• Dr Tom Western, Marie Curie Fellow, Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, Research Associate, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford]
• Dr Áine Mangaoang, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Popular Music, University of Oslo

ISS21 in collaboration with the School of Applied Social Studies, the Department of Sociology and Criminology, the Department of Music and the MusConYP Research Project

2-4pm, Thursday, February 20th, 2020

Boole 2

Contemporary signs indicate we will soon be living in an age of mass incarceration. Recent years have witnessed a growth in academic investigation into the sonic qualities and musical experiences of those in carceral spaces, particularly prisons, via the work of Cusick (2006; 2008), Anderson and Overy (2010), Cohen (2012), Grant and Papaeti (2013), and Rice (2016), for example. But incarceration takes many forms beyond that of the “prison as punishment” model today as the carceral trend in using detention for immigration purposes continues to rise around the world. Furthermore, this trend towards containment impacts how controlled populations (most often poor, people of colour) subsequently experience and shape urban spaces following their detention.

This seminar features two 45-minute lectures by Tom Western (University of Oslo/University of Oxford) and Áine Mangaoang (University of Oslo). The talks consider questions, including: how can a focus on music and sound facilitate interrogations of politics and power in contemporary places of detention and containment? How might musicians, music researchers, ethnographers, and anthropologists advocate for social justice by reaching out to and building alliances with communities that are impacted by these carceral trends? And how can we ethically sound contested citizenships in the 21st century?