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This book examines the struggle for the authority to speak about music at a time when the humanities are in crisis. By linking the institutions that support musical research, including professional associations and universities, to complex historical changes such as globalization and the commodification of knowledge, this book undertakes a critique of musical scholarship as an institutional discourse, while contributing to a general theory of disciplinary structures that goes beyond the limits of any single field. In asking a number of fundamental questions about the models through which disciplinary objects in music are constructed, the book suggests unexpected relationships between works of musical scholarship and the cultural networks in which they participate. Thus, David Lewin's theory of musical perceptions is compared to Richard Rorty's concept of the “liberal ironist”, Susan McClary's feminist narrative of music history is juxtaposed with T.S. Eliot's “dissociation of sensibility”, and Steven Feld's work in recording the music of the Kaluli people is compared to the treatment of ambient sound in contemporary cinema. Developing a framework for interpretation in dialogue with a number of poststructuralist writers, the book goes far beyond applying their thought to the analysis of music; by showing the cultural dilemmas to which their work responds, it suggests how musical research already participates in these ideas.

This book provides a critical discussion of the fault lines in the contemporary relationship between university based researchers, research funders, and the policy sector in the production and utilisation of research to inform policy and practice in ethnic relations. Drawing upon an international range of expert contributions from academics, those working in NGOs and the public sector the detailed case studies, and theoretical analysis, provide challenges to both academics and policy makers to think differently about how to develop better policy agendas in this complex field. The book explores the dynamics of the use and abuse of minority ethnic researchers in the urgent political pursuit of answers to urgent questions about current ethnic relations in diverse societies. The challenges faced by research funders and NGOs seeking to initiate, fund and exploit policy relevant research are explored through the experience of a national and an international case study; and though an examination of state intervention in the research and policy environment informing ethnic relations policy. The book critically explores the impact of the commodification of knowledge on contemporary ethnic relations research and policy.