Musical Regions and Regionalisms in the USA
Posted: August 1st, 2020 | Filed under: Calls for Papers | Comments Off on Musical Regions and Regionalisms in the USASong and Popular Culture of the Center for Popular Culture and Music, Vol. 66 (2021), ed. by Julius Greve and Knut Holtsträter
Samuel A. Ward and Katherine Lee Bates’ America the Beautiful summons the Arcadian beauty of the natural and cultural landscape of the USA and the unity of the states from coast to coast is conjured up as fatefully harmonious; a “brotherhood from sea to shining sea”. This basic idea of the American Dream, enveloping both the diversity of regional cultures and the unity of national culture, is expressed in many rural and urban musical cultures throughout the United States. From its inception as a nation, the USA has always been musically constructed as a network of regions that are separated from and related to each other, but at the same time may contribute to a greater whole, a higher cause – E pluribus unum. While the belief in the integrative power of this unity-in-diversity proved to be both meaningful and problematic, this idea seems to be finally crumbling at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century. The focus of this volume will be on these aspects – not only with regard to the current crisis-ridden situation of US-American society, but also in terms of earlier historical developments of the USA. The yearbook volume for 2021 seeks to shed light on the wide field of musical regions and regionalisms in the USA and asks for corresponding contributions.
We promote the diversity of methods; empirical research as well as historical considerations, philosophical debates and economic analysis are equally encouraged. The subjects and questions can deriverom traditional song research, Popular Music Studies, American Studies, Literary Studies, Art History, Musicology, Ethnomusicology, Media Studies, Theatre Studies, Music Theatre Studies, Gender Studies, Studies of Minority Groups and other disciplines.
For more information see: http://www.zpkm.uni-freiburg.de/publikation/jahrbuch/CFPMusicalRegionsUSA
Potential contributors are asked to send abstracts of not more than 2,000 characters including spaces as well as a short academic CV by 1 October 2020. By the end of November, you will receive feedback on the acceptance of your contribution. The contributions should cover 35,000 to 50,000 characters including spaces and should be submitted by 1 May 2021. Please send any inquiries or abstracts to Dr. Knut Holtsträter ([email protected]). We accept contributions in German or English.