Analysis in relation to ongoing PhD-project in cooperation with major international contributor in the field of music, sexuality and gender

The study of popular music production and gender is a neglected field within cultural studies, sociology, feminist studies and media studies, largely due to an biased focus on reception studies. One important consequence is a lack of competence on these i ssues, perhaps not only in the Norwegian research community, but also in Scandinavia as a whole. The same can be said about musicology studies, privileging analysis of the music itself, instead of the discourses than mediate and add meaning to the musical works. Professor Susan McClary at UCLA Musicology Faculty, is one important exception in this respect, as she combines the reading of musical works with cultural analysis. As a sociologist being trained in media studies, working with questions of music p roduction and gender, I need to discuss and work with colleges that are familiar with the issues I am struggling with on a deeper level. Which is why it would be of extraordinary benefit for my project to be able to work with a major figure such as McClar y. The outcome of my 6 months stay as a visiting scholar at UCLA, working closely with her, will be two chapters in my thesis containing analysis of: 1) How male and female musicians use discourses of gender and sexuality in order to domesticate music tec hnologies 2) How male and female musicians use gender and sexuality in order to construct musical narratives in their musical compositions. In addition I will complete an article for a book about cultural entrepreneurs, which will be edited by professor P er Mangset at University College of Telemark. Since Los Angeles is considered one of the most important cities in the world with regards to music production, I expect working in LA will be of great inspiration. I further hope to establish enduring relatio nships at the Faculty of Musicology that may be of value in future work, also on behalf of Telemark University College and the Network for the study of Popular Music at the University of Oslo.