An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Victor Peterson II (RACE.ED Archival Research Fellow 2022; New York University / The New School)
Archiving Mood: Black Sound and Social Movements
This work-in-progress talk will discuss how changes in modes of expression map changes in the socio-political structures to which they respond. Evidenced by the global eruption of Black Lives Matter protests, in tracing the anthems of movements today we will discuss the significance of what Black Arts Movement founders in the past claimed to be the basis of decolonial practice. We will consider songs as archives of the sentiment of a time and place. These archives are projected into circumstances wherein others test if that mood can be replicated in terms relevant to them. If not, those individuals are inspired to change those conditions. If moods characterize one’s orientation to these circumstances and towards others, then organizing sound begins to model how people organize themselves. Developing improvisation as political praxis, these techniques are not random but are cultivated in particular ways. Strategies cultivated through Black musical expression globally begin to model the emergence and praxis of social movements on the same scale.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81322391722
Passcode: Vr8f3ew2