- Cardiff University, School of Music, Post-DocGlasgow Caledonian University, Yunus Centre for Social Business & Health, Post-Doc, and 6 moreadd
- Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, Ethnography, Cultural Studies, Popular Music Studies, Popular Music, and 18 moreMusic, Sociology, Nationalism, National Identity, Musicology, Music and Politics, Folk Music, Sectarianism, Folksong, Irish Studies, Northern Ireland: Unionism & Loyalism, Northern Ireland and the Troubles, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Scottish song, Critical Discourse Analysis, Irish Diaspora, and Traditional Musicedit
- Stephen R. Millar is Lecturer in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology at Queen's University Belfast. His research and tea... moreStephen R. Millar is Lecturer in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology at Queen's University Belfast. His research and teaching focuses on music, conflict, and cultures of resistance, with a particular emphasis on Britain and Ireland. He is particularly interested in the social impact of music-making and his work uses music as a platform to examine some of the most pressing concerns of our times, including militant nationalism, social inclusion, and the legacy of colonialism.
Stephen has written on topics ranging from football culture and state censorship to the role of music in engaging hard-to-reach young people, and from music as (post)colonial struggle to community experiences of sectarianism. His work has been published in a broad range of academic journals, including the British Journal of Music Education, Ethnomusicology Forum, Health & Social Care in the Community, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Managing Sport and Leisure, Music & Politics, Popular Music, Popular Music and Society, Race & Class, and Scottish Affairs. Stephen is co-editor of Football and Popular Culture (Routledge 2021) and Football, Politics, and Identity (Routledge 2021). He has also carried out significant policy work for both the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Stephen's first book Sounding Dissent: Rebel Songs, Resistance, and Irish Republicanism (University of Michigan Press 2020) explores how Irish republicans have used rebel songs to resist against the hegemonic power of the British state. Drawing on three years of sustained fieldwork within the rebel music scene, the book challenges the parameters of the postcolonial and reconceptualises political resistance through sound, using rebel songs to understand the history of political violence in Ireland. Sounding Dissent has been positively reviewed by a broad range of journals including Ethnomusicology Forum, Irish Political Studies, and Popular Music and Society. It was awarded a High Commendation in the British Association for Irish Studies Book Prize (2021).
Stephen's current book project, under contract with Oxford University Press, examines the interconnection between Ulster loyalist songs and political violence in Northern Ireland from the Troubles to the present. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the project unravels the role songs play in inciting violence during war and legitimising structural violence during peace, examining their embeddedness in paramilitarism and inter-communal conflict. It explores why musicians and audiences continue to consume loyalist songs, and how, in the wake of Brexit, such songs form part of a cultural nostalgia for multiple and intersecting imagined pasts, which resonate with the rise of populism in other parts of the world. The project is the first of its kind and will include an online archive of political music-making. ‘Songs of the Northern Ireland Conflict’ (SoNIC) will show how political song of diverging persuasions commented on and connected with the social and political landscape in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and how political song continues to shape present-day issues and identities.
Before joining the faculty at Queen's, Stephen was Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam (2021-23); a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Ethnomusicology at Cardiff University (2018-21); Lead Researcher on the EU-funded 'COOL Music' project at Glasgow Caledonian University (2017-18); a Visiting Research Fellow in Popular Music and Popular Culture at the University of Limerick (2016-17); and a Research Assistant on the 'Community Experiences of Sectarianism' project at the University of Stirling (2014-15). Stephen was awarded his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Queen’s University Belfast in 2017 and also holds an M.Phil. in Music from the University of Cambridge, a B.Mus. in Music from the University of Glasgow, and a B.A. in Politics from the University of Strathclyde.edit
The signing of the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998, marked the beginning of a new era of peace and stability in Northern Ireland. As the public has overwhelmingly rejected a return to the violence of the Troubles (1968-1998),... more
The signing of the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998, marked the beginning of a new era of peace and stability in Northern Ireland. As the public has overwhelmingly rejected a return to the violence of the Troubles (1968-1998), loyalist and republican groups have sought other outlets to continue their struggle. Music has long been used to celebrate cultural identity in the North of Ireland: from street parades to football chants, and from folk festivals to YouTube videos, music facilitates the continuation of pre-Agreement identity narratives in a "post-conflict" era. Sounding Dissent draws on original in-depth interviews with Irish republican musicians, contemporary audiences, and former paramilitaries, as well as diverse historical and archival material, including songbooks, prison records, and newspaper articles, to understand the history of political violence in Ireland. The book examines the hagiographic potential of rebel songs to memorialize a pantheon of republican martyrs, and demonstrates how musical performance and political song not only articulate experiences and memories of oppression and violence, but play a central role in the reproduction of conflict and exclusion in times of peace.
