Plu­ral­iz­ing Rhythm: Music, Art, Pol­i­tics

Edi­tors: Jan Hein Hoogstad and Bir­gitte Stougaard
Book Series: Thamyris /​Inter­sect­ing: Place, Sex, and Race
Pub­lisher: Rodopi (Ams­ter­dam /​New York)
Series Edi­tor: Ernst van Alphen
Expected Pub­li­ca­tion: Fall 2009

This vol­ume wishes to draw atten­tion to the con­cept of rhythm as a tool in ana­lyz­ing cul­tural objects.

In fields as diverse as music, cul­ture, nature, and econ­omy, rhythm can be seen as a phe­nom­e­non that simul­ta­ne­ously con­nects and divides. It sug­gests a cer­tain mea­sure with which peo­ple, prac­tices and cul­tures can com­ply. Yet, for this very rea­son rhythm can also func­tion as a field of exclu­sion, con­tes­ta­tion and debate. In that sense rhythm pos­sesses an under­es­ti­mated meaning-​creating potential.Whereas its con­nect­ing force is often accen­tu­ated in the aes­thetic, polit­i­cal, and com­mer­cial usage of the term, the divi­sive aspect of rhythm is at least as important.

plu­ral­iz­ing rhythm wants to rid rhythm of its harm­less, nearly eso­teric, rep­u­ta­tion as a cos­mic uni­fier by under­stand­ing it in the light of the con­tem­po­rary medial turn. This vol­ume con­sists of con­tri­bu­tions that com­bine the polit­i­cal, aes­thetic, musi­cal and the­o­ret­i­cal dimen­sion of rhythm. These essays con­sider the uni­fy­ing as well as dis­rup­tive poten­tials of rhythm by per­form­ing a close analy­sis of text and objects from con­tem­po­rary arts, music and pol­i­tics. In short, this vol­ume com­pli­cates, dis­turbs and plu­ral­izes the notion of rhythm.