“A Place in This World”: Music and Belonging / Canada 150

ASPM-Canada Annual Conference

Where: University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

When: May 25-27, 2017

Deadline for abstracts: November 30, 2016

In a queer dance club, a Black Lives Matter or Idle No More protest, at the Tragically Hip’s “farewell” concert this past August, in the context of Canadian confederation or elsewhere, music is a powerful means through which participants can enact a sense of belonging. Of course, as demonstrated by Brexit, the Syrian refugee crisis, celebrations of Canada’s 150th birthday (branded as “Canada 150”), and activism on behalf of murdered and missing indigenous women, any enactment of belonging also carries with it a series of struggles over who is included and excluded, over whose voice and experiences matter. Music is integral to these processes of inclusion and exclusion.