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This book presents a series of fascinating case studies that show how the lives and bodies of clubs, players and fans around the world are enmeshed with politics. It draws on original research in countries including England, Scotland,... more
This book presents a series of fascinating case studies that show how the lives and bodies of clubs, players and fans around the world are enmeshed with politics. It draws on original research in countries including England, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Mexico, Algeria and Argentina and includes both historical and contemporary perspectives. It explores some of the most important themes in the study of sport, including sectarianism, migration, fan activism and national identity, and shows how football continues to be tied to political events, symbols and movements. This is fascinating reading for any student or researcher working in sport studies, political science, sociology or contemporary history
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Football is ubiquitous and a permanent fixture of modern life. More than a sport, it frequently manifests in broader popular culture. This book examines the significance of football for, and in, popular culture across a wide range of... more
Football is ubiquitous and a permanent fixture of modern life. More than a sport, it frequently manifests in broader popular culture. This book examines the significance of football for, and in, popular culture across a wide range of forms, including music, film, and social media. Football and Popular Culture plots a new path in Football Studies, drawing on original research in countries including England, Brazil, Germany, Canada, and Yugoslavia. The book includes both historical and contemporary perspectives, exploring some of the most important themes in the study of sport and culture, including identity, nationalism, fandom, and protest. It presents diverse case studies ranging from sonic violence among Brazilian torcidas organizadas to fanled commemoration of the Munich air disaster, which together help us to better understand the intersection of sport, society, and popular culture. This is fascinating reading for any student or researcher working in sport studies, cultural studies, media studies, sociology, or contemporary history
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From the Shankill Defence Association’s Orange-Loyalist Songbook to the UDA’s appropriation of ‘Simply the Best’, music has long been used to celebrate loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, loyalist songs... more
From the Shankill Defence Association’s Orange-Loyalist Songbook to the UDA’s appropriation of ‘Simply the Best’, music has long been used to celebrate loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, loyalist songs served a variety of functions, from community fundraising and entertainment to the transmission of loyalist cultural memory and the articulation of political perspectives ignored by the mainstream media. Yet, in addition to celebrating local practices and political traditions, loyalist songs now feed into a broader ‘culture war’ in Northern Ireland where, in the absence of intercommunal violence, the commemoration of paramilitary groups is used to continue the conflict by other means. This article traces the origins of contemporary loyalism’s culture war against Irish republicans, unravelling the role loyalist songs played during the Troubles and their ongoing legacy.
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The British Prime Minister’s privileged background and unpopular austerity measures have combined to make him a hate figure for the left; his musical tastes have been rebuked by fans, and the artists themselves, as being incompatible with... more
The British Prime Minister’s privileged background and unpopular austerity measures have combined to make him a hate figure for the left; his musical tastes have been rebuked by fans, and the artists themselves, as being incompatible with his right-wing political program. This paper proceeds from the possibility that David Cameron was not being cynical in professing admiration for The Smiths and considers music’s role in the embodiment of a social identity. Drawing on recent examples in the UK and the US, the paper explores politicians’ problematic relationship with popular culture, alongside the notion that when an artist’s music is appropriated, they themselves are appropriated.
