Conference: Sounding Dutch Coloniality

Call for Papers: Sounding Dutch Coloniality – 29-31 October 2026

This interdisciplinary conference brings together researchers, musicians, and artists to address the role of music, sound, and silence in the history and present of Dutch colonialism and coloniality.

Music is interwoven with many different aspects of colonial history: it has been used as a means of establishing as well as resisting colonial power, it is deeply involved in constructions of identity and difference, it has been a resource of cultural memory and knowledge, and it has been a means of forming connections between people across and beyond empire. More broadly, however, the relation between colonialism and sound raises questions of embodiment, listening, and voice, of nature and ecology, and of technology and mass media, while the notion of silence points to questions of loss, erasure, ignorance, and aphasia, as well as more positive decolonial engagements with deep silence, contemplation, and affect.

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We invite contributions that address music, sound, and/or silence from any disciplinary background. Graduate students and PhD researchers are especially encouraged to apply.  Potential themes include, but are not limited to:

Identity and difference

How have music, sound, and/or silence been used in the colonial construction and administration of identity and difference? How have they articulated notions such as race, gender, sexuality, or ethnicity? What role do they play in understandings of indigeneity, migration, citizenship, or diaspora?

History, memory and temporality

How have music, sound, and silence shaped cultural and collective memories of colonial history? How might they afford new understandings of history or temporality? How have they figured in constructions of modernity? How can they illuminate or challenge categories of post/de/neo/coloniality?

Media and technology

How has the role of music, sound, and silence in Dutch coloniality been represented in visual, literary, dramatic, or cinematic forms? How have technologies and (mass) media functioned to uphold or challenge colonial orders? How have technologies constructed new ways of creating or communicating music, sound, and silence?

Scholarship and education

What role have music, sound, and silence played in scholarship and education on Dutch colonial history? How have schools, universities, and academic research reinforced or challenged colonial power relations? How has coloniality shaped music education, or education relating to sound and silence in other disciplines?

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This conference will take place at the ZO Jazz Stage in Amsterdam. Located in the city’s South-East district, ZO Jazz Stage opened its doors in 2024 to create collaborative spaces for jazz and other musics that connect the many diasporic communities in its surrounding neighbourhood. We are working to further develop such collaborations with partners during the conference, and welcome papers or panels that address such transdisciplinary initiatives.

This conference is organized as part of an ERC-funded research project on Improvised Music and Decolonisation (IMPRODECO) based at Utrecht University, investigating the entanglements of jazz, improvised music, and coloniality in the Netherlands. Although we welcome research on jazz and/or improvisation, this conference has an intentionally broad scope so as to achieve a holistic understanding of the musical and auditory aspects of Dutch coloniality.

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We welcome a range of presentation formats:

• Paper presentations (20 minutes)
• Pre-organised panels (90-120 minutes)
• Workshops, performances or demonstrations (20-90 minutes or installations)

We can accommodate different technical and spatial requirements, but cannot guarantee that all needs can be met. Please consult with the organizers if you have specific requirements for your contribution.

Please submit your proposal to soundingdutchcoloniality@gmail.com by 22 May 2026 with the following information:

• Name and surname
• