How do music scholars engage with activist research? How are Black feminist and Indigenous perspectives applied in music research? How can music and music research advance equality, equity, human rights, or ecological sustainability? What could music researchers and practitioners do in our contemporary world characterized by climate emergency, ecocide, racism, gender and sexual discrimination, war, conflict, and humanitarian crises? How are solidarities being built and reimagined, and how is urgency present in music and among activists and researchers working with music?
These intersecting questions have preoccupied music researchers, practitioners, and other professionals more and more during the past two decades, in various fields ranging from historical and systematic musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, and popular music studies to music education, sound and technology studies, soundscape studies and artistic and practice-based research. Like in many other disciplines within the humanities, social sciences, and environmental sciences, music scholars have rapidly become politically engaged in activist research that is committed to social and environmental justice, intersectional feminism, anti-racism and anti-oppression, and social change. This has often resulted in new modes of critical and action research, applied research and co-operative institutional projects, participatory and creative methodologies, as well as in novel experiments in university teaching and reflections on the positionality and roles of a music scholar.
The second Music, Research, and Activism conference seeks to bring together scholars and practitioners engaged in music, research, and activism in different disciplines and scholarly traditions. Activist research may be motivated by social and environmental movements and struggles, as well as by topical crises and conflicts such as climate emergency, ecological catastrophes, wars and conflicts, and the curtailing of human rights (e.g. trans rights). Activist music research calls us to revisit many classic questions of music research (both practical and theoretical), to address music as a social and political force, cultural practice, identity technology, material culture, and economy. The epistemological diversity of the world fuels activist researchers to engage with forms of knowledge production beyond academic conventions.
The conference will include a panel discussion on art and activism and three keynote presentations by pioneering scholar in intersectionality and Black feminist theory, Professor Emerita Patricia Hill Collins (University of Maryland, College Park, USA); Sámi activist and artist Petra Laiti (Sápmi); and senior lecturer and ethnomusicologist Shzr Ee Tan (Royal Holloway, UK), specialized in issues of decolonization and Southeast Asian and Indigenous geocultures.
The conference welcomes proposals for individual papers, themed sessions, and workshops from scholars and practitioners engaged with music and activist research. The duration of conference papers will be 20 minutes for the presentation, 8 minutes for discussion, and 2 minutes to prepare for the next talk. Special session proposals will consist of 3–4 conference papers linked together thematically. Workshops of 90 or 120 minutes may include shorter presentations, discussions, and participatory exercises. In addition to academic conference papers, the conference welcomes practice research contributions, such as video essays, short documentary films, audio/radiophonic essays, and mixed media presentations. All research presentations can include music examples, but no special music technology will be provided. There are pianos in some lecture halls. The language of the conference is English.
The conference will be organized face-to-face on the City Centre Campus of the University of Helsinki, Finland. Accessible online participation is an option reserved for anyone with limited access who is unable to travel to the conference, due to lack of funding or otherwise. The participants are asked to mention in their abstract submission whether they are applying to attend onsite or online. Please note that it is not possible to change your attendance category after submitting your abstract.
The committee will inform applicants of its decisions by 13 December 2024. The conference programme will be published by 28 February 2025, and registration will open in April 2025. Should you have any further questions about the conference, please do not hesitate to contact the committee at musact2025@gmail.com.
This conference is organized by Research Association Suoni, the University of Helsinki, and the University of the Arts Helsinki. The conference committee consists of professionals from various fields of activist music research: Inka Rantakallio (co-chair), Nuppu Koivisto-Kaasik (co-chair), Riikka Ahokas (co-secretary), Anna Ramstedt (co-secretary), Marika Kivinen, Pirita Näkkäläjärvi, Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, Saijaleena Rantanen, and Susanna Välimäki.