CfP/CfA: Sound Knowledge: Alternative Epistemologies of Music in the Western Pacific Island World (Online Workshop & Proposals)

CfP/CfA: Sound Knowledge: Alternative Epistemologies of Music in the Western Pacific Island World

Online Workshop & Proposals

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen / online

May 2022

Deadline: 14.03.2022

Field Research and the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Asia-Pacific Region: Building New Knowledge through Music and Sound

After more than two years since the arrival of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in November 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect human existence in manyfold ways. This calls into question the situatedness of music and sound scholarship within global structures and life-networks on earth.

For an online workshop in early May 2022, the Sound Knowledge project team seeks contributions from a wide range of music and sound scholars in the Asia-Pacific region conducting diverse types of field research in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. The workshop proceedings will be submitted as a themed issue to the world of music (new series) following a peer review process in August and September 2022.

We attempt to address the unique challenges we face as field researchers in light of the pandemic and welcome contributions that explore themes about the ever-changing circumstances that transform “business as usual” in both music and sound scholarship and field research. Rather than only focussing on the pandemic’s negative repercussions on traditional field research (access to field sites, travel restrictions, community vulnerabilities, etc.), we also want to engage “opportunities to do different kinds of work, to collaborate and co-design, to reflect and innovate, to think critically about the present moment” (Tuhiwai-Smith, 2021: 449).

We invite proposals for academic and working papers, field reports, and fieldwork designs that address the following questions, among others:

• How does the pandemic impact on the organization of field research projects and how does it influence or compromise field research themes and designs?

• How does the pandemic affect access to field sites? What is the “field” and how does it transform in times of pandemic?

• What are the ethical dimensions of field research during times of Covid-19 pandemic?

• How does the pandemic compel field researchers to remodel social connectivity and social relationships amid physical distancing and isolation measures?

• How does our research participate in efforts that strategically respond to the pandemic in ways that amplify community voices?

• How can we contribute to strengthening community autonomy in responding to the pandemic situation in diverse ways?

• What are current opportunities to decolonize or renew field research engagements?

• How does the Covid-19 pandemic compel us to critically rethink standard field research practices?

We invite 300-word proposals and short bios by March 14th, 2022. Please send your abstracts to sebastian.hachmeyer@uni-goettingen.de.

On behalf of the SoundKnowledge team,

Sebastian Hachmeyer

Andrew Gumataotao

Birgit Abels

More information here.