October 19–23 Ottawa, Canada
Wesleyan University Press recently attended the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting (SEM) 2023, in Ottawa, Canada.
We celebrated the launch of new books by authors Lisa Barg (Queer Arrangements: Billy Strayhorn and Midcentury Jazz Collaboration) and Matthew Harp Allen (The Life of Music in South India).
We are excited to share news of our award-winning authors! The following awards and honorable mentions were announced during the conference:
SEM 2023 Bruno Netto Prize for an outstanding publication contributing to or dealing with the history of the field of ethnomusicology,:
Awarded to Noel Lobley for Sound Fragments: From Field Recording to African-Electronic Stories
SEM 2023 Ruth Stone Prize for most distinguished English-language monograph in the field of ethnomusicology, published as the author’s first monograph:
Awarded to jointly to Noel Lobley for Sound Fragments: From Field Recording to African-Electronic Stories and Jessica Bissett Perea for Sound Relations: Native Ways of Doing Music History in Alaska (Oxford)
SEM 2023 Ellen Koskoff Edited Music Prize for Outstanding Edited Collection of Essays in Ethnomusicology:
An honorable mention was bestowed to Christina Baade and Kristin McGee for Beyoncé in the World: Making Meaning with Queen Bey in Troubled Times
Noel Lobley’s Sound Fragments: From Field Recording to African Electronic Stories is an ethnographic study of sound archives and the processes of creative decolonization that form alternative modes of archiving and curating in the 21st century. It explores the histories and afterlives of sound collections and practices at the International Library of African Music. Sound Fragments follows what happens when a colonial sound archive is repurposed and reimagined by local artists in post-apartheid South Africa. The narrative speaks to larger issues in sound studies, curatorial practices, and the reciprocity and ethics of listening to and reclaiming culture. Sound Fragments interrogates how Xhosa arts activism contributes to an expanding notion of what a sound or cultural archive could be, and where it may resonate now and in future. Watch a video about the book here.
Noel Lobley is assistant professor of music at the University of Virginia. Lobley is an ethnomusicologist, sound curator, and artist who works across the disciplines of music, anthropology, sound art, and composition. He has served on the committee of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology, is an appointed member of the Royal Anthropological Institute’s ethnomusicology committee and was awarded the 2015 Curl Lectureship at the Royal Anthropological Institute.
From Destiny’s Child to Lemonade, Homecoming, and The Gift, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has redefined global stardom, feminism, Black representation, and celebrity activism. Beyonceé in the World brings together new work from sixteen international scholars to explore Beyoncé’s impact as an artist and public figure from the perspectives of critical race studies, gender and women’s studies, queer and cultural studies, music, and fan studies. The contributors explore Beyoncé’s musical persona as one that builds upon the lineages of Black female cool, Black southern culture, and Black feminist cultural production. They explore Beyoncé’s reception within and beyond North America, including how a range of performers—from YouTube gospel singers to Brazilian pop artists have drawn inspiration from her performances and image. The authors show how Beyoncé’s music is a source of healing and kinship for many fans, particularly Black women and queer communities of color. Combining cutting edge research, vivid examples, and accessible writing, this collection provides multiple lenses onto the significance of Beyoncé in the United States and around the world.
Christina Baade is professor and chair in the Department of Communication Studies and Multimedia at McMaster University and author of Victory through Harmony: the BBC and Popular Music in World War II and co-editor of Beyoncé in the World: Making Meaning with Queen Bey in Troubled Times.
Kristin McGee is associate professor of popular music at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the author of Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928–1959 and co-editor of Beyoncé in the World: Making Meaning with Queen Bey in Troubled Times.
We had a fantastic time visiting with authors and friends, and look forward to seeing you next year!
