Festival Activism

For decades, festivals have been important sites of inquiry for folklorists and ethnomusicologists alike as celebrations of culture. Moving beyond traditional discussions of staged culture and multiculturalism, however, this edited volume explores how festivals may be mobilized as strategic forms of direct action.

Festival Activism is a diverse collection of case studies from scholars, performers, and arts administrators, all of whom deftly argue that festivals do more than simply celebrate culture; they also shape culture, creating new forms of aspirational community with direct political effects. Specifically, this volume addresses the many ways festivals provide resources for imagining and enacting social change, alternative citizenship, and long-term political transformation, revealing how performers, participants, and organizers encounter and challenge the myriad forms of violence that frame their worlds.

With its emphasis on activism, direct action, and social justice, Festival Activism points toward a new paradigm in festival research, one that focuses on decolonial and justice-oriented methods to illuminate festivals’ latent political potential.

David A. McDonald is Associate Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. He is the author and editor of four books, including My Voice is My Weapon, Palestinian Music and Song, At the Crossroads of Music and Social Justice, and Holy Land Five: Palestinian Charity in the US ＂War on Terror.＂
Andrew G. Snyder is currently a Research Fellow in the Instituto de Etnomusicologia-música e dança at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal. He is the author of Critical Brass: Street Carnival and Musical Activism in Olympic Rio de Janeiro and editor with Isabel Machado of the Journal of Festive Studies, editor with Reebee Garofalo and Erin T. Allen of HONK!: A Street Band Renaissance of Music and Activism, and coeditor of At the Crossroads: Music and Social Justice.
Jeremy Reed is a recent PhD graduate in Ethnomusicology from Indiana University. His research explores Jordanian festivals as sites of cultural and political performance. He is currently working as a public humanities specialist in Bloomington, Indiana.