World Music Studies

The current state of ethnomusicology is indeed troubling. In 2010 Timothy Rice spoke of a lack of theory within our discipline and called for theoretical muscle training to strengthen the field, and to discipline the professionals. Kofi Agawu (2003) on the other hand is strictly against any kind of disciplining, even more so when the brain from which these commands emanate resides in the USA. Campaigning for a strict commitment to the diversity of methods and theories, he calls for -- to put it in Veit Erlmann's (2004) words -- the disciplinary suicide of ethnomusicology. Martin Greve too came to the same conclusion in 2002 when he spoke of the "indispensable disappearance of ethnomusicology".

As the organizer of the lecture series WORLD MUSIC STUDIES at the University of Vienna, I wondered how -- based on these controversial lines of thought -- non-suicidal prospects for the future can be won. Is Ethnomusicology in reality badly prepared for the future?

We invited well-known international representatives of our discipline to participate in the lecture series. We wanted to discuss with them whether in their opinion ethnomusicology meets the challenges of our times. Do we need to follow Timothy Rice's call for arming ourselves, or should we rather consider Ellen Koskoff's question of whether "muscle" is necessarily a good thing (2010)?

This book contains written versions of lectures held in 2014 under the heading WORLD MUSIC STUDIES at the University of Vienna. It is our intention to make the held discussions accessible to a wider circle of ethnomusicologists. We would be delighted if the publication would prove fruitful for future discussions.