Isabelle Vanderschelden has also recently had an article published in Langues et Médias en Méditerranée (Abdenbi Lachkar). The article is entitled ‘Filmer l’école : un révélateur des identités langagières et des manifestations interculturelles dans la France d’aujourd’hui’. Details of the book can be found here
Category Archives: Music and visual arts
Multiple Generosities Salon
Dr Beate Peter is involved in this Faculty research programme event. The full title of the Salon is “Multiple Generosities; Challenging the Declining Community Thesis: Considerations from Michel Maffesoli’s Neo-Tribalism” and it will take place on Friday 11th May. Details below…
Salon
“Multiple Generosities; Challenging the Declining Community Thesis: Considerations from Michel Maffesoli’s Neo-Tribalism”
Friday, May 11th, 2012.
Venue: Sandra Burslem 210.
Time: 4.30-7.30pm.
Participants
Beate Peter, Dept of Languages, MMU.
James Horrox, Dept of Politics MMU, Manchester University, Open University
Sebastien Tutenges, Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Copenhagen Campus.
Rupa Huq, Kingston University
Vincenzo Susca, University Paul Valery Montpellier III, CEAQ Sorbonne Paris.
Chair and Curator; Mike Tyldesley, Politics, MMU.
The premise of the Salon can be summed up in a recent statement by Prof Daniel Miller in his recent book Tales fromFacebook: “for a century we have imagined that participation in community and social relations was in decline” (p. x. Polity Press, 2011.) Miller is arguably seeking to challenge this perception, and it is clear that this perception would be deeply problematic for Michel Maffesoli if taken as a statement of how things actually are in contemporary society, despite it being a very widely held view. What we will to do in the Salon is look at this notion and consider what, if anything, Maffesoli’s thought can tell us about it. Maffesoli’s key idea here is, of course, his argument about “tribalism” – the subtitle of his book The Time of the Tribes (Sage, 1996; French original 1988) is ‘The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society’, and for him a key feature of contemporary social formations is the growth of ‘neo-tribes’ as a key focus for everyday life. This, and not the ‘Social Atomism’ that concerns the likes of Jesse Norman, Tory MP and ‘Big Society’ champion (The Big Society, UBP, 2010, p.1) is where our focus should be.
For further information and to book a place contact Mike Tyldesley: m.tyldesley@mmu.ac.uk
Book review
Dr Beate Peter has recently reviewed a book for Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture. The details can be found below.
Rave Culture. The Alteration and Decline of a Philadelphia Music Scene. Tammy L. Anderson. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2009.
ISBN: 978-1-59213-934-7 (hardcover), 978-1-59213-934-7 (paperback)
http://www.dancecult.net/dj/index.php/journal/article/viewArticle/50/87
Call for papers
POPULAR MUSIC AND AUTOMOBILE CULTURE
A One Day Symposium: Friday 22nd June 2012
Binks Building
University of Chester, England
Event organisers:
Dr Chris Hart, Dr Mark Duffett and Dr Beate Peter
From Cadillacs to tour buses, motor vehicles and popular music have developed in parallel as symbiotic commodities. Their intimate and intertwined relationship evokes issues and feelings that characterize life in modern society. The conference aims to outline and discuss this relationship between these two culturally charged commodities. Motor transport is a dominant feature of the modern world. Cars, buses, trucks and everything in between have their followers and dissenters. Vehicles offer the functions of mobility, freedom, speed and comfort, but they are not just physical machines. Contemporary and historic brands offer consumers opportunities to display status, belonging, style and choice. Social and utilitarian elements combine within a motor aesthetic that provides individuals with entry into particular imagined communities. A multiplicity of brands and logos symbolizes the various styles, designs and attitudes that are now a global currency. Advertising and marketing have elevated the social place of particular vehicles to objects of fantasy, desire, status and play. Just as motor vehicles are referenced in popular music, so music is a part of automobile culture and design. From the 1950s onwards drivers and passengers have been able to enjoy a choice of music styles, genres and artists as in-car audio technology has became a feature of most vehicles. Linking the two commodities has allowed auto-manufacturers to stylize mass-produced lines as emblems of social and personal identity. Whether one discusses Motown, the Oldsmobile 88 or Route 66, motor vehicles and roads have been at the centre of popular music cultures that have defined the attitudes of whole sections of modern society. We therefore suggest the following themes for consideration:
The role of vehicles in the music or images of key artists.
