Music & Peacebuilding

This second episode focuses on the Tacoma Refugee Choir and explores its mission, the philosophy of creating collaborative and shared spaces, placemaking, and a dialogue about the language of refugees and who gets to choose the language that defines the stories of who we are. Within decentered choral pedagogy, we examine notions of Empowering Song and the themes of risk and exploration within decentralized leadership. In relation to placemaking, we consider how the arts contribute to knitting together communities. Interwoven throughout this episode is a tapestry of Tacoma Refugee Choir performances and the voices of the singers reflecting on what this choir means to them. The Music & Peacebuilding Podcast is hosted by Kevin Shorner-Johnson at Elizabethtown College. Join our professional development network at www.musicpeacebuilding.com - thinking deeply we reclaim space for connection and care.

This first episode explores the backgrounds of Erin Guinup and Orlando Morales, directors of the Tacoma Refugee Choir. This episode looks at histories of belonging, how we cross thesholds into belonging, and the role of the voice and choir in cultivating belonging. Exploring Erin Guinup's travels abroad, we look at how travel opens our acceptance of hospitality and gives us the life changing experience of not belonging as we lean into the generosity of others. Finally, the episode concludes with an exploration of Orlando Morales' background in theatre, what theatre and story telling does for us, and how we benefit from holding space for stories at the margins. The Music & Peacebuilding Podcast is hosted by Kevin Shorner-Johnson at Elizabethtown College. Join our professional development network at www.musicpeacebuilding.com - thinking deeply we reclaim space for connection and care.

The conclusion of this series on dancefloors, electronic dance music, and house music examines how dancefloors offer space to imagine differently. The episode looks at how the synchronous movement and entrainment of bodies propels bodies to move closer, creating a sense of “thickening” that moves toward social cohesion. We look at the importance of utopian visions to peace and reconciliation work and how these visions may be both helpful and harmful. Finally, using a case study of Bjork, we look at how dancefloors offer an unraveling and unfolding that offers space for new ways of being. The Music & Peacebuilding Podcast is hosted by Kevin Shorner-Johnson at Elizabethtown College. Join our professional development network at www.musicpeacebuilding.com - thinking deeply we reclaim space for connection and care.

Part two of this three-part series on dancefloors and belonging examines how we experience intimacy and a sense of vague belonging. We look at the complex conflicted feelings of our lives that introduce paradox in a queer approach to analysis that draws upon magical realism. We examine the notion of an intimate public and how our constructions and projects of a “we” inform our feelings of belonging. Finally, the episode looks at senses of vague belonging and vague intimacy that are most profoundly experienced on dancefloors. Interwoven are reflections on peacebuilding and how peacebuilders may use the arts to lubricate spaces for vague belonging and multilayered affective experience. The Music & Peacebuilding Podcast is hosted by Kevin Shorner-Johnson at Elizabethtown College. Join our professional development network at www.musicpeacebuilding.com - thinking deeply we reclaim space for connection and care.

Part one of the three-part series on Together, Somehow explores structures and politics of belonging, cultural tightness and looseness, and understandings of translocal culture. Looking specifically at nightlife and rave scene subculture, we look at how doors are managed and how individuals creates translocal bonds of belonging across different nightlife scenes.  Luis Manuel Garcia-Mispireta is Associate Professor in Ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies at the University of Birmingham. His book, Together Somehow: Music Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor is published by Duke University Press The Music & Peacebuilding Podcast is hosted by Kevin Shorner-Johnson at Elizabethtown College. Join our professional development network at www.musicpeacebuilding.com - thinking deeply we reclaim space for connection and care.