Resonating Occupation

Date: Friday, 11 May 2018
Location: The Trent Building, University Park Campus, University of Nottingham, UK

“Resonating Occupation” will be the second workshop held under the ERC-funded Cultures of Occupation in Twentieth Century Asia (COTCA) project at the University of Nottingham.  You can find more information at: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cotca/index.aspx

This workshop will bring together scholars from multiple disciplines working at the nexus of sound, music, and foreign occupation—here defined broadly to include studies of colonialism, imperialism, conflict and war. While presenters are encouraged to discuss their current work in these fields, it is also expected that presentations will enable wider conceptual, methodological and theoretical discussions which will be of interest to participants working in different disciplinary and geographic contexts.  Discussion at the workshop will revolve around the following questions.

1. How does the context of occupation give rise to distinctive auditory environments and music cultures? Or in other words, what does occupation sound like?
2. How are sound and music implicated in the disciplining of colonized subjects and aural spaces?
3. How do listeners of occupation create new forms of auditory expression?
4. What might comparative studies of auditory environments in different geographic and temporal contexts contribute to a better understanding of individual cases of occupation, and of occupation more generally?
5. What can studies of occupation contribute to developing new research methodologies and approaches to studying sound?

We are expecting to welcome a minimum of 10 external speakers to the workshop, but also to allot sufficient time for general discussion based on the papers presented and the principal questions listed above. Speakers will therefore be asked to present individual papers of 15-20 minutes each, allowing ample opportunity for open discussion at each session. While presentation at the workshop is by invitation only, the event will be open to students, researchers and the community.

Reimbursement for travel to and from Nottingham will be determined based on where individual presenters travel from.  Accommodations will be provided for two nights one of the 4-star hotels on the University of Nottingham campus, which will include a catered lunch and workshop dinner. Details about logistics, reimbursements will be made available once a final program is confirmed in early 2018.

All prospective participants should submit a working title and abstract (of no more than 300 words) for workshop presentations and a short bio.  The deadline for submission of titles and abstracts is Friday, 23 February 2018 and can be emailed to me at: [email protected]

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have further questions.  I look forward to welcoming you to Nottingham in May 2018.