Song Studies Book Series
with Amsterdam University Press
This series offers a platform for academic research on the multidimensional medium of song. The field of song studies has recently developed in an effort to position song’s various modalities at the center of an emerging interdisciplinary scholarship. As an object of study and as a practice, song extends disciplinary boundaries as well as creates space for dialogue between researchers and practitioners from different backgrounds. This series will contribute to the development of song studies as a new field of research through the facilitation of multi- and intercultural dialogues on the phenomenon of song worldwide and across historical periods.
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In this context, ‘song’ is considered from multiple perspectives, acknowledging form and function. Song can be defined as vocal and musical expression in composition and practice, incorporating elements such as pitch, rhythm, repetition, language. Furthermore, song is inseparable from emotion and the performing body. As a complex, expressive practice, song leverages the physical and imaginative capacities of individuals and communities for diverse purposes.
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Invitation to Submit Proposals
We are looking for high quality academic book proposals in English, German or French. Research topics addressed in this series can be situated along four different streams that are interconnected within the field of song studies: Transmission, Embodiment, Performance, and Situatedness. A wide range of methodologies are welcomed, including those from, but not limited to, musicology/ethnomusicology, sound studies, literary studies, history, linguistics, cognitive psychology, creative performance. Proposals are invited for monographs as well as edited volumes. Open Access publication is possible, as well as the publication of sound and multimedia files.
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Editorial Board: Juliane Brauer (Editor-in-Chief), Morag Grant, John Street, Una McIlvenna, Lauren Levesque
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Have questions about the series or the process? Contact Cécile de Morrée: c.demorree@aup.nl
Now actively seeking proposals!
The first book in the Song Studies Series!
Renée Vulto
Politics of Feeling in Songs of the Dutch Revolutionary Period
Politics of Feeling in Songs of the Dutch Revolutionary Period sheds new light on the intertwined history of music and politics by exploring Dutch political songs. In the emotionally charged climate of the Dutch revolutionary period at the close of the eighteenth century, songs became a powerful medium, speaking directly to people’s bodies to engage them in political action. Emphasizing the performative nature of the songs and the interplay between imagination and embodied expression in singing practices, this book shows how beyond merely creating communities, the songs were also instrumental in mobilizing, imagining, and affirming these collectives. It uncovers the diverse roles of these songs, showing how they were used both to polarize and to unite, to mourn and to celebrate. They were employed to imagine and to embody togetherness throughout the Dutch revolutionary period, thereby creating a fixed repertoire of feelings on which various political regimes of that time relied.
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Author
Renée Vulto is a musicologist and literary scholar interested in the intersections of culture and politics. She mainly focuses on music, sound, and literature in situations of conflict and violence. Having completed her doctoral research at Ghent University, she is currently Assistant Professor in Cultural History at Utrecht University.