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ABSTRACT During the Northern Ireland conflict (1968–1998), paramilitary groups were supported and sustained by a sociocultural apparatus that helped legitimise their position within the community and disseminate their political message.... more
ABSTRACT During the Northern Ireland conflict (1968–1998), paramilitary groups were supported and sustained by a sociocultural apparatus that helped legitimise their position within the community and disseminate their political message. From the use of flags and murals, to loyalist and republican parades, working-class vernacular culture revealed who was in control of various districts within the Province. For many working-class Protestants, loyalist songs were a key component of this culture, connecting the past and the present. Unlike the better-known marching band scene, which is a huge public spectacle, the loyalist song scene is much more private. Performed in a closed setting, within local bars and clubs, loyalist songs are reproduced for internal consumption rather than outward expression. Yet, in addition to celebrating a particular loyalist culture, such songs also serve an important function in authenticating and legitimising paramilitary groups, connecting them to older organisations, whose legacy they draw upon. This paper focuses on one such song, exploring how ‘The Ballad of Billy McFadzean’ is used to connect the Ulster Volunteer Force of the 1960s onwards, with the 1913 organisation of the same name. In so doing, the paper attempts to illustrate the political utility of song and how songs can be used to launder and legitimise conflict, as well as those engaged in political violence.
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Drawing on research carried out for the Scottish Government in 2014, this article explores how people experience sectarianism in Scotland today. For some, sectarianism is manifestly part of their everyday experience, but for others it is... more
Drawing on research carried out for the Scottish Government in 2014, this article explores how people experience sectarianism in Scotland today. For some, sectarianism is manifestly part of their everyday experience, but for others it is almost invisible in their social world. The article sets out a metaphor of sectarianism experienced like a cobweb in Scotland; running strongly down the generations and across masculine culture particularly, but experienced quite differently by different people depending on their social relationships. Using the examples of song and marching, the article suggests that sectarian prejudice should be conceived of as much as a cultural phenomenon as in social and legal terms. A multidisciplinary and intergenerational approach to tackling sectarian prejudice would help emphasise its cultural and relational construction. Much can also be learned from examining the broader research on prejudice worldwide, rather than treating Scottish sectarianism as if it ...
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Community Orientated and Opportunity Learning (COOL) Music was a 12-month collaborative project between researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University and practitioners at the Edinburgh-based social enterprise Heavy Sound. The project began... more
Community Orientated and Opportunity Learning (COOL) Music was a 12-month collaborative project between researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University and practitioners at the Edinburgh-based social enterprise Heavy Sound. The project began in October 2017 and involved 16 sessions of participatory music making with 32 ‘hard-to-reach’ young people (aged 12–17) aimed at increasing confidence and self-esteem and improving social skills. Using COOL Music as a case study, this article explores some of the challenges faced by community-based arts organisations tasked with delivering such interventions, contrasting COOL Music’s small-scale, targeted, community-based approach with prevailing top-down music interventions in Scotland. We argue that such programmes are particularly suitable in engaging those at the margins of society, reaching them on their own terms through music that resonates with their own lived experience. However, we acknowledge the short-term and transitory nature of such...
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Irish rebel songs afford Scotland's Irish diaspora a means to assert, experience and perform their alterity free from the complexities of the Irish language. Yet this benign intent can be offset by how the music is perceived by... more
Irish rebel songs afford Scotland's Irish diaspora a means to assert, experience and perform their alterity free from the complexities of the Irish language. Yet this benign intent can be offset by how the music is perceived by elements of Scotland's majority Protestant population. The Scottish Government's Offensive Behaviour Act (2012) has been used to prosecute those singing Irish rebel songs and there is continuing debate as to how this alleged offence should be dealt with. This article explores the social function and cultural perception of Irish rebel songs in the west coast of Scotland, examining what qualities lead to a song being perceived as ‘sectarian’, by focusing on song lyrics, performance context and extra-musical discourse. The article explores the practice of lyrical ‘add-ins’ that inflect the meaning of key songs, and argues that the sectarianism of a song resides, at least in part, in the perception of the listener.
