Music, Research, and Activism
Prospects and Projects in Northern Europe
Distributed for Intellect Ltd
Music, Research, and Activism
Prospects and Projects in Northern Europe
Can music research drive social and ecological change? Music, Research, and Activism: Prospects and Projects in Northern Europe argues that it can—and must. This bold collection studies the emerging activist turn in music studies, where researchers and artists engage directly in public debates and cultural movements.
By questioning systemic inequalities in the music industry and exploring the role of music education in an era of climate crisis, the contributors to this volume reflect on how their work can serve eco-social justice. Drawing on their diverse experiences as educators, critics, DJs, producers, and community organizers, they offer a compelling vision of music research as an agent of transformation.
Rooted in the independent research network Suoni, this volume speaks to music scholars and students eager to rethink the role of music in shaping a more equitable world. Engaging and accessible, it challenges us to ask: What does social responsibility look like in music research today?
222 pages | 5.83 x 8.27 | © 2025
Music: General Music
Political Science: Political and Social Theory

Table of Contents
1. Introduction: The Activist Turn in Music Research
Kim Ramstedt and Susanna Välimäki
PART I: STRUCTURES AND DISCIPLINARITY
2. Between Activism and White Saviourism: Unpacking the Racial Dynamics of Multiculturalism in Ethnomusicology and World Music
Kim Ramstedt and Miia Laine
3. Researcher as Minority and Majority: Hip-Hop Feminist Epistemologies
Inka Rantakallio
4. The Identity Crisis of Music Criticism
Sini Mononen
5. Internalized Orientalism in the Western Capitalist Organization of Music
Aman Askarizad and Kim Ramstedt
PART II: POSITIONALITIES AND PROFESSIONS
6. Feeling Un/Comfortable: Positionality and Embodied Experience in Classical Music Research
Marika Kivinen and Anna Ramstedt
7. Journeying Towards an Activist Study of Musical Performance
Milla Tiainen
8. Activism in Vocational Music Education: Towards Norm-Critical Change
Kaj Ahlsved
PART III: METHODOLOGIES
9. Music Historians as Feminist Activists: Gender Mainstreaming in Contemporary Concert Repertoires
Susanna Välimäki and Nuppu Koivisto-Kaasik
10. The Music Scholar as an Environmental Slow Activist: Theses on Ecomusicology and Nature
Juha Torvinen
11. Feminist Music Education and Autism Spectrum Condition: The Teacher-Researcher as an Ethical Agent
Katja Sutela and Linda Liukkonen
12. The Silences of Labour Music History: Music as a Tool for Social Change
Saijaleena Rantanen
Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index
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