Autumn School AISSR – Secular sounds, Islamic sounds: Politics of listening in secular-liberal nation-states
Autumn school at University of Amsterdam, AISSR
Secular sounds, Islamic sounds: Politics of listening in secular-liberal nation-states
Convenors: Jeanette Jouili and Annelies Moors
Much research has been done in the last decade or so on the new visible presence of Muslims in the Diaspora in the West, in Europe and in North-America. Literature has focused on issues such as veiling and other visible bodily practices or on the changing outlook of multicultural cities through mosques, halal shops, etc. While the aspect of the visible presence is crucial to understand the developments of the Islamic revival in the West as well as the ensuing (often affective, visceral) debates regarding Muslim’s access to the public sphere within the context of regimes of secularity, a crucial aspect seems to have been overlooked. It concerns the audible presence of Muslims in these contexts. Muslims have not only impacted on the visible landscape, but they also have transformed the soundscape. This autumn school aims to address this gap and focus on the audible or sonic aspects of the Muslim presence. The emphasis on the audible should, however, not be perceived as diminishing the aspect of the visual or as denying its inherent entanglement with the former. It is understood here that the perception through one sense register never occurs alone, but always co-functions with other senses.
Islamic (inspired) soundscapes have been flourishing notably within Islamic counter-publics in the recent ten years. Listening practices closely related to traditional modes of piety such as Quran recitation or khutbas have been proliferating through new media technologies. But also music practices have been flourishing, notwithstanding the contested character of music within strands of Islamic theology. From a revival of the nasheed tradition have followed the emergence of a diversified Islamic music culture, including forms of pop, country, rock and rap music. However, Islamic sounds can also potentially leave the circumscribed and somehow protected spheres of the Islamic milieu. Islamic sounds become audible in a larger public sphere when, for example, Muslim musicians perform Islamic music at multicultural festivals or mixed cultural events, they become audible on the street when cell phones resonate the call for prayer or nasheed melodies, or if a mosque has the permission to use loudspeakers for the call for prayer.
Yet, the audibility and sonic presence of Muslims raises issues similar to their visual presence in the secular public sphere (in particular in Europe) which has been subjected to stigmatizing (media) representations and governmental policies seeking to regulate and circumscribe them. Most European countries today forbid, for instance, the diffusion of the call to prayer outside mosques. ‘Screaming’ Muslims during street demonstrations, notably shouting religious slogans, are frequently shown in the media to underscore the danger of political Islam. Islamic music practices, on the other side, seem at times to be worthy of government funding, in the desire to shape particular Muslim subjectivities.
This event then wants to think through the conundrums posed not only by the visible but also by the sonic presence of Muslims in the West. It aims at understanding the issues at stake of the sensing, and more particular listening body, in connection to secular-liberal governance by post-Christian nation-states. Starting from the insights that sound and listening invoke a particular sensory register that simultaneously acts at the corporeal level and shapes subjectivites (Nancy) and that sound is “inscribed from the start within the panoply of power” (Attali), we want to tackle several questions: What does the emerging and quickly evolving Islamic soundscape and their interlinked listening practices in the West tell us about new (ethical) Muslim subjectivities? How does this relate to the ways in which sonic experiences affect the body? What kind of transformation occurs when these new practices leave the protected space of the counter-public sphere? How can these Islamic sound practices be submitted to governmental regimes? To what extent are sound policies implemented in order to securize the Western (European) secular (post-Christian) hegemonic project?
Program:
The program of summer school consists of both extensive lectures on the themes of the summer school and master-classes. These will be, organized by the senior scholars, with the latter allowing fora more thorough and interactive discussion of the themes. This will provide the participants with a context to discuss their own research linked to the theoretical and conceptual approaches mentioned above. A list of literature will be available to the participants in advance. We also intend to organize an Islamic music and poetry event which participants can attend.
The three days summer school is followed by a one-day workshop on the same topic to which a few additional researchers will be invited. All participants will be able to attend the workshop; some will also be invited to present their work there. At some of the events guests may be present.
Confirmed Lecturers to date:
Martin Stokes, Oxford; Deborah Kapchan, NYU; Veit Erlman, University of Austin, TX, Brian Larkin, Barnard/Columbia
Application and Fees:
Participation in the autumn school is limited to 20. Our target is (advanced) MA students, PhD candidates and post-doctoral fellows. Applicants commit themselves to actively participate in the full program. In order to apply, please provide a cover letter with motivation for applying, a CV and a one page abstract of your current research project.
Participants are required to pay a fee of 150 Euros, after receiving notice that they have been selected. This covers the lectures, master classes and the seminar, as well as coffee, tee and lunch meals. In exceptional cases, those without financial support can ask for a waiver. Participants need to organize their own accommodation. A list of (cheap) hotels will be provided.
Dead-line for applications is August 20, 2010.
For further questions, please contact Jeanette Jouili: mcpamsterdam@gmail.com