The Oxford Handbook of Protest Music

Since 2009, uprisings and protest movements have swept the globe in a strong protest cycle. As in past moments of social unrest, music and sound have played an integral part in these movements. The Oxford Handbook of Protest Music offers a range of novel perspectives on the roles that music and sound play in protest and social movements. Bringing together scholars from several different fields-ethnomusicology, popular music studies, history, musicology, political science, sociology, anthropology, media studies, music theory, and area studies, among others-the Handbook provides an expansive view of the topic from a variety of historical and geographical perspectives. Its chapters span six continents and extend from the early modern period to the present, addressing topics that include the songs adapted by protesters in Hong Kong during the 2014 Umbrella Movement; the important part played by radio and music broadcast over the air during the 2006 Oaxaca Commune; the circulation online of videos made by European far-right flash mobs during the 2010s; the fragmented political and sonic space of the Democratic Republic of Congo; the transatlantic circulation of political song after the American War of Independence; and much, much more. Together, the chapters invite readers to reassess received notions about what constitutes protest music, how it functions in the context of political struggle, plays on historical memory, interacts with media, and mobilizes communities. The Handbook provides an important and timely intervention into the study of music and protest, and it will be of interest to students and scholars from across the humanities and social sciences.