Jornada de Investigação em Música Latino-Americana 2020
Featuring the theme “Music In/From Latin America: All Latin American?”, we present the “IV Jornadas de Investigação em Música Latino-Americana”, organized by the Latin American Music Research Group (NUPEMLA) of the Federal University for Latin American Integration (UNILA). The event will bring together scholars to reflect upon contemporary conceptions of Latin American musical practices, repertoires, theoretical practices, referential archetypes, compositional materials, and real and constructed identities. Following a period in which the search for coherent and harmonious wholes led to the forging of Latin American national identities, transcultural and globalization processes have been transforming border limits and pointing to a fragmented organization in which restricted identities take on new meanings. Concomitantly, as the Uruguayan musicologist Coriún Aharonián points out, we observe, in Latin American institutions, the maintenance of structures that reaffirm the continent’s cultural dependency, at times making use of their own identity content in a superficial way. Consequently, stereotypes are reinforced insofar as Latin American institutions turn uncritically and superficially to traditional Western music, claiming to prioritize a certain idea of Latin America. Looking closely at such quandaries means, above all, that we must seek to understand the nuances that spring from specific musical models, propose new methodological and pedagogical paths, shed light on contemporary initiatives that already reveal the benefits and risks of taking diversity into account, and encourage researchers, teachers and artists from Latin America (but not only) to reconsider their own modes of action within this complex scenario. This year’s event will be held online, allowing scholars from all around the globe to present their work and reflect upon Latin American music.