7/14/14

Sociology of Music in Japan


It is exciting to now be participating in the XVIII World Congress of Sociology in Yokohama, Japan, following some teaching for Yokohama National University. Yokohama is a fascinating city that served as a center of westernization from the mid-nineteenth century onward, and it continues to be a globally significant hub of innovation (see above photo of the city skyline, which I took yesterday). This conference, with the theme of “Facing an Unequal World” has more than 6,000 participants from all throughout the world, and more than 60 of the paper presentations address some aspect of music from a sociological perspective. I am serving as Chair and Discussant for a session entitled “Sociological Approaches to Western Music in Japan”. The session features two quite interesting papers by Japanese scholars: Musicology in Post-War Japan: German Influence and Social Context, by Naomi MIYAMOTO, and “Japanese” Approaches to the Music of Frédéric Chopin, by Yasuko SHIBATA


UPDATE: Due to a program change, I also served as Chair of a session on Sociology of Art in Japan
https://isaconf.confex.com/isaconf/wc2014/webprogram/Session4114.html  
In Yokohama, I have also been meeting with various academic presses that seem very interested in possibilities for several future books that I am either already writing or intend to produce. I am especially eager to secure a contract for the book I am currently editing, Translation, Education, and Innovation: Proceedings of the 25th Anniversary Conference of the Nordic Association for Japanese and Korean Studies.
Who will publish it, and what about the other books I am developing?: Brill, Springer, Palgrave-Macmillan, Routledge? We will see . . .

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