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From the Shankill Defence Association's Orange-Loyalist Songbook to the UDA's appropriation of 'Simply the Best', music has long been used to celebrate loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. During the troubles, loyalist songs... more
From the Shankill Defence Association's Orange-Loyalist Songbook to the UDA's appropriation of 'Simply the Best', music has long been used to celebrate loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. During the troubles, loyalist songs served a variety of functions, from community fundraising and entertainment to the transmission of loyalist cultural memory and the articulation of political perspectives ignored by the mainstream media. Yet, in addition to celebrating local practices and political traditions, loyalist songs now feed into a broader 'culture war' in Northern Ireland where, in the absence of intercommunal violence, the commemoration of paramilitary groups is used to continue the conflict by other means. this article traces the origins of contemporary loyalism's culture war against Irish republicans, unravelling the role loyalist songs played during the troubles and their ongoing legacy.
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This report presents findings from a study which explored community experiences and perceptions of sectarianism. It is based on in-depth qualitative research whithin 5 case study communities across Scotland. The research examined if and... more
This report presents findings from a study which explored community experiences and perceptions of sectarianism. It is based on in-depth qualitative research whithin 5 case study communities across Scotland. The research examined if and how sectarianism affects particular communities, and how it may form part of people’s everyday experiences. It provides insights into people's perceptions and experiences both in areas where sectarianism still appears to persist and where it seems to be less of a problem. It also offers insights into how these communities believe they can be strengthened to tackle sectarianism in its various manifestations.
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During the Northern Ireland conflict (1968-1998), paramilitary groups were supported and sustained by a sociocultural apparatus that helped legitimise their position within the community and disseminate their political message. From the... more
During the Northern Ireland conflict (1968-1998), paramilitary groups were supported and sustained by a sociocultural apparatus that helped legitimise their position within the community and disseminate their political message. From the use of flags and murals, to loyalist and republican parades, working-class vernacular culture revealed who was in control of various districts within the Province. For many working-class Protestants, loyalist songs were a key component of this culture, connecting the past and the present. Unlike the better-known marching band scene, which is a huge public spectacle, the loyalist song scene is much more private. Performed in a closed setting, within local bars and clubs, loyalist songs are reproduced for internal consumption rather than outward expression. Yet, in addition to celebrating a particular loyalist culture, such songs also serve an important function in authenticating and legitimising paramilitary groups, connecting them to older organisations, whose legacy they draw upon. This paper focuses on one such song, exploring how 'The Ballad of Billy McFadzean' is used to connect the Ulster Volunteer Force of the 1960s onwards, with the 1913 organisation of the same name. In so doing, the paper attempts to illustrate the political utility of song and how songs can be used to launder and legitimise conflict, as well as those engaged in political violence.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Community Orientated and Opportunity Learning (COOL) Music was a 12-month collaborative project between researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University and practitioners at the Edinburgh-based social enterprise Heavy Sound. The project began... more
Community Orientated and Opportunity Learning (COOL) Music was a 12-month collaborative project between researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University and practitioners at the Edinburgh-based social enterprise Heavy Sound. The project began in October 2017 and involved 16 sessions of participatory music making with 32 'hard-to-reach' young people (aged 12-17) aimed at increasing confidence and self-esteem and improving social skills. Using COOL Music as a case study, this article explores some of the challenges faced by community-based arts organisations tasked with delivering such interventions, contrasting COOL Music's small-scale, targeted, community-based approach with prevailing top-down music interventions in Scotland. We argue that such programmes are particularly suitable in engaging those at the margins of society, reaching them on their own terms through music that resonates with their own lived experience. However, we acknowledge the short-term and transitory nature of such projects may prove problematic for some hard-to-reach groups who require more stability in their lives and may also lead to staff fatigue and burnout. We call for further research in these areas, and greater policy attention to be paid to the sustainability of such projects.
