Newsletter No. 3 from 9th of June 2010

Dear colleagues and friends,

In this newsletter from the research group "Music, Conflict and the State" we
would like to draw your attention to our two upcoming Research Meetings and
to give a short report from the Sierra Leone-Workshop that took place
recently. The newsletter also provides information on the possibility of
writing Master' theses in the context of the research group.


RESEARCH MEETINGS IN SUMMER SEMESTER 2010
14.06. und 05.07.2010

At our next Research Meetings on 14 June, Christian Storch will talk about
his research project on "Music and Missions in South-East Asia in the 16th
and 17th centuries".

The last Research Meeting this semester will take place on 5 July. At this
meeting, we hope to discuss the first draft of a joint article by members of
the research group with the title "Music, the Third Reich and the ‚8 Stages
of Genocide’". Those interested in taking part in the discussion should send
a mail to mcs-info@uni-goettingen.de; the draft article will be available
around one week before the meeting.

The Meetings take place from 18:15-19:30 in the Lecture Room (Hörsaal) of the
Department of Musicology, Kurze Geismarstr. 1, 37073 Göttingen. You are
cordially invited!

Further information is available under
http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/139043.html


SYMPOSIUM COMPOSERS IN THE GULAG UNDER STALIN
16.-19.06.2010

Once again we want to draw your attention to the symposium "Composers in the
Gulag under Stalin" that will take place on 16-19 June and that is organised
by our colleagues in the Department of Musicology in Göttingen.

For further information pleace look at the website of the symposium:
http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~citg/


REPORT:
WORKSHOP "SOCIOCULTURAL AND MUSICAL ASPECTS OF THE CONFLICT IN SIERRA LEONE"

On 28 May, the research group "Music, Conflict and the State" held a one-day
workshop on the topic "Sociocultural and musical aspects of the conflict in
Sierra Leone".
Alongside the keynote speaker, social anthropologist and ethnomusicologist
Paul Richards (Wageningen University/NL und UCL London), papers were
presented by Anita Schroven and Nathaniel King from the social anthropology
working group "Integration and Conflict" of the Max Planck Institute for
Social Anthropology in Halle, and Michael Stasik from the African Studies
Centre in Leiden.
The presentations explored both the role of music during the civil war and
the role of music in promoting democracy, leading protest, and providing
entertainment in the post-war society. The ensuing and extensive discussions
introduced perspectives from evolutionary musicology, (neo-)Durkheimian
ritual theories, and theories of performance and of the functioning of music.

A more detailed report on the workshop will be available for download in the
next few days on our website at http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/149139.html


TOPICS FOR MASTERS' THESES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH GROUP

Students now have the opportunity to prepare their masters' thesis in the
context of the research group. We are currently looking for students to work
on issues relating to the general topic of children as military musicians
from antiquity to the present. Their research will form the basis of chapters
in a book on the subject edited by members of the group with the working
title "Little Drummer Boys: Children, Music and the Military from Antiquity
to the Present".
Detailed information and a list of topics can be found, in German, on our
website at http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/153702.html


THANK YOU TO REBECCA AND MAREIKE!

At the end of April, Rebecca Möllemann, one of the first members of the
group, left her "official" function as student assistant in the research
group, and at the end of June, Mareike Jacobs, who joined us in 2009, will
also leave her position as student assistant. Both Rebecca and Mareike are
currently writing their Masters' theses on topics closely related to the work
of the research group, and we hope to be able to continue to profit from
their wisdom in the future. We want to take this opportunity to thank them
once again for their hard work in the initial phase of the research group's
work.


More information about the research group can be found on
http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/84354.html

Best wishes,
The Research Group "Music, Conflict and the State"