CFP (articles: deadline extended): Music of War
AMS
Edited by Gwyneth Bravo and Benjamin J. Harbert
We are soliciting chapter proposals for an edited volume entitled Music of War. The book will provide a forum for exploring complex relationships between music and war across a wide range of historical and cultural situations. As conflicts are being waged in the name of national, ethnic, economic, and ideological concerns, there is a growing recognition that war is no longer an exceptional phenomenon. Rather, it continually shapes present experiences. Regardless of the particular context, music and musical practices play critical roles in the elaborate sociological rituals that accompany all stages of war. For example, heavy metal has been blasted from American tanks during night raids in Iraqi towns, protest singers have critiqued and condemned war through song, and funeral marches, laments, elegies, and war requiems have figured centrally in rituals of public and private mourning in the aftermath of conflict.
The book will not be limited by specific historical or cultural considerations, but it will pay particular attention to the development of modern war. In the twentieth century, pervasive technologization not only transformed everyday life but also facilitated new methods for waging war, radically altering the historical conditions and human experience of living and dying. These changes have resonated beyond the battlefield, serving as an impetus for an exploration of fundamental questions concerning the meaning of the self, time, and history in philosophy and music, which are central to the purview of the book.
We seek contributions from diverse disciplinary traditions (including music, history, cultural studies, ethnography, Middle East and other area studies, sociology, law, philosophy, and military studies) in order to provide a broad critical framework for examining the theme of music and war.
Deadline for short abstracts: July 15, 2011
Please email your abstract to both emails: opus at humnet.ucla.edu and bjh58 at georgetown.edu.