Tag Archives: Pramantha M. Tagore

Seventh Fulbright Research Speaker Series: Writing Music in 19th Century Colonial Calcutta

FOR OUR JULY Fulbright Speaker Series, we have a presentation by Pramantha M. Tagore from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay & Monash University Melbourne Program, who is currently researching at University of Chicago.

TOPIC “Writing Music in 19th Century Colonial Calcutta: Discourse, Interculturality, and Counter-Narratives”

WHEN July 13, 2022 | 4:30-5:30 pm.

MODERATOR Dr. Reyes Gonzáles, President of St. Augustine College

REGISTRATION Click HERE

In 19th century Bengal, writers used European concepts such as “enlightenment,” “evolution,” and “social progress” as key concerns informing musical and cultural discourse.

Such entanglements with sociological and political concerns in the music field helped to articulate counter-narratives within an increasingly competitive domain of musical production.

Building upon scholarship on nationalist, anti-colonial, and elite music-making in colonial Calcutta, University of Chicago Fulbright Visiting Scholar Pramantha M. Tagore, argues that intellectual transactions in music informed the framing of two distinct registers for historicization: a dominant upper-class discursive framework emphasizing the superiority of Sanskrit theoretical doctrine, and, a popular counter dialog celebrating evolution, interculturality and social progress.

This event is organized by the Office of Academic Effectiveness at St. Augustine College and counts with the support of WorldChicago and the Chicago Chapter of the Fulbright Association.