Abolitionist Music Theory and Marxism: Notes Toward a Reconciliation. (3rd February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gopinath, Sumanth
• Is Part Of: Music theory spectrum. Volume 45:Number 1(2021)
• Page Start: 125
• Page End: 131
• Publication Date: 2023-02-03
• Subjects: Marxism -- music theory -- composition -- colonialism -- neoliberalism -- the academy -- unionization; Music theory -- Periodicals; Music theory; Periodicals; 781.05
• DOI: 10.1093/mts/mtac017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0195-6167

Abstract

Abstract: This essay offers a sympathetic Marxist commentary on Stephen Lett's "Making a Home of The Society for Music Theory, Inc." (2023 ). I explore questions of colonization and coloniality, which are viewed in literal, rather than metaphorical, terms; provide hypotheses about the political economy of contemporary US-American academic music theory, which seems to be inseparable from conflicts with composition; and meditate on theory's political futures in both practical and broader utopian-political ways.