Borderlands of Sonic Encounter

Drawing from the complex disciplinary perspectives of contemporary music studies, this seminar challenges us to remap the landscapes of musical inquiry from center to periphery, from the familiar landscapes of musical canon to the borderlands formed by sonic encounter. “Borderlands of Sonic Encounter” offers students the opportunity to bring diverse backgrounds and disciplinary methods to bear on the interconnectedness afforded by the emergence of global musicology. Listening to and acting with music at the border is more critical in the twenty-first century than ever before. Migrants and refugees move ceaselessly across borders at the sites of conflict. The sonic landscape of borders resounds with violence and threats to sovereignty. The metaphors of the border reflect the most profound of human concerns, above all the borders between life and death. The different projects students will undertake in the seminar will allow them to approach the ontological and aesthetic questions of music in new ways. The symposia and research projects of Phil Bohlman’s Balzan Project, “Borderlands of Sonic Encounter,” will provide additional resources for the seminar. Students from all sub-disciplines of music are welcome in the seminar. So, too, are students from the humanistic social sciences, area studies, and Divinity.