the experience of 'musicking', 
reveal the machinations of the contemporary music culture industry -- as 
well as potential spaces of negotiation and resistance by consumers and 
producers.


 *Possible areas of inquiry include*

· music and cultural publics

· music and radical politics

· politics of media representations in music

· music subcultures / music scenes

· political-economies of music and social media

· music and the 'blogosphere'

· music modalities (the return of the record etc.)

· politics of music and the 'retro revival'


 *Keynote: Boots Riley*

Acclaimed hip-hop artist and radical activist, BOOTS RILEY, will be the 
keynote speaker for our symposium. Boots fronts radical hip-hop outfit 
THE COUP, who have released six albums since 1999. As a lyricist, Boots 
is one of the most outspoken critics of contemporary neoliberalism in 
the global music scene.

Boots is also a radical activist. He played a key role in the 'Occupy 
Oakland' movement and has been involved in numerous grassroots campaigns 
in California and the USA more broadly.

Boots is travelling to New Zealand to play two shows and then heading to 
Melbourne as a keynote speaker for Marxism 2014. This is an excellent 
chance to engage with one of contemporary music's most prolific activists!

(more info: http://bootsriley.tumblr.com)* *


 * *


 *Submission details*

We are calling for twenty minute papers on the topic of 'music / media / 
politics'. We encourage interdisciplinary submissions, postgraduates and 
early career researchers to apply.

Please submit a short abstract (no more than 250 words) and 100 word bio 
by *14^th March 2014* to

(rosemary.overell /at/ otago.ac.nz) <mailto:(rosemary.overell /at/ otago.ac.nz)>


 *Registration*

Free (tea and coffee provided)


 *Publication*

We will compile selected papers arising from the Symposium for 
publication as a special issue of a relevant, peer-reviewed, academic 
journal


Rosemary Overell
Lecturer
Media Film and Communication
The University of Otago
Dunedin NZ 9016
(rosemary.overell /at/ otago.ac.nz) <mailto:(rosemary.overell /at/ otago.ac.nz)>
http://www.otago.ac.nz/mfco/staff/otago052355.html