Books by Michael Silvers
How an environment creates popular music, and vice versa
In Voices of Drought, Michael B. Silve... more How an environment creates popular music, and vice versa
In Voices of Drought, Michael B. Silvers proposes a scholarship focused on environmental justice to understand key questions in the study of music and the environment. His ecomusicological perspective offers a fascinating approach to events in Ceará, a northeastern Brazilian state affected by devastating droughts. These crises have a profound impact on social difference and stratification, and thus on forró music in the sertão (backlands) of the region. At the same time, the complex interactions of popular music and social conditions also help create the environment.
Silvers offers case studies focused on the sertão that range from the Brazilian wax harvested in Ceará for use in early wax cylinder sound recordings to the drought-and austerity-related cancelation of Carnival celebrations in 2014–16. Unearthing links between music and the environmental and social costs of drought, his daring synthesis explores ecological exile, poverty, and unequal access to water resources alongside issues like corruption, prejudice, unbridled capitalism, and expanding neoliberalism.
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Articles and Chapters by Michael Silvers
Diálogos Sonoros, 2022
Este artigo examina a política e a prática de ensinar uma música da qual o professor não tem prop... more Este artigo examina a política e a prática de ensinar uma música da qual o professor não tem propriedade cultural. O autor propõe a consideração dos conceitos carregados de autenticidade, autoridade, representação, musicalidade, tokenismo e contextualização. Embora o estudo de muitas músicas seja tão importante como sempre, especialmente devido aos esforços para descolonizar a educação musical em todos os níveis, também é uma prática complicada por estruturas de poder. O autor utiliza como estudo de caso sua experiência como professor de uma Orquestra Armorial Brasileira em uma universidade nos Estados Unidos.
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The Collective, 2022
Ethnographer Michael B. Silvers confronts choral Christianity and exclusion in American school mu... more Ethnographer Michael B. Silvers confronts choral Christianity and exclusion in American school music through discussion of Jewish musicality and "meaningful musical experiences."
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Society for Ethnomusicology Newsletter, 2021
My biggest concern with ecomusicology, in principle, is also what interests me about it: its atte... more My biggest concern with ecomusicology, in principle, is also what interests me about it: its attention to the nonhuman. As an “interdisciplinary and interprofessional” conversation (Pedelty 2013), I worry that ecomusicology runs the risk of being apolitical—missing the politics of class, race, and gender, for example, in favor of a more explicitly environmental politics. It’s worth noting that mainstream
environmental movements and environmental studies in general have been accused of indifference to matters of social marginalization since the 1980s, a critique that gave rise to the environmental-justice movement.
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Ethnomusicology, 2020
Posthumanism, now in the mainstream of the humanities and humanistic social sciences, poses a cha... more Posthumanism, now in the mainstream of the humanities and humanistic social sciences, poses a challenge to ethnomusicology, a discipline inherently focused on the human and social aspects of music. Drawing from a survey of birds in the ethnomusicological scholarship and the author's research on music and birds in Brazil, this article proposes an approach to ethnomusicology that emphasizes nonhuman factors and their own properties and effects as a method for better understanding music as a meaningful human phenomenon.
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Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology, 2011
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Experiências de Pesquisa em Música no Cariri Cearnese, 2016
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Ethnomusicology, 2015
The mid-twentieth century songs of popular singer Luiz Gonzaga include lyrics about northeastern ... more The mid-twentieth century songs of popular singer Luiz Gonzaga include lyrics about northeastern Brazil’s traditional ecological knowledge. For individuals who predict rain and drought based on natural patterns in the region’s semi-arid backlands, Gonzaga’s music continues to lend credibility, clarity, and local significance to the practice known as rain prophecy. Through cultural history, lyrical and musical analysis, and ethnography, this article examines the process through which Gonzaga’s voice became a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge about the weather, suggesting that music produced through a profit-driven industry has played a role in the maintenance of local ecological knowledge.
