SITES OF POPULAR MUSIC HERITAGE – SYMPOSIUM
 CFP

Venue: Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool

Date: 8–9 September 2011
We invite proposals from a broad range of academic disciplines for a 2 day symposium examining sites of popular music heritage: from institutions such as museums, to geographic locations, websites and online archives. Papers are welcomed that explore popular music within narratives of heritage and identity, real and imagined geographies, cultural memory and contested histories.

 

The event will focus on three thematic areas:

Popular Music Heritage in the Museum

In recent years museums have increasingly engaged with popular music heritage, as evidenced in a proliferation of exhibitions including those in the UK such as Kylie: The Exhibition at the V&A and the British Music Experience at the O2. Museum interaction with popular music heritage enables methods of narration beyond traditional written histories, engaging visitors with objects, sounds and images. The place of popular music in the museum raises issues of how music is both represented and used to represent and explore social histories, personal and collective identities, memories, and geographies. Possible themes for papers include:

  • Popular music and locality in the museum
  • Disseminating popular music heritage in museums beyond text
  • History and memory in popular music exhibitions and collections

 

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Call for Papers – Birmingham Cityscapes

An Inter-disciplinary Urban Research Conference
Saturday 18 June 2011
Seacole Building, City South Campus

Keynote Speakers:
Dr Mike Beazley, Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies, University of Birmingham
Paul Slatter, Director of Chamberlain Forum Limited, Birmingham

Engaging with current issues facing urban research in Birmingham, the Birmingham Cityscapes conference will provide a forum for academics, scholars, practitioners, community leaders and local residents to discuss urban research in the city. The conference will facilitate the development of new research networks and provide an opportunity for theoretical and applied knowledge transfer across the public, private, voluntary, and academic sectors.

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Call for Papers – Home of Metal

 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Home of Metal: Heavy Metal and Place
Capsule and the University of Wolverhampton

Location: University of Wolverhampton

Date: 1st – 4th September 2011

Key note speakers:
Prof. Scott Wilson, Kingston University (TBC)
Prof. Deena Weinstein, DePaul University (TBC)

The Heavy Metal movement is littered with accounts of its birth, not
only concerning the origins of the sound, but also the geographical and
political locations from which the music evolved. The now global
phenomenon of Heavy Metal culture has seen much change in the sounds,
styles and fashions over its 40 years of history, but is simultaneously
acutely aware of its origins in Birmingham and The Black Country (UK).

This conference on Metal and place aims to explore and evaluate the
important role that location, heritage and place have in the origins of
Heavy Metal and music in general. It will serve to engage in debate
concerning values, histories and myths in the foundation of this
movement and looking at the wider role of archiving music histories and
current practice surrounding this.

Home of Metal aims to celebrate the musical heritage of Birmingham and
The Black Country. This conference forms part of the “Home of Metal”
exhibitions and festival taking place across Birmingham and The Black
Country in the UK throughout 2011.

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Call for Papers – UB40 Symposium.

Venue: Birmingham City University, UK.

Friday 18th March 2011.

Organizers: Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research in association with Birmingham Popular Music Archive.

This year, the Birmingham-based band UB40 celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of the album ‘Signing Off’.
The band gained its name from an unemployment benefit form and achieved fame and notoriety in the ‘post-punk’ era. Known for a dedication to popularizing the sounds of reggae music the band has maintained a commitment to political issues through its music as well as cultural and social action.

Over 30 years the band has sold over 100 million albums and continues to tour extensively around the world. While the band’s star has waxed and waned in critical favour at home in the UK, it maintains a global fan base, which is particularly strong in the Third World.

This symposium seeks to bring together researchers with an interest in the band in order to consider its place in various scholarly contexts.
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