An Ethnomusicologist’s Last Lecture: Music and Globalism, Philosophy and Religion

Steven Loza's book, An Ethnomusicologists Last Lecture: Music and Globalism, Philosophy and Religion, argues that studies on music should be more globally based in terms of intellectual analysis, culturally diverse points of view, and recognition of multiple ways of thinking and doing. He criticizes an intellectual hegemony and biased approach to studying music, including the standards to which academics are held responsible, the manner in which we and our students have had to study music, and the forms by which we are pressured to present our findings. Loza takes the reader through historical and contemporary global examples of musical expression, creative artists, and thinkers to assess how music reflects and enacts culturally diverse peoples beliefs, thoughts, and world views.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 15 December 2023
Publisher: Lexington Books

The frustration of many scholars and artists with the content and directions of studies on music, which continue to be mostly based on Western thought, methods, theories, and even the modes of communicating ideas, and mostly through written, published works, is explored in Steven Loza's Last Lecture: Music and Globalism, Philosophy, and Religion. Steven Loza contends that this pattern has pervaded both philosophy and ethnomusicology, fields that should be much more globally based in terms of intellectual analysis, culturally diverse points of view, and the recognition of multiple ways of thinking and doing. He criticizes what he perceives as an intellectual hegemony and biased approach to studying music, including the standards to which academics are held responsible, the manner in which we and our students have had to study music, and the forms by which we are pressured to present our findings, many times adapting theories and ideas that have nothing to do with the cultures we are examining through a one-way microscope – and often a distorted lens. Loza takes the reader through an assortment of historical and contemporary global examples of musical expression, creative artists, and thinkers, looking for ways that we can assess how music both reflects and enacts culturally diverse peoples beliefs, thoughts, and world views.

The frustration of many scholars and artists with the content and directions of studies on music, which continue to be mostly based on Western thought, methods, theories, and even the modes of communicating ideas, and mostly through written, published works, is explored in Steven Loza's Last Lecture: Music and Globalism, Philosophy, and Religion. Steven Loza contends that this pattern has pervaded both philosophy and ethnomusicology, fields that should be much more globally based in terms of intellectual analysis, culturally diverse points of view, and the recognition of multiple ways of thinking and doing. He criticizes what he perceives as an intellectual hegemony and biased approach to studying music, including the standards to which academics are held responsible, the manner in which we and our students have had to study music, and the forms by which we are pressured to present our findings, many times adapting theories and ideas that have nothing to do with the cultures we are examining through a one-way microscope – and often a distorted lens. Loza takes the reader through an assortment of historical and contemporary global examples of musical expression, creative artists, and thinkers, looking for ways that we can assess how music both reflects and enacts culturally diverse peoples beliefs, thoughts, and world views.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781666932966