Dr. Carolin Müller

 

Brass Music Culture
Rights-based Activism
Protest Movements
Art and World Music
Citizenship Studies

 

Current Projects:

My work explores the role of performance and aesthetic forms as a means of expressing belonging and identity. One of my projects examines the usage of aesthetic forms in communicating notions of sexuality with the body as a drawing tool. Another project looks at the history of brass music culture in Namibia’s capital Windhoek through the methodology of brass-sound-walking that I developed with colleagues and students at the University of Namibia thanks to the help of the MSBF.

Curriculum Vitae 

Carolin Müller is at the Buber Society since October 2021. She studied Art Education and EFL at Technische Universität Dresden, where she wrote a semiotic analysis of William Kentridges animated drawings, and focused on the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder during her studies in Germanic Languages and Literatures at the Ohio State University, where she also defended her PhD. Her doctoral thesis explores musical activism as a mode of civic activism that opposed the recent resurgence of anti-immigrant and neo-fascist attitudes and policies in the city of Dresden, Germany. Her overall research examines the relationship of art, performance, and politics in migration issues.

As a PhD student, she co-founded the Migration Studies Working Group at the Ohio State University, a doctoral student-led network of researchers, teachers, and community organizers, and continuous her work as a Social Media manager for the platform. Carolin has also organized and managed several artist residencies and exchanges with performers from Germany, Burkina Faso and the United States, whose projects focused on transnational connections and exchanges through artistic expression. She was a co-curator for the Migrants Music Manifesto in Cologne, Germany, during which questions of sustainability and network issues for transnational migrant artists were discussed. Apart from her academic and curatorial work, she is an avid printmaker and art educator herself.

As a coordinator of the Education & Technology program at Technische Universität Dresden, she led a doctoral colloquium, designed hybrid participation formats for doctoral candidates, and coordinated and managed an international summer school that took place in hybrid formats in 2021.

Fellowships and Grants

• (2021) Internal Flexible Funding Internationalization (EXU Flx2105_173), Technische Universität Dresden (project lead)

• (2021) Open Access Publication Grant, Technische Universität Dresden

• (2019-2020) Ohio State Presidential Fellowship

• (2019) Ohio State Arts and Humanities Graduate Research Small Grant

• (2019) Ohio State Council of Graduate Students Career Development Grant

• (2019) Ohio State Alumni Grant for Graduate Research

• (2018-2019) Research Fellowship, Technische Universität Dresden

• (2018) Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability Seed Grant

• (2018) Mershon Center for International Security Studies Graduate Student Research Grant

• (2017) Global Mobility Graduate Student Research Grant

• (2017) Felice M. Grad Endowed Scholarship

Prizes

• (2018) Graduate Associate Distinguished Teaching Award in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University

• (2018) Ohio State University Council of Graduate Students Committee Chair Award for Excellence.

• (2017) Ohio State Ray Travel Award for Service and Scholarship (Spring, Autumn)

Education

• (2020) Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Literatures (Music Activism in Germany – Case Study of Musical Citizenship through Banda Internationale in the city of Dresden)

• (2016) M.A. in Germanic Languages and Literatures (Film Studies)

• (2015) M.Ed. in Art Education and EFL, M.Ed. Thesis: “Semiotische Analyse der Animierten Zeichnung von William Kentridge”

• (2013) B.Ed. in Art Education and EFL, B.Ed. Thesis: “dOCUMENTA (13) – transhumane Sichtweisen”

Publications

Articles

• Heritage Mobilisation as Radical Politics in a Left-Wing Social Movement

• Diversity mainstreaming through intercultural opening in policy and practice

• Transcultural Engagement in Protest Music as a Method of Scene

Chapters in books

• On the Need for Women’s Alliances in the Gendered Spaces of Doctoral Programmes and Academia: An Account of Challenges and Strategies

• “The transience of prisoners’ memoirs in Abbas Khider’s Die Orangen des Präsidenten (The President’s Oranges),” Abbas Khider Anthology, Karolin Machtans, David Coury (Eds.) Peter Lang, 2021.

