INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

SOUNDSCAPES OF TRAUMA
MUSIC, VIOLENCE, THERAPY

Athens, 23-25 May 2019 | Panteion University, Athens, Greece 

Organizers
> Department of Social Anthropology, Panteion University, Athens
> Laboratory of Anthropological Research, Panteion University, Athens
> SIMM, Brussels 

Keynote Speakers
> Professor Suzanne G. Cusick, New York University
> Associate Professor Martin Daughtry, New York University
> John Speyer, Music in Detention (UK)

Music has been intrinsically linked with repression, punishment, and warfare, as well as therapy and survival in situations of detention, war, and conflict zones. Music torture and sonic weapons are only a few examples that are by no means limited to contemporary times. At the same time, there is a growing scholarship on the beneficial effects of music in war and/or detention (e.g. prisons, refugee camps, immigration centres), showing how it can bridge ethnic/social differences, encouraging community building. Soundscapes of Trauma explores negative and positive uses of music and sound in detention, incarceration, and warfare across historical periods. Resolutely interdisciplinary, its programme consists of papers from across disciplines, including musicology, ethnomusicology, history, trauma studies, social anthropology, and music therapy. It also aims to forge a much needed intersectoral dialogue between academics, researchers, artists, and practitioners working with survivors or detainees in prisons, refugee camps, and immigration centres.

For further details, visit the conference webpage here.