CISM Discussion: Discussion on selected essays by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe
Led by Ralph Lowi
Wednesday, December 1 / 4:00 PM / Ellison Hall room 1835 / Free / Refreshments

Second reading group meeting on post-Marxism/post-structuralism sponsored by Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM), Department of Music and IHC. Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe‚s 1985 book Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Toward a Radical Democratic Politics has offered possibilities for forging links between the theoretical camps of Marxism and post-structuralism. In an attempt to move away from some of the essentialisms that have dogged Marxist theory, the authors argue that class can no longer be considered as a privileged category of social struggle.

Antonio Gramsci‚s concept of hegemony is expanded in order to theorize social formations as ultimately unfixed. Focus is placed on the contingency of all social relations and the centrality of discursive practices in their organization. This discussion will be based primarily on two essays by Laclau and Mouffe, respectively: Metaphor and Social Antagonisms and
Hegemony and New Political Subjects: Toward a New Concept of Democracy.

Some suggested topics for the discussion of their work and its relation to music are:
- Recent issues in music copyright and rethinking intellectual property
- Social struggle and the use of music in creating logics of equivalencebetween emerging social formations
- Discursive production of music categories and their ideological uses Readings will be available on reserve at the Arts Library Reserve desk and online through ERES

* Refreshments will be provided

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