Call for Papers
University of California, Santa Barbara
April 5-6, 2008
The UCSB Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM) is seeking submissions for the 2008 “Music and Politics” Graduate Conference to be held at the University of California, Santa Barbara on April 5-6, 2008. This interdisciplinary conference—run by graduate students, for graduate students—will focus on the many facets of the convergence of music and politics.

We anticipate that possible topics could include:
  • music and war
  • music and torture
  • music and class/race/gender/sexuality
  • music and the body
  • music as a unifying or dividing force
  • music and oppositional practice
  • the politics of listening to and/or making music
  • use of music in (re)defining nations/states
  • use of music to influence or control public opinion
  • music and corporate culture
  • music and mass media
  • music, aesthetics, and cultural capital
  • music in the academy and the politics of pedagogy
  • (de)colonization of music
A selection of papers from the conference will be published in the August 2008 issue of Music & Politics.

Please send a 200-300 word abstract of your paper to musicandpolitics@gmail.com no later than January 15, 2007. Include the abstract as an attachment and place it in the body of the email. Paper presentations will be allotted twenty minutes, with an additional ten minutes for questions and answers.

Details on travel, accommodations and the keynote address will be forthcoming. Any questions regarding the conference may also be sent to the above address. Updated information will be posted on our website:

http://www.music.ucsb.edu/projects/CISM/musicandpoliticsconference/