| Description: |
Chapter 1 offers an extended overview of the book’s immediate subject matter and the theoretical perspectives driving the analysis. Viewed through the window of a thick description of a Sing for Water event at London’s Thames Festival, it identifies the communities and practices that are that the main focus of the study. It then maps out the broader fields within which the histories and practices described are positioned and familiarises the reader with a set of key concepts and themes that inform the author’s interpretations throughout the book: these include networks, postmodernism, transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, cultural appropriation, social capital, participation, and celebration. Reference is made here to pertinent theoretical work in ethnomusicology, social anthropology, political science, and cultural and social theory. The chapter also includes a review of relevant literature on voice work, choirs, community music and world musics in education. |