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Digital Humanities by Michael Silvers
Sensate: A Journal for Experiments in Critical Media Practice, 2021
https://sensatejournal.com/dry-signals/
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Austin, TX
The Companion Gallery
Original artwork: Manoel Neto
User interface design: Douglas ... more Austin, TX
The Companion Gallery
Original artwork: Manoel Neto
User interface design: Douglas Heintz
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Reviews by Michael Silvers
Ethnomusicology, 2019
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Ethnomusicology, 2016
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Yearbook for Traditional Music, 2013
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Yearbook for Traditional Music, 2009
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Other Publications by Michael Silvers
Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Volume XII (Sub-Saharan Africa), 2019
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Ecomusicology Newsletter, 2013
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Ecomusicology Newsletter, 2014
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Conference Presentations by Michael Silvers
Organizer: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria (University of Campinas)
Moderators: Lorena Avellar de M... more Organizer: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria (University of Campinas)
Moderators: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria, Michael Silvers (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign)
Language: Portuguese / English
Presenters: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria, Michael Silvers, Priscila Duque (Group Carimbó Cobra Venenosa), Francisco DiFreitas (Apae Juazeiro)
Aug 28, 2021
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Books by Michael Silvers
In Voices of Drought, Michael B. Silvers proposes a scholarship focused on environmental justice to understand key questions in the study of music and the environment. His ecomusicological perspective offers a fascinating approach to events in Ceará, a northeastern Brazilian state affected by devastating droughts. These crises have a profound impact on social difference and stratification, and thus on forró music in the sertão (backlands) of the region. At the same time, the complex interactions of popular music and social conditions also help create the environment.
Silvers offers case studies focused on the sertão that range from the Brazilian wax harvested in Ceará for use in early wax cylinder sound recordings to the drought-and austerity-related cancelation of Carnival celebrations in 2014–16. Unearthing links between music and the environmental and social costs of drought, his daring synthesis explores ecological exile, poverty, and unequal access to water resources alongside issues like corruption, prejudice, unbridled capitalism, and expanding neoliberalism.
Articles and Chapters by Michael Silvers
environmental movements and environmental studies in general have been accused of indifference to matters of social marginalization since the 1980s, a critique that gave rise to the environmental-justice movement.
Digital Humanities by Michael Silvers
The Companion Gallery
Original artwork: Manoel Neto
User interface design: Douglas Heintz
Reviews by Michael Silvers
Other Publications by Michael Silvers
Conference Presentations by Michael Silvers
Moderators: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria, Michael Silvers (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign)
Language: Portuguese / English
Presenters: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria, Michael Silvers, Priscila Duque (Group Carimbó Cobra Venenosa), Francisco DiFreitas (Apae Juazeiro)
Aug 28, 2021
In Voices of Drought, Michael B. Silvers proposes a scholarship focused on environmental justice to understand key questions in the study of music and the environment. His ecomusicological perspective offers a fascinating approach to events in Ceará, a northeastern Brazilian state affected by devastating droughts. These crises have a profound impact on social difference and stratification, and thus on forró music in the sertão (backlands) of the region. At the same time, the complex interactions of popular music and social conditions also help create the environment.
Silvers offers case studies focused on the sertão that range from the Brazilian wax harvested in Ceará for use in early wax cylinder sound recordings to the drought-and austerity-related cancelation of Carnival celebrations in 2014–16. Unearthing links between music and the environmental and social costs of drought, his daring synthesis explores ecological exile, poverty, and unequal access to water resources alongside issues like corruption, prejudice, unbridled capitalism, and expanding neoliberalism.
environmental movements and environmental studies in general have been accused of indifference to matters of social marginalization since the 1980s, a critique that gave rise to the environmental-justice movement.
The Companion Gallery
Original artwork: Manoel Neto
User interface design: Douglas Heintz
Moderators: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria, Michael Silvers (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign)
Language: Portuguese / English
Presenters: Lorena Avellar de Muniagurria, Michael Silvers, Priscila Duque (Group Carimbó Cobra Venenosa), Francisco DiFreitas (Apae Juazeiro)
Aug 28, 2021