The Cultural Politics of Europe’s Musical ‘Others’

Adam Havas, University of Barcelona 

The talk will outline the preliminary findings of my MSCA postdoctoral research which focuses on issues of musical socialisation, cultural assimilation, financial strategies and gender inequalities within the jazz scenes of three major European cities: Barcelona, Budapest and Manchester. These three cities are illustrative of fundamental changes in the way that contemporary music scenes in Europe are responding to challenges of globalisation. This is most apparent in the many hybrid musical forms being developed by Europe’s traditional (Jewish/Romani) and current (immigrant diasporas) ‘quintessential Others’ to express cultural identities. Given that each selected scene’s functioning is closely linked to peculiar ethnic dynamics, the three scenes provide compelling examples of the way in which jazz- and popular music related cultural practices reflect, shape and reinvent Europe’s cultural landscape. Concerning the project’s theoretical frameworks, I first discuss the possibilities of synthesising Bourdieusian cultural sociology with the postcolonial cultural critique of ‘diversity’ and ‘difference,’ then I will present in-progress results of the ethnographic fieldwork with special emphasis on musical socialization and cultural assimilation by also drawing extensively on my research on Hungarian Romani jazz musicians’ cultural practices.