Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change
A Cross-Disciplinary Symposium
Thursday 15th - Friday 16th Sept 2011
Conference Venue: The Graduate Centre, London Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Rd, London, N7 8DB
Style-based subcultures, scenes and tribes – along with their music genres – have pulsated through the history of social, economic and political change. From 1940s zoot-suiters and hepcats; through 1950s rock ‘n’ rollers, beatniks and Teddy boys; 1960s surfers, rudeboys, mods, hippies and bikers; 1970s skinheads, soul boys, rastas, glam rockers, funksters and punks; on to the heavy metal, hip-hop, casual, goth, rave and clubber styles of the 1980s, 90s, noughties and beyond; distinctive blends of fashion and music have become a defining feature of the cultural landscape. Research into these phenomena has traversed the social sciences and humanities, and this symposium aims to bring together recent studies, insights and methodological approaches in this rich, interdisciplinary field.
Featuring contributions both from major scholars and eminent commentators, the symposium seeks to explore the historical and cultural significance of subcultural styles and their related music genres. Bringing together theoretical analyses, empirical studies and methodological discussions, it will explore the relation between subcultures and their historical context, the place of subcultures within patterns of cultural and political change, and their meaning for participants, confederates and opponents. As well as Anglo-American developments, the symposium aims to consider experiences across a variety of global sites and locales, giving reference to issues such as class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, creativity, commerce, identity, resistance and deviance.
The symposium marks the launch of the Subcultures Network: The Interdisciplinary Network for the Study of Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change – a cross-disciplinary research network for scholars and students interested in the relation between subcultures (in all their forms) wider process of social, cultural and political change. Additional information about the Subcultures Network can be found at - http://www.reading.ac.uk/history/research/hist-subcultures.aspx.
Speakers include Richard Barnes, Pauline Black, Caroline Coon, Paul Gorman, Professor Dick Hebdige, Professor David Hesmondhalgh.
Style-based sub-cultures, scenes and tribes - along with their music genres - have pulsated through the history of social, economic and political change. From the 1940s zoot-suiters and hepcats; through 1950s rock 'n' rollers, beatniks and Teddy boys; 1960s surfers, rudeboys, mods, hippies and bikers; 1970s skinheads, soul boys, rastas, glam rockers, funksters and punks; on to the heavy metal, hip-hop, casual, goth, rave and clubber styles of the 1980s, 90s, noughties and beyond; distinctive blends of fashion and music have become a defining feature of the cultural landscape. Research into these phenomena has traversed the social sciences and humanities, and this symposium aims to bring together recent studies, insights and methodological approaches in this rich, interdisciplinary field.
The conference poster can be found here:
/fms/MRSite/acad/dass/eventFlyers/subculturesemailposter.pdf
This event is the Inaugural Symposium of the Interdisciplinary Network for the Study of Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change. Further details on the network can be found here:
http://www.reading.ac.uk/history/research/hist-subcultures.aspx.
Submission of papers for this symposium is now closed.
Prior registration is required.
Registration information
We have had an overwhelming response for this symposium, and we are having to limit places due to venue capacity. If you have not submitted a paper or had a paper accepted, but are interested in attending the symposium, there may be some places available that you can register for after July 15th. Please email dasslectures@londonmet.ac.uk detailing your name, organization and contact details and you will be contacted if registration is possible after this date.
If you have had notification from the organizers that you have had a paper accepted for this symposium, and are looking to pay your symposium fee, you can pay here:
http://eshop.londonmet.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?modid=1&prodid=396&deptid=6&catid=159&prodvarid=0
If you have any further queries about the symposium, please email dasslectures@londonmet.ac.uk
The organisers
- Jon Garland (University of Leicester)
- Keith Gildart (University of Wolverhampton)
- Paul Hodkinson (University of Surrey)
- Bill Osgerby (London Metropolitan University)
- Lucy Robinson (University of Sussex)
- John Street (University of East Anglia),
- Pete Webb (Goldsmiths, University of London)
- Matt Worley (University of Reading).
