Political dimensions of music subcultures in post-socialism

Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague

Abstract deadline: April 1, 2016

Conference date: May 20–21, 2016

Conference fee: 80 € (50 € for students)

The conference will be held in English.

 

Keynote speakers:   

Matthew Worley (University of Reading)

Hilary Pilkington (The University in Manchester)

 

We would like to invite you to submit abstracts for an international conference that will be held in Prague (Czech Republic) focusing on the sources and forms of the politicization of subcultures in post-socialist European countries. Our main focus is on (but not limited to) music subcultures such as punk, techno, rave, skinhead or hip hop.

The goal of the conference is to map out political dimensions of post-socialist subcultures in Europe. We welcome papers that focus on the investigation of political dimensions of subcultures on several levels: political content, identity and subjectivity, political interaction with the society at large and the relations and hierarchies within the subcultures. We propose the studies to focus on the political messages the subcultures communicate and embody through their lyrical content of the songs, their slogans, symbols as well as their styles of life. We are also interested in the process of socialization of the subcultural participants and its relation to particular political identities, subjectivities and/or attitudes (anarchist, feminist, environmentalist, Neo-Nazi, racism, nationalism, animal rights) and how the members of the subcultures understand themselves especially when it comes to the political interaction with the society.

Selected papers presented at the conference will lead to a book project related to the issue. Therefore we expect the papers (5 000–8 000 words) to be submitted 10 days before the date of the conference.

 

Preferred topics:

• Micro-politics – the politicization of everyday life: ethics, DIY economy
• Macro-politics – subcultures and activism: how subcultures organize, how the members become activists, how subcultures become protest groups, how have the sources of politicization of current subcultures changed over time
• Reflexive politicization within subcultures: hierarchies, subcultural capital, construction of authenticity, debates about “origins” and history, commercialization and commodification of subcultures
• Moments of politicization: racism, war, problems related to transformation and other situational sources of politicization of subcultures.
• Subcultures and power relations: repression under the Socialist regime and after, politics of “extremism”, the object of moral panics and media coverage
• Political aspects of studying subcultures: methodology and the production of knowledge
• Post-socialist space: related to the social transformations, the transfer of subcultural inspirations from the West and its impacts

Please, submit your abstract (500–700 words) to subcultures2016@fsv.cuni.cz along with your affiliation and short biography by April 1, 2016.