Anthropology of Music Lecture Series and Master Class with
Martin Stokes (Kings College London)
Listening beyond Landscape: Music Ethnography and the Environmental Turn, June 26 to 29, 2024
Department of Anthropology and African Studies (ifeas) and African Music Archives (AMA)

We are happy to invite applications to the 4th edition of the Anthropology of Music Lecture Series and Master Class (AoM–LS/MC) at the Department of Anthropology and African Studies (ifeas), Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. We invite researchers with academic backgrounds in anthropology, (ethno-)musicology and related fields to apply for the master class.

The event combines a series of three public lectures by one of the field’s most established representative with a master class designed for young researchers on PhD and postdoc levels to present their ongoing work. It provides an exceptional opportunity to discuss theoretical trends in anthropological and ethnomusicological engagements with music and sound.

It is with great excitement that we welcome Martin Stokes, King Edward Professor of Music at Kings College London(UK), as guest lecturer as well as discussant throughout the master class.

AoM–LS/MC 2024: Listening Beyond Landscape
Martin Stokes: “The environmental turn potentially pushes us towards either new kinds of determinism or new kinds of epistemological fragmentation (as it decenters the human subject). Post-humanist philosopher Jane Bennett writes of a ‘heuristic' or 'strategic' anthropomorphism that strives to keep human accountability and responsibility firmly in the frame (Bennett 2010). Some radical new lines of thought about the environments and elements of planetary life – air (Davies 2023), carbon (Devine 2015), and water (Silvers 2018) amongst others – have advanced an ambitious agenda in music studies recently. But might a music anthropology be tasked with a more specific response to Bennett’s challenge? How might music and sound figure in such a 'framing'? What are the stakes of a 'heuristic anthropomorphism' from the perspectives of today's music studies? Lectures and masterclass will consider how to imagine the theoretical and political space 'beyond landscape' collaboratively and more capaciously.”

The Lecture Series (June 26–28)
Martin Stokes: “In the series of three public lectures, I will discuss both recent and ancient thinking about water and its relationship to landscape, cities and human life, focusing on my recent research along the Euphrates, and asking an (initially) simple question: how is music implicated in the struggle over water, and how is water implicated in the struggle over music – 'struggle' here admitting the possibility of agencies beyond the human? The question opens up a broader space of ethnographic inquiry and engagement I will label 'hydropoetic', taking my cue from some recent thinking in the anthropology of water.”

The Master Class (June 27–29)
The master class provides sixteen researchers on PhD and Postdoc levels with the opportunity to present and discuss their work with Martin Stokes and other advanced researchers from anthropology and ethnomusicology. We invite researchers with academic backgrounds in anthropology, (ethno-)musicology and related fields to apply for the master class. There are no restrictions in regard to the region of study or the kind of music or sound explored. However, applicants need to have engaged in ethnographic research on music or sound, as the attempt to relate profound ethnographic insight with advanced theory is a core concern of the series. We therefore ask applicants to clearly relate their empirical findings to the overall topic of the AoM–LS/MC 2024.

How to apply
The lecture series is public. To participate in the master class, we kindly ask you to apply. Please send the following documents with your application:
– a brief academic CV, including your current affiliation,
– a short outline of your general research project (300 words max.),
– a title and short abstract of your presentation (300 words max.). Please make sure your presentation clearly relates to the series’ overall topic, and keep in mind that the focus of the master class is on theory.
Please send your application as a PDF to anthro-music@uni-mainz.de until March 15, 2024.

There is no tuition fee for the master class, and we will provide participants with accommodation, breakfast, and lunch. We encourage applications from countries of the ‘Global South’. In cases where the costs of transportation pose a challenge, we will aim for additional funding. Please inform us in your application, we will discuss possibilities once you are accepted.

If you need more information, please do not hesitate to contact us (anthro-music@uni-mainz.de). You can also check our webpage for updates and further information: https://anthropologyofmusic.com/.

We all look very much forward to meeting you in Mainz!
Anthropology of Music Working Group at ifeas
Markus Verne (Professor for Anthropology and Aesthetics)
Hauke Dorsch (Director of the African Music Archives/AMA)
Martin Büdel (Lecturer in Anthropology)
Şebnem Altunkaya, Tesfahun Haddis, Daniel Jákli, Jessica Ludenia, Lea Pulter, Tom Simmert