CFP: The Philosophy of BAM: Identity, Politics, & Aesthetics in the Last Century of Black American Music

This anthology is looking for essays that explore the last century of black American music, especially the bookend genres of jazz and hip-hop. Though jazz and hip-hop are often considered separate, if not opposed, genres, they were both borne of a desire to express the experience of marginalization and to bring about social change. In particular, we want to explore ways in which the last 100 years is a continuum wrestling with the same questions about identity, aesthetics and politics. How have racial, cultural, gender, and sexual identities shaped the music of Black America? What role does social change play in the musical and political aims of various sub-genres of Black American music? What is the relationship between these art forms and their audience? How has the commercialization of Black American music affected the aesthetic or political goals of the music and musicians?

We are situated in philosophy, but hope that this anthology will be interdisciplinary and place a number of fields and issues in conversation with each other. We welcome diverse submissions and methodologies from fields like African American studies, musicology, history, women and gender studies, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, etc. Our goal is to pair these academic and intellectual discussions with short interviews with various musicians active in the wide spectrum of Black American music.

Abstracts should be no more than 500 words.

Please send abstracts by November 1st to:

e-mail: [email protected]