30th Annual Midwest Graduate Music Consortium Call for Papers Meetings & Events

This year marks the 30th anniversary of MGMC, its theme will be Critical Futures in Music Studies. We are seeking original research papers and compositions by current graduate students in any field interested in music/sound studies.

The broad theme seeks to bridge the often-imposed division between the past and the future by highlighting how temporal constructions are rooted in lived experiences in the present. Such a formulation brings historiography, performance, and processes of sociocultural (re-)construction into critical dialogue with ongoing debates surrounding how to imagine and create futures that are  sustainable and equitable for all. The theme also emphasizes the inherent interdisciplinarity of music studies, both between and beyond the subfields of musicology, composition, music theory, ethnomusicology, music education, and sound studies.

By foregrounding a collective intellectual terrain, Critical Futures in Music Studies invites contributors to reflect on how their work participates in broadening the horizons of what is possible for the field, for academia, and for the world. We invite submissions from both those in traditional music studies as well as those working on music in other disciplines, such as African American / Black Diaspora Studies, Comparative Literature, Film and Media Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Some potential topics include:

• Music, power, and time/temporality
• Music and political moments/movements
• Non-traditional/forward-oriented/new modes of scholarship, research, pedagogy
• Music (and) technology
• Musical communities, classes, publics, and stakeholders

In addition to the presentation of research, compositions, and performances from our colleagues, attendees will hear a keynote address from Prof. Jennifer Iverson on Saturday evening, followed by a new music concert and a reception made possible through the generosity of our host, Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music.