Harvard Graduate Music Forum Virtual Conference, March 25-26, 2022
For a New World: Music Studies and Decoloniality
As we continue to navigate an apocalyptic pandemic, calls for a return to normal ring widely. At the same time, global political unrest, institutionalized oppression, and endemic injustice, inequality, and inequity have revealed that perhaps normal is no longer worth pursuing. Instead, the struggle to design a New World is upon us. How can we dismantle oppressive systems that have guided us and, in their place, build systems aimed at reconciliation and reparation? Certainly, music moves alongside culture as it pursues a New World.
The 2022 Harvard Graduate Music Forum Conference seeks to examine how an understanding of music, musicians, sound, listening, and musical objects can intersect with decolonial frameworks and theories, broadly construed. We welcome proposals from graduate students in historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, music composition, performance, and anyone interested in music beyond these sub-disciplines. Presenters are invited to submit a proposal for papers, lecture-recitals, or other scholarly presentations on any subject of musical interest. We are interested in decoloniality both as a topic and as a practice/methodology, and especially welcome applications for non-traditional formats such as podcasts, video essays, group presentations, and more.
We welcome topics on sonic or musical objects specifically addressing decoloniality and/or post-coloniality. Other potential topics include, but are not limited to, decolonial lenses on:
- anti-racism, abolitionism, and critical race theory
- Asian and Asian American Studies
- Latin American Studies
- African and African American Studies
- Indigeneity and Indigenous Studies
- Diasporic Studies
- anti-sexism, gender, and queer theory
- mobility and borders
- ethical musicking
- belief and spirituality
- sound studies
- disability studies
Abstracts should be limited to 300 words and submitted via this Google Form by Friday, January 7th. Presentations must adhere to the Cite Better pledge for inclusive scholarship.
If you have any questions, please email the co-chairs of this conference, Sharri K. Hall and Eloy F. Ramirez, at gmfconference2022@gmail.com. Women, persons of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and international applicants are especially encouraged to apply.