• ---, Schwarz, Mandy. “Perspectives in German Art Pedagogy,” The International Encyclopedia of Art and Design Education, Richard Hickman (General Ed.), John Baldacchino, Kerry Freedman, Emese Hall, and Nigel Meager (Volume Eds.). Wiley & Sons, 2019.

Peer-reviewed articles

• „The Social Cohesion Dilemma: Theoretical Reflections on Critical Music Pedagogy”, Critical Arts 53

• „Heritage Mobilisation as Radical Politics in a Left-Wing Social Movement “, Journal of Intercultural Studies.

• „Transcultural Engagement in Protest Music as a Mode of Scene,” Zapruder World.

• „Whose Crisis is It? Sonic Warfare and Embodied Resistance and Sonic Warfare”, American Music Perspectives 2. 2

• “Countering Discrimination through Inter-Cultural Heritage production in Music and Theatre,” Special Issue: Discrimination and Interculturalism: Exploring their Intersection in Theory and Practice. Zenia Hellgren and Ricard Zapata-Barrero (Guest Eds.) International Migration. (under editorial review).

• “Challenging the Sound of Integration: Intersectional Approaches to Music in Integration Projects in Germany,” Challenging Integration through Everyday Narratives, Peter Scholten, Marcus Nicolson, Doga Atalay, and Umut Korkut (Volume Eds.) IMISCOE Research Series. (under editorial review).

• Review of Die Sommer by Ronya Othmann, Chamisso Preis Hellerau Begleitband, THELEM Universitätsverlag und Buchhandel. (under editorial review)

• Review of Alle Hunde müssen sterben by Cemile Sahin, Chamisso Preis Hellerau Begleitband, THELEM Universitätsverlag und Buchhandel. (under editorial review)

• Review of Bordering, edited by Nira Yuval-Davism Georgie Wemyss and Kathryn Cassidy. Border Criminologies Blog, URL: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/cent...

• “Anti-Racism in Europe: An Intersectional Approach to the Discourse on Empowerment through the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan 2020–2025,” Soc. Sci. 10, no. 4 (2021): 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10040137

• “Vital but not Welcome: The Migrant Activist,” IMISCOE PhD Blog, URL: https://www.imiscoe.org/news-and-blog/phd-blog/1238-vital-but-not-welcom...

• “Curating Political Fellowship at the Intersections between Music and Activism,” The Activist History Review, (January 2020), URL: https://activisthistory.com/2020/01/29/curating-political-fellowship-at-...

• “Musical Border-ness: Contesting Spaces Through Cultural Engagement,” Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 10:2 (2019) pp. 261–279, doi: 10.1386/cjmc_00006_1

• “Discussing Mobility in Liminal Spaces and Border Zones: An Analysis of Abbas Khider’s Der falsche Inder (2008) and Briefe in die Auberginenrepublik (2013),” Textpraxis (No. 17, 2.2019).

• “Performing Critical Voice: On the Relationship of Citizenship and Belonging to the Articulation of Contemporary Critiques,” On_Culture: the Open Journal for the Study of Culture (7.2019).

• Review of Euro-Visions: Europe in Contemporary Cinema, edited by Mariana Liz. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (31^st March, 2017).

• “Raising Awareness: Piper Kerman's 'Orange is the New Black' and the oppression of women in U.S. Prisons,” London: HYSTERIA PRESS (July 24, 2014).

Presentations

 

