New Orleans has long been known as the “birthplace of jazz;” more recently, it has become a signifier for ruin. The chaos wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 signaled a shocking sense of loss in the music world: some musicians lost their lives and many lost their livelihoods; the city’s ubiquitous choirs, marching bands, and parades were disrupted and displaced. Residents of New Orleans, particularly the working poor, were evacuated and have yet to permanently return. And yet, at the same time, both remaining and former residents have fought to hold on to and even revive their cherished culture.
Performers, bands, and fans have commuted from their temporary homes, worked to replenish instruments, continued the city’s parades and festivals, and cultivated the spirit of music for which the city is so well-known. These circumstances in New Orleans raise broader issues of birth and death, change and endurance, as music is practiced by people in cities and regions across the world:

What is the appeal, use, or meaning of thinking about musical origins?
How can we best understand the various “births” of different genres of music and their relationships to place, culture, or individual agency?
What are the nature and meanings of “classic” music?
How have “roots” functioned as a metaphor in American music criticism?
In what ways can we connect the life cycles of music scenes, genres, and
styles to that of individuals, cultures, and places?
How do musicians and listeners mark life passages and stages–birth, youth, aging, death–through music?
How do instances of musical sound (a cracking voice, varying rhythms,
instrumental textures) signify the aging body or changing environments?
How can we account for the decline, waning, or even “deaths” of different
musics?
What is the significance of beginnings and endings in songs?
How can we best talk about alleged phenomena like “gray-out” or
“homogenization” in music?
What is the nature of “unfinished” work in different music genres?
How, exactly, do remixing, rereleasing, or remastering revive songs and
albums?
What can we learn from efforts to preserve music through grant programs,
festivals, “legacy” box sets, and other methods?

We invite proposals that explore these issues in New Orleans or other
localities; we are also open to proposals that address other current topics
of research and debate in the study of popular music, broadly defined.
Proposals for individual papers should consist of a 300-word abstract and a 1-page CV of the author. Panel, roundtable, and other group proposals should consist of a 300-word summary of the panel topic, in addition to abstracts and CVs for each of the participants. For each proposal, please send a cover message, with the components attached as Microsoft Word or Rich Text documents, to <iaspm2010@gmail.com>. The deadline is December 1, 2009.
Questions about proposals may be sent to the Program Chair, Daniel Cavicchi, at <dcavicch@risd.edu> or to any of the 2010 Program Committee members: Ken Habib (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo), Kwame Harrison (Virginia Tech), Diane Pecknold (University of Louisville), Devon Powers (Drexel University), or Eric Weisbard (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa).

The conference in New Orleans will take place April 9-11, coinciding with
the city’s French Quarter Festival. The 2010 Program Committee and the
Arrangements Committee hope to take full advantage of the unique
opportunities present in the city. All accepted presenters must be IASPM-US members; to join the Association, go to: http://www.iaspm-us.net/

Berea College Sound Archives

Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project

Internet Archive:  78 RPMs & Cylinder Recordings

Feel free to share other sources in the comments.  Keep it legal please.    (Thanks, John & Terry!)

**Update:  Here’s another.  (Thanks, Brooke!)

Global Music Archive

(P.S.  Keep an eye out for the amendment showcase sponsored by the Women’s & Gender Studies Program!)

Thanks for reading!  (You are reading, right?  Echo…)

The 33nd Annual Southeastern Women’s Studies Association Conference will be hosted by the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC on March
25-27, 2010.

Conference Theme for 2010:

“Cultural Productions, Gender, and Activism” is an exciting and edgy
axis for theorizing WGS in the southeastern region of the United
States.

Featuring Keynote Addresses by:

Judith Jack Halberstam
Bernice Johnson Reagon
Marjorie Spruill
The Southeastern Women’s Studies Association (SEWSA) is a feminist
organization that actively supports and promotes all aspects of women’s
studies at every level of involvement. The organization is committed to
scholarship on and activism eliminating oppression and discrimination on
the basis of sex, race, age, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic
background, physical ability, and class.  SEWSA is a regional
organization under the National Women’s Studies Association serving
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, and Virginia.

CALL FOR PAPERS
Papers are solicited on any of the following topics:

•    Culture, Globalization, and Transnational Activism
•    Art, Culture, and Empowerment
•    Cultural Work as Intellectual Work
•    Cultural Work as Political Work
•    Guerrilla Art and Guerilla Activism
•    Art and Social Resistance
•    Activist Art
•    Grassroots Organizing Through Arts and Culture
•    Pedagogies of the Oppressed
•    Theater of the Oppressed
•    Performance, Slam Poetry, and Politics

Thematic papers are encouraged, but we welcome paper proposals on all
women’s studies topics. Submissions are invited from undergraduates,
graduate students, and scholars alike.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE for INDIVIDUAL PAPERS and SESSIONS of 3-5 PAPERS:
December 1, 2009.

Selected panels will also be sponsored by the Student Caucus, the LGBTQ
Caucus, and the Women of Color Caucus.
LGBTQ CAUCUS OF SEWSA

In response to the challenges of institutional and cultural homophobia
in the U.S. Southeast, and in an effort to foreground antihomophobic
feminist cultural work, SEWSA is building an LGBTQ Caucus that will
provide a strong network for support and the sharing of scholarly and
pedagogical ideas around LGBTQ issues throughout the region.

WOMEN OF COLOR CAUCUS OF SEWSA

In recognition of the central place of “intersectionality” in
contemporary women’s studies–a widespread disciplinary commitment to
analyzing race, class, and gender as powerful interlocking principles
by which people are organized globally and locally–SEWSA is building a
Women of Color Caucus. The objectives of the group will be to provide a
strong network for support and the sharing of scholarly and pedagogical
ideas around issues of race throughout the region.Calls for papers for
these panels will be announced soon.

Check for updates and more detailed instructions for submitting
abstracts at the conference website
(http://www.cas.sc.edu/wost/conference.html) and the SEWSA organization
website (http://sewsa.nwsa.org/events.html).

STUDENT TRAVEL GRANTS
A
total of $1,500 is available for student travel grants to the annual
SEWSA conference. Student travel grants of up to $100 each will be
awarded to students presenting papers at the SEWSA conference who
attend college within the southeastern region.  Both undergraduate and
graduate students are eligible.  The request should include the
student’s name, academic affiliation,
enrollment year, contact information (including surface address, email
address, and phone number), a brief statement giving the paper title,
an explanation as to how the conference fits with the student’s
interest in Women’s/Gender Studies, and why attending the conference is
important to the student’s work. Requests for student travel grants
should be submitted
via email by January 15, 2010 to SEWSA President Elect
Lisa Johnson at mjohnson@uscupstate.edu.

Other questions should be directed to the conference organizer, Dr.
Drucilla Barker (barkerdk@mailbox.sc.edu).

**********************
Lisa A. Costello
Interim Director, Women’s and Gender Studies
Assistant Professor, Writing and Linguistics
Georgia Southern University
P.O. Box 8026
Statesboro, GA 30460
(912) 478-5561

**********************
“My hope emerges from those places of struggle where I witness
individuals positively transforming their lives and the world around
them. Educating is always a vocation rooted in hopefulness. As teachers
we believe that learning is possible, that nothing can keep an open mind
from seeking after knowledge and finding a way to know.” bell hooks

This article mentions his work with the Elders, which is explained in an editorial note:  “The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.”  The Elders website is here; an article about them is here.