and Balkan Europe
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Call for papers: Minority Composers
Conference venue: Manchester (UK)
Period: Oct. 13, 2012
Deadline for submitting abstracts: May 31, 2012
Description of the Conference
The Study Group for Russian and East European Music (REEM) of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies seeks to foster collaborative research and exchange of ideas within a growing community of researchers working in the fields of Russian/Soviet, Central and Eastern European music. Having explored, in past conferences, topics such as nationalism, modernism, the ‘Thaw’, musical theory and criticism, this year it would like to bring ‘minority composers’ into the spotlight.
BASEES invites proposals for twenty-minute papers on various aspects of the lives and works of composers who were – or could be perceived as – ‘minorities’ with reference to dominant paradigms (white, male, European, Western(ised), educated, heterosexual, etc.), as well as on contexts (historical, cultural, ideological) that shaped perceptions of ‘minorities’. The notion of ‘minority’ is understood in the broadest sense of the term, and may relate to issues of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social and political allegiances and circumstances, or even artistic choices.
Keynote speaker: Prof. Stephen Downes (University of Surrey)
Convenors: Ivana Medic, Philip Bullock and Katerina Levidou
Eligible topics for the conference
Papers may address – but do not need to be limited to – some of the following questions:
- The impact of a composer’s relationship with a ‘minority group’ on their work (ranging from celebration to critique or even denial of being a minority composer);
- Analysis of various perceptions of ‘minorities’ in given historical, social and cultural contexts, and the way in which such perceptions were reflected on music;
- Self-identification vs historiographical identification of minority composers;
- The label of ‘minority’ as a marketing tool;
- Composers associated with more than one ‘minority group’;
- Minority composers whose music has crossed cultural boundaries and has become mainstream;
- Minority composers’ stance towards assimilation: dichotomy between the desire to preserve any distinctive traits (religions, languages, cultural institutions, etc.) and a willingness to fit in and be accepted as ‘equals’ by the exponents of dominant paradigms;
- Comparative studies of minority composers.
Guidelines for submission
Abstracts of no more than 400 words and short biographical notes (of no more than 200 words) should be sent to reemstudygroup@googlemail.com by May 31, 2012. Abstracts will be reviewed and results will be announced by June 30, 2012.
Organizer
Information & contacts
e-mail: reemstudygroup@googlemail.com
PECOB: Portal on Central Eastern and Balkan Europe - University of Bologna - 117, c.so della Repubblica - Italy
