Articulations of Culturally Diverse Music Spaces in Sweden

In his doctoral dissertation, Jonas Ålander studies cultural diverse music practices in Sweden.   Previous research shows that “migrants” regularly face different conditions than “natives” do when they seek to be included and participate in aesthetic contexts and practices. Research about this often regards cultural (aesthetic) institutions, but in specifically music related contexts, there is a lack of research. In order to advance the understanding of these participative conditions, the overall aim of the thesis is to elucidate the constitution, transformation and maintenance of cultural diverse music practices in Sweden. There are different kinds of practices, however in short, a practice can be thought of as a recurring social event, which in this study includes music. The culturally diverseness of these music practices is defined by their involvement of individuals who to some extent have, or are considered to have, migration related experiences, often explicit but not always. This means, for example, that participants themselves, their relatives or other closely related individuals have migrated to Sweden. However, it can also include persons that are ambiguously considered as migrants, for example because of social attributes, relations and geographical domiciliation.

The dissertation is based on articles, which together show different aspects of music practices. Besides a literature review, organizers, artists and mainstream medial perspectives are studied. The dissertations theoretical framework is “the logics approach”, drawing on the “Essex” discourse theory branch.

PhD student

Jonas Ålander, jonas.alander@oru.se