Inter-university research initiative
Music and Migration
Founded in 2014 by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Nils Grosch (Paris Lodron University Salzburg) and ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gratzer (Mozarteum University Salzburg)
The research initiative Music and Migration sets transdisciplinary, cooperative impulses in the field of music and migration. Our aim is to discuss the content and relevance of adaptable concepts, such as migration, mobility, exile, identity and integration, for musical migration research and to make them usable for the subject areas of different time periods and regions. Conversely, a socially relevant discourse on mobility and migration should be offered from a musicological perspective. The constructive shaping of such a discourse seems more urgent than ever and should not perpetuate criticizing crisis scenarios, as migration can be interpreted as an empowering and fruitful factor for cultural dynamics.
News
For the translation of the published handbook Music and Migration: Theories and Methodologies into English, the editors succeeded in acquiring a grant of EUR 5,000 from the Austrian Future Fund!
The background
In 2014, Prof. Dr. Nils Grosch (PLUS) and Associate Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gratzer (Mozarteum University Salzburg) jointly founded the inter-university research initiative. Just two years later, the first public conference was held in October 2016, which was attended by numerous international researchers. The results of this meeting can be found in the first volume of the “Music and Migration” series, published by Waxmann.
In 2018, thanks to the generous support of the State of Salzburg, the City of Salzburg and the two universities Mozarteum and PLUS (with a total funding volume of EUR 300,000), it was possible to start work on the multi-year project “Music and Migration”, the declared aim of which was to publish an interdisciplinary theory and methods handbook on the subject of music and migration with an international team of authors.
During this period, the two postdocs and co-editors Ulrike Präger, PhD and Susanne Scheibhofer, PhD also joined the project. Ulrike Präger and Nils Grosch also presented the project to the public at the 2018 annual conference of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
Taking into account the feedback of the two independent peer reviewers Melanie Unseld (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna) and Julio Mendívil (University of Vienna), a coherent concept for a theory and methods handbook on the topic of music and migration was developed and refined in four workshops together with the authors.Recurring key terms soon emerged, which are explained briefly and concisely in the context of music and migration in a separate section. In further sections, various methodological approaches, transdisciplinary concepts and perspectives are discussed in more detailed essays. Thanks to the close collaboration between the authors, who have proofread and critiqued all the texts, the handbook, which will soon be published as volume 3 of the “Music and Migration” series, is characterized by a particularly intensive networking of the contributions. It is intended to serve as a basis for further case studies for students and researchers who are studying music, mobility and migration in greater depth.
We would like to thank the Austrian Future Fund for the printing grant of EUR 1,336, which is now also supporting the translation of the handbook into English with a further grant of EUR 5,000. The English-language edition was published by Routledge in 2024.
Publication series
Part of the research initiative is the publication of the series Music and Migration by Waxmann. Migration is understood here as a collective term for various acts of migration (including labor, educational and refugee migration). These have been increasingly observed since the Middle Ages at the latest and are closely linked to the history of music and contemporary musical life. Migration research is proving to be an interdisciplinary field of research to which musicology can make a substantial contribution. The decisive methodological decisions in this regard present challenges that need to be accepted and will be discussed in the new series.
Mission durch Musik
Stimmen zu Musik und Klängen in der europäischen Missionierung Hispanoamerikas Band 4