Music stars as celebrity endorsers for motoring.
Glittering prizes: vehicles as commodities (eg. Elvis, Beach Boys).
Vehicles, gender, youth and courtship (eg. Grease, surf sounds, Beatles).
Vehicles and particular music genres, places or scenes (eg. hip-hop, surf music, Detroit).
Dimensions of identity: place, class, vehicles, music.
Alienation / twisted celebrations (e. Gary Numan, Kraftwerk).
Metaphorical critiques: crashes and traffic jams (Jan & Dean, Hendrix, The Normal).
Popular music and racing cars.
“Driving” and “the road” as themes and metaphors in music.
Vehicles as vehicles for listening (eg. in-car audio culture).
Drive time: music formats, radio and the experience of driving.
Retro culture: vehicle collecting, music and nostalgia.
Low-riding: race and music, vehicles and the urban landscape.
Futurism, vehicles, speed and music (eg. Kylie, Electronic music).
Motor companies use of music for branding (eg. David Guetta / Transformers).
Use of vehicles in music videos.
The event will not charge a registration fee, but we will expect those attending to register and fill in a photography clearance form.
At this stage we invite submission of abstracts for proposed papers of 300 words or less with the addition of a 50 word biography by 31st January 2012.
Please send abstracts or enquiries to C.Hart@chester.ac.uk.
About the organisers:
Dr Chris Hart is Senior Lecturer in Advertising at Chester. He recently co-managed the largest study done to date into the economics and social impact of historic vehicles in Europe.
Dr Mark Duffett is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Chester. He is known as a popular music scholar whose central interests include fandom and Elvis Presley.
Dr Beate Peter is Lecturer in German at Manchester Metropolitan University with research interests in music psychology and popular culture. Her comparative study of techno in Detroit and Berlin is to be published in Spring 2012.
http://pop-music-research.blogspot.com/2012/01/popular-music-and-automobile-culture.html
Book review
Dr Beate Peter has recently reviewed a book for the journal Popular Music. The details can be found below.
Technomad. Global Raving Countercultures. By Graham St John. London and Oakville: Equinox, 2009. 312 pp. ISBN 978-1-84553-625-1 (hb), 978-1-84553-626-8 (pb) doi:10.1017/S0261143011000122
Maffesoli and Techno
Dr Beate Peter will be giving a paper on Maffesoli and techno as part of the Faculty’s research programme. Beate’s contribution will be one of five papers to be presented at a ‘salon’ organised for May next year. More details will be posted as they come to us.
Book chapter
Dr Beate Peter is soon to contribute a chapter to the book “Poor but Sexy”: Reflections on Berlin Scenes, edited by Geoff Stahl. It is to be published by Peter Lang early 2012. She analyses the historical, social, political and economic factors that contribute to the creation of the specific sound of a city. In this context, techno music is treated as an expression of belonging, home and identity. This comparative study of Detroit and Berlin reveals two similar yet very different cities that present cornerstones in the development of this genre.
Conference presentation
Dr Beate Peter (MMU German Lector) has been accepted to give a presentation at a conference organised by the ACSIS (Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden). This year’s theme deals with Current Issues in European Cultural Studies. Dr Peter’s panel discusses Electronic Dance Music scenes and changing conditions in DJ Culture. Her contribution focusses particularly on the relationship between the dancer and the DJ and the psychological models that can be applied to such a setting. For more information see: www.isak.liu.se/acsis/conference-2011/confprogram-2011?l=sv
Invited talk – club transmediale
Dr Beate Peter (MMU German Lector) has been invited to give a talk discussing aspects of immersion and self experience in the context of music and visual arts at the transmediale conference 2011 in Berlin, Germany. With this year’s theme of liveness in performance, in her paper Beate is not only going to address problems of defining liveness regarding electronic dance music but also discussing the aspects of spontaneity and pre-conception from both the performer’s and the audience’s perspective. For more information see www.clubtransmediale.de.