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In recent years, music‐based interventions have been utilised as a tool for improving public health, reducing inequalities and promoting well‐being of young people. Although some researchers have begun to draw links between music‐related... more
In recent years, music‐based interventions have been utilised as a tool for improving public health, reducing inequalities and promoting well‐being of young people. Although some researchers have begun to draw links between music‐related interventions and positive health outcomes, there is little understanding as to how such effects are produced. Realist evaluations—understanding what works, for whom and under what circumstances—are a particularly apt means by which we can open this ‘black box’. In this paper, we use a realist evaluation to assess a community‐based music initiative designed and implemented to support the well‐being of disadvantaged young people in Scotland. In order to gain perspectives on the range of contextual characteristics, mechanisms and outcomes, we collected quantitative and qualitative data in the form of pre‐ and post‐questionnaires, as well as conducting interviews with beneficiaries and stakeholders. Our findings show that the intervention achieved a positive impact on the self‐confidence, well‐being and engagement of disadvantaged young people. This impact was achieved via an approach personally tailored to the individual needs of the young people; and an organisational environment characterised by trust, whereby young people felt safe to express themselves.
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This article examines how some Irish republicans have used 'rebel songs' as a means to resist the hegemonic power of the British state, and how militant republicanism is invoked musically, through sonic and physical references to gunfire.... more
This article examines how some Irish republicans have used 'rebel songs' as a means to resist the hegemonic power of the British state, and how militant republicanism is invoked musically, through sonic and physical references to gunfire. It explores how the use of rebel songs has changed, the inherent tensions within today's scene, and how republicans attempt to co-opt other conflicts as a means to strengthen their claim as resistance fighters. The article also analyses more nuanced resistances within the rebel music scene, exploring how competing republican factions use the same music to express opposing political positions, and why some musicians ultimately leave the scene on account of the musical and political restrictions placed upon them. In so doing, the article connects with ongoing attempts to rethink, remap, and develop new approaches to resistance within anthropology, while contributing to the developing subfield of 'ethnomusicology in times of trouble'.
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Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom, yet its postcolonial position is subject to fierce debate amongst Ulster loyalists and Irish republicans. Using Tommy Skelly's 1972 " Go On Home British Soldiers " as its central focus,... more
Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom, yet its postcolonial position is subject to fierce debate amongst Ulster loyalists and Irish republicans. Using Tommy Skelly's 1972 " Go On Home British Soldiers " as its central focus, this article unpicks the various (post)colonial narratives played out through republican music in Northern Ireland, challenging the parameters of the postcolonial, and demonstrating how Irish rebel songs continue to function as a form of political engagement and cultural resistance within and against the British state.
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Irish rebel songs afford Scotland's Irish diaspora a means to assert, experience and perform their alterity free from the complexities of the Irish language. Yet this benign intent can be offset by how the music is perceived by elements... more
Irish rebel songs afford Scotland's Irish diaspora a means to assert, experience and perform their alterity free from the complexities of the Irish language. Yet this benign intent can be offset by how the music is perceived by elements of Scotland's Protestant population. The Scottish Government's Offensive Behaviour Act (2012) has been used to prosecute those singing Irish rebel songs and there is continuing debate as to how this alleged offence should be dealt with. This article explores the social function and cultural perception of Irish rebel songs in the west coast of Scotland, examining what qualities lead to a song being perceived as ‘sectarian’, by focusing on song lyrics, performance context and extra-musical discourse. The article explores the practice of lyrical ‘add-ins’ that inflect the meaning of key songs, and argues that the sectarianism of a song resides, at least in part, in the perception of the listener.
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This article explores the extra-musical factors associated with Orangeism’s most iconic song, “The Sash My Father Wore,” how other groups have appropriated the song, and how this has distorted its meaning and subsequent interpretation.
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The British Prime Minister’s privileged background and unpopular austerity measures have combined to make him a hate figure for the left; his musical tastes have been rebuked by fans, and the artists themselves, as being incompatible with... more
The British Prime Minister’s privileged background and unpopular austerity measures have combined to make him a hate figure for the left; his musical tastes have been rebuked by fans, and the artists themselves, as being incompatible with his right-wing political program. This paper proceeds from the possibility that David Cameron was not being cynical in professing admiration for The Smiths and considers music’s role in the embodiment of a social identity. Drawing on recent examples in the UK and the US, the paper explores politicians’ problematic relationship with popular culture, alongside the notion that when an artist’s music is appropriated, they themselves are appropriated.
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Review of Stephen Millar's Sounding Dissent: Rebel Songs, Resistance and Irish Republicanism
