Music, Politics and Identity

We are interested in the ways in which music has contributed to local, national and international political change, and shaped individual identities. 

What we cover

• music in politics, diplomacy and conflict
• gender, race, class and intersectionality
• global cultures of popular song
• women, technology, embodiment
• the performance of identity, 17th c. to present
• identities in composition and performance

Examples of projects and outputs

• Harriet Boyd-Bennett, ‘Worker Internationalism, Local Song and the Politics of Urban Space’, Journal of the Royal Musical Association 147 (2023), 571-82
• Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins, Intersectionality and the Musical (Leverhulme Research Fellowship, 2025-26)
• Lonán Ó Briain, Voices of Vietnam: A Century of Radio, Red Music, and Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2022)
  

Find out about all our projects