Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological Perspective - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0190259086 ISBN 13: 9780190259082

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2016

Synopsis

The sustainability of music and other intangible expressions of culture has been high on the agenda of scholars, governments and NGOs in recent years. However, there is a striking lack of systematic research into what exactly affects sustainability across music cultures. By analyzing case studies of nine highly diverse music cultures against a single framework that identifies key factors in music sustainability, Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures offers an understanding of both the challenges and the dynamics of music sustainability in the contemporary global environment, and breathes new life into the previously discredited realm of comparative musicology, from an emphatically non-Eurocentric perspective.

Situated within the expanding field of applied ethnomusicology, this book confirms some commonly held beliefs, challenges others, and reveals sometimes surprising insights into the dynamics of music cultures. By examining, comparing and contrasting highly diverse contexts from thriving to 'in urgent need of safeguarding,' Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures analyzes sustainability across five carefully defined domains. The book identifies pathways to strategies and tools that may empower communities to sustain and revitalize their music heritage on their terms. In this way, this book contributes to greater scholarly insight, new (sub)disciplinary approaches, and pathways to improved practical outcomes for the long-term sustainability of music cultures. As such it will be an essential resource for ethnomusicologists, as well as scholars and activists outside of music, with an interest in the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.

About this title

About the Author

Professor Huib Schippers has broad, hands-on experience of more than forty years in the practice and study of world music, ethnomusicology and music education. He is a recognised leader of action research projects focusing on cultural diversity, and was responsible for establishing the World Music & Dance Centre (Rotterdam, 1996-2006) and the innovative Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre (Brisbane, 2003-2015).

Dr Catherine Grant is a former Endeavour Australia Research Fellow and recipient of Australia's Future Justice medal for her work on issues of music endangerment and sustainability. Her book Music Endangerment: How Language Maintenance can Help was published in 2014 by Oxford University Press.

Review

"Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological Perspective is a pivotal publication that will spark more socially engaged, purposeful front-loading of music research. It will be an important scholarly reference point for many years to come."--Daniel Sheehy, Director & Curator Emeritus, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

"This book is a methodological game changer for ethnomusicology."--Deborah Wong, University of California, Riverside

"The articles all employ accessible writing styles, and could be adopted for upper-level undergraduate and graduate ethnomusicology seminars. It is a particularly welcome addition, with applied ethnomusicology and public musicology seminars increasing in number. Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures contributes new approaches to the study of the ecology of music, providing a nuanced methodological framework that makes examining music cultures from an ecological perspective more concrete and comparative." --MusiCultures

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0190259086
• ISBN 13: 9780190259082
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 392
• Editor: Schippers Huib