[Air-L] CFC The Chiptune Studies Reader

[m.polymeropoulou at gmail.com]

With apologies for cross-posting. 

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to announce that we are seeking contributions for The
Chiptune Studies Reader, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed and edited
volume on chiptune - or 'chipmusic' and 'micromusic' as it is also known -
which we intend to publish through Oxford University Press. Rooted in the
emergence of video game audio technology, and subsequently re-routed through
the subversive musicality of an underground participatory culture, chiptune
is a form of electronic music that has blossomed into a global phenomenon
over the course of nearly four decades. Today, the umbrella term 'chiptune'
subsumes an ever-growing plethora of (sub)genres, practices, and a
heterogeneous worldwide following, whose musical output is as creatively
playful and diverse as it is distinct by way of its mediation. Chiptune's
technologies, timbral palettes, and associated iconography have grown
rapidly in their accessibility, playability, and ubiquity, and have become
woven into pop-cultural imaginaries far beyond their own humble beginnings
in the music of video games' past.                            

When compared to other fields of research into music and multimedia
(sub)cultures, however, chiptune has received limited scholarly attention.
Typically, this attention focuses on tracing the roots and routes of
chiptune's rich techno-cultural history, and the documentation of the kinds
of discourses that circulate among its practitioners and their affiliated
chipscenes. Our proposed volume sets out to broaden the scope of chiptune
scholarship by providing a range of analytical perspectives on the subject.
Proposals for chapters that explore chiptune's rich history and its various
discourses are still welcome, but we are especially keen for scholarship
that explores chiptune in-situ of performance, play, and listening: the
in-betweens of chiptune's roots and routes, and the interactivity between
humans, technologies and timbres in the process. To that end, we are looking
for contributions that explore chiptune's musical performativity, embodiment
and immersion, creative processes, and the relationship between
chip-musicality and its diverse (sub)cultures. 

Chapters might address - but are not limited to - the following themes:

.     (Ludo)musicological analyses of chiptune (particularly with a focus on
the factor of play)

.     Critical analyses of the relationship between chiptune and identity
(for instance: themes of belonging, community, embodiment, gender, politics,
ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality)

.     (Auto)ethnographic explorations of chiptune's musical performativity,
embodiment and immersion, its chipscenes, and its discourses

.     Chiptune and accessibility/disability studies

.     The relationship between chiptune and nostalgia

.     Historical accounts of chiptune

.     Chiptune composition techniques

.     Chiptune, context, (sub)genre, and intertextuality

.     Chiptune and literacy, education, and pedagogy

.     The political economy of chiptune, anti-capitalist sentiment,
netlabels, festivals, intellectual property, and commodification

.     How chiptune discourses shape its musical practices and performativity
(for instance: themes of 'authenticity' and 'originality')

.     The networking of (g)local and global chipscenes

.     Chiptune and dance culture

.     The life/death/resurrection of online chiptune communities and places
of activity

.     The materiality of chiptune and/or chiptune as material culture (for
instance: fetishization of hardware/software, continuities of
chipmusic-making objects)

.     Statements from chiptune practitioners and fans (shorter contributions
than articles)

The invitation to submit an abstract is open to scholars in the arts,
humanities, and social sciences, as well as chiptune practitioners and fans.
Chapter abstracts should be no longer than 500 words, excluding
bibliography, and should be accompanied by a brief biographical note of no
longer than 150 words. Completed proposals should be sent to the editors,
Marilou Polymeropoulou and George Reid, at thisischipmusic at gmail.com
<mailto:thisischipmusic at gmail.com>  by 21/12/2021. Contributors can expect
to receive a response by 21/1/2022.

Completed chapters should be between 6000 - 8000 words in length and
practitioners' statements should be between 250 - 800 words. These will be
due by 1/9/2022, after which we will begin the review process. Should you
have any questions, please get in touch with us via the email listed above. 

Link:  <https://tinyurl.com/se5jcvc8> https://tinyurl.com/se5jcvc8