[ecrea] 2 PhD studentships at Oxford

>*Informal advance notice* -
>Two doctoral studentships will soon be available, funded for 3 years 
>each and tenable from October 2010; they are likely to be held in 
>the Faculty of Music or the Institute of Social and Cultural 
>Anthropology, University of Oxford. The studentships may be awarded 
>to applicants of suitable calibre with appropriate research interests.
>
>It is envisaged that the two DPhil studentships will be attached to 
>the research project 'Music, Digitization, Mediation: Towards 
>Interdisciplinary Music Studies' directed by Prof. Georgina Born and 
>funded by the European Research Council. The project involves 
>ethnographic studies of the transformation of musical practices by 
>digital media in a number of countries; it also involves 
>collaboration between the team of ethnographers carrying out the 
>studies. One DPhil student will work on digital music practices in 
>the UK; the other DPhil student will work on digital music practices 
>in India. Both will be supervised by Prof. Born.
>
>Those interested in applying will probably have a good undergraduate 
>degree and Masters degree in one or a combination of the following 
>subjects: Music, Social Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, Sociology, 
>Media Studies. Those from cognate disciplines (eg Geography) may 
>also apply. They should preferably have considerable literacy in 
>digital media and/or digital music media, and a strong interest in 
>ethnographic research (although prior ethnographic experience is not 
>necessary). Skills or a background in music, and in anthropological 
>and social theory, would be helpful. For the India study, existing 
>language skills in Hindi are required.
>
>Informal expressions of interest at this stage (including a full 
>academic CV and a one-page statement of skills and experience 
>appropriate to the project) should be sent to: 
>(christopher.waite /at/ music.ox.ac.uk).
>
>Once the formal process is underway, it is expected in a few weeks, 
>further details about the studentships will be sent to those who 
>have written expressing interest in applying. Admission to doctoral 
>research attached to this project will be subject to the 
>University's formal application procedures.
>
>* * *
>
>Overview: 'Music, Digitization, Mediation: Towards Interdisciplinary 
>Music Studies'
>
>Music is rapidly being transformed by digital technologies; it is in 
>the vanguard of the changes to contemporary cultures and cultural 
>economies afforded by digitization, and is widely seen as a test 
>case of digitization's effects. This project, by combining two 
>innovative interdisciplinary components, aims systematically to 
>advance the state of contemporary music research, while contributing 
>to anthropological, social and media theory. It will be the first 
>research programme to analyse comprehensively the range of 
>interrelated transformations in music and musical experience wrought 
>by digital technologies. The first element of the project is a 
>comparative programme of ethnographic research examining 
>transformations in creative, performance and improvisation 
>practices, the nature of music as property and as a cultural object, 
>new aesthetic forms, altered modes of musical consumption and 
>circulation, and changing industry and institutional structures. 
>Given the ease of transnational distribution of digitized musics, 
>research will also follow certain genres as they circulate among 
>diasporic groups. The emphasis in each ethnography will be on 
>analyzing the embedded nature of digital musical practices in local 
>cultural, social, economic and political conditions. Second, on the 
>basis of this empirical programme, the project aims to advance 
>contemporary music research by developing an interdisciplinary 
>theory and methodology which progresses beyond the current state of 
>the field. Music research has been divided between disciplines such 
>as musicology and music analysis which address the musical object 
>and centre on art musics, and sociological and anthropological 
>approaches which privilege music's social, institutional and 
>discursive forms and focus primarily on popular musics. The present 
>project bridges these divisions by expounding an innovative theory 
>and methodology focused on music's mediation, one that integrates 
>recent elements of anthropological, social and media theory. 
>Moreover it addresses music's digital transformations across the 
>spectrum of contemporary musics: art, popular and vernacular, 
>commercial and non-commercial. Given that music's core properties - 
>mediation, performance, improvisation, affect, complex materialities 
>- are also core concerns of contemporary social theory, the research 
>will in turn contribute to 'musicalising' social theory. The project 
>aims to have far-reaching impacts, creating a field of comparative 
>studies of digital music cultures while reconfiguring the 
>interdisciplinary foundations of music research.
>
>
>Prof. G. Born.
><(gemb2 /at/ cam.ac.uk)>
>* * *

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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