Music, Research, and Activism

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Music, Research, and Activism (Book)

Prospects and Projects in Northern Europe

Edited by Kim Ramstedt, Susanna Välimäki, Kaj Ahlsved and Sini Mononen

This new collection suggests that we are experiencing an activist turn in music research. The idea is explored in a series of position papers and contemplative texts, where music researchers, music educators and artistic researchers reflect how their work and the position they occupy as professionals in society serves eco-social justice and equity.

A PDF version of this book is available for free in Open Access: Music, Research, and Activism. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License.

Category: Music

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Edition

This book introduces the concept of activist music research, emphasising action and social responsibility and suggests that music research can be used to promote social and ecological justice. This is discussed in a series of position papers by music researchers who engage in public debate in their various roles - educator, critic, journalist, DJ, producer, promoter - and work with other actors in civil society and culture.

The book suggests that we are experiencing an activist turn in music research, evidenced by the growing number of projects and publications discussing inequalities in musical practices and the impact music research can have on these inequalities. This idea is explored in a series of position papers and contemplative texts, where music researchers, music educators, and artistic researchers reflect on how their work and the position they occupy as professionals in society serves eco-social justice and equity. What is the point of studying and teaching music in an age of ecocide, neo(liberal)-colonialism, rampant racial inequities, persistent gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination? What does social and ecological responsibility and sustainability mean in music research?

The idea for the book was conceived within the context of Suoni, a non-profit independent research association in Finland founded as a self-organizing and independent network for scholars interested in exploring methods, pedagogics, practices and action for eco-social equity in relation to music and music research.

Kim Ramstedt works as assistant professor in musicology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His current research explores how the category of race is constructed and addressed in research and other knowledge production around music.

Susanna Välimäki is a musicologist who has during their later career become more and more occupied with issues around music, society and sustainability, and the possibilities of activist music research. Välimäki is a Professor of Art Studies and Head of Musicology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and a founding member of Suoni, a research association for activist music research.

PhD Kaj Ahlsved is a music researcher, critic and educator affiliated with Åbo Akademi University in Turku, Finland. He is one of the founding members of research association Suoni. / Sini Mononen is a musicologist and a contemporary art critic from Helsinki, Finland.

1. Introduction: The Activist Turn in Music Research

Kim Ramstedt and Susanna Välimäki

PART I: STRUCTURES AND DISCIPLINARITY

2. Between Activism and White Saviourism: Unpacking the Racial Dynamics of Multiculturalism in Ethnomusicology and World Music

Kim Ramstedt and Miia Laine

3. Researcher as Minority and Majority: Hip-Hop Feminist Epistemologies

Inka Rantakallio

4. The Identity Crisis of Music Criticism

Sini Mononen

5. Internalized Orientalism in the Western Capitalist Organization of Music

Aman Askarizad and Kim Ramstedt

PART II: POSITIONALITIES AND PROFESSIONS