12/2024	co-authored with Perminus Matiure, “Reorchestration of the Blown Away: Musico-Sonic Imaginary of Wind in Windhoek”, Embodied Methodologies: A Workshop for the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of the West Indies, in association with the University of Aberdeen and Goldsmiths, University of London.
11/2024	“Social Imagination Through Musical Motion,” Celebratory Migranticization Workshop, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
08/2024	“Brass-Aurality in Windhoek: Embodied Explorations of Wind,” Performing Arts Seminar at the University of Namibia.
05/2024	“Banding: Brass Bands and Community Making in the Transcultural Setting,” Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar, University of Göttingen.
04/2024	“Reflections on (Im)possibilities of Fieldwork Through a Performance-based Recovery of Sonic Meaning in Visual Mark-Making”, British Forum of Ethnomusicology Annual Conference, Cork, Ireland.
03/2024	“Antifascist Brass Music Activism: Decolonizing Migration Discourses with the Sound of Appearance?” Transversal Dialogues About the Cultural Representation of Migration Workshop, Universität Konstanz.
10/2023	“20 Years of Brass in Protest: Dresden’s Banda Comuinale’s Klein ist die Welt (2021) and (Muscial) Reflections of the Global in the Local”, Popular Brass Music in the 21st Century, Innsbruck, Austria.
09/2023	“Protest music or music for protest? Post-migrant adaptations of global pop music in contemporary rights-based protest in Germany,” Politics in Music and Song Conference, Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland. (upcoming)
07/2023	“Multisensorial research, migrations and inequalities – exploring new methodological pathways,” IMISCOE Annual Conference, Warsaw, Poland. (upcoming) “Questioning Celebratory Migranticization: Histories and Practices of Racialization in Arts Production, Networks, and Policies in Diverse Societies,” IMISCOE Annual Conference, Warsaw, Poland. (upcoming)
05/2023	“Whose Crisis is It? Embodied Resistance and Sonic Warfare,” Music, Research, and Activism Conference, Helsinki, Finland. (upcoming)
04/2023	“Performance and Audibility of Movement: Exploring Interdependencies Between Musical and Physical Movement in A Bicycle Ethnography in Jerusalem”, British Forum for Ethnomusicology, Edinburgh, UK. (upcoming)
04/2023	“Neocolonial Appropriations of 19th Century Military Brass Music: The Case of Dresden’s “Stahlhelm-Kapelle” Performing the ‘Südwestafrikanischer Reitermarsch,’” Sixth International Romantic Brass Symposium, Bern, Switzerland. (upcoming)
03/2023	“On Postmigratory Social Realities and Racializations: Revisiting the Cultural Turn in Migration Management Models,” International Migration Conference, Jerusalem. (upcoming)
01/2023	Workshop-lead: “Questioning Celebratory Migranticization: Histories and Practices of Racialization in Arts Production, Networks, and Policies in Diverse Societies,” Annual Meeting IMISCOE Standing Committee Superdiversity, Migration and Cultural Change, Brussels. Workshop-lead: “PhD Student Showcase: Intergenerational Connections,” Annual Meeting IMISCOE Standing Committee Superdiversity, Migration and Cultural Change, Brussels.
01/2023	“Intercultural Musical Heritages in Contemporary Brass Activism in Dresden,” quickfire presentation at the Music, Mobility and Migration: Exhibiting the life and movement of migrant musicians workshop study day, Royal College of Music, London.
11/2022	„What it Means to Have a Seat at the Table: On the Ambiguities of Inclusion,” Crossroads in Cultural Studies, Association for Cultural Studies Annual Conference, Lissabon, Portugal. (online)
10/2022	“5 Places,” Sonic Cartography Conference, Kent, UK.
07/2022	“On Transition Mediaries In Arts-Based Anti-Racism Projects in Saxony, Germany: Reflections on Sustainability, Structural Challenges, and Political Uncertainties” IMISCOE Annual Conference, Oslo, Norway.
04/2022	“Challenging the Sound of Integration: Emancipatory Music Education, Spectacles, and Cultural Knowledge”, 72nd Political Studies Association Annual Conference, University of York, UK.
04/2022	“Making “Ordinary Musicians” in the Street: Convivial Musicking Strategies in Protest Spaces in Dresden, Germany” British Forum for Ethnomusicology, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
(07/2021)	“Intangible Heritage as Discursive Practice: Negotiating ‘Integration’ Through Art, Music and Theater” in Workshop: Connecting cultures, negotiating heritages: The role of cultural heritage in migrants’ integration and social cohesion, IMISCOE Annual Conference, Luxembourg. (digital presentation)
(04/2021)	“Challenging the Sound of Integration: Intersectional Approaches to Music in Integration Projects in Germany,” VOLPOWER ‘Challenging Integration through Everyday Narratives` Academic Workshop, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK. (digital presentation)