Evaluating Transnational Music Practices
Some impressions from a conference at the University of Duisburg-Essen
Music can be understood as a transnational practice in essence not stopping from borders of any kind, often depicted as bringing people together from diverse backgrounds in various ways. Yet, at the same time we see the temptation to subsume music practices as parts of nation states, with music as important assets of nations’ identities. Informed from a sociological perspective and the research fields of migration studies, the study of valuation and evaluation and sociology of music, Dr. Glaucia Peres da Silva and Konstantin Hondros tried to open a space to engage with this tension, with great organizational support from Aranka Meisinger. Therefore the international conference „(E)Valuating Transnational Music Practices — Space, Diversity, and Exchange” that took place in Duisburg on June 14th and 15th 2018 gathered sociologists, musicologists, historians and anthropologists to discuss papers and ideas referring to the topical, yet underrepresented issue. The contributions ranged from festivals to diasporic processes, from percussion practices to classical cross over productions, from the evaluation of music juries to claims referring critical to diversity in music in general. All in all eighteen diverse papers were presented and fruitfully discussed during the two days in Duisburg.
For more information and an overview of the participating scientists and presented papers: https://www.uni-due.de/soziologie/musicpractices.php
Some impressions of the conference — thank you, Lisa Gaupp, for taking so many pictures!
In a planned anthology we will bring together some of the contributions, aiming to intensify the discussion between the different disciplines engaged in the two days in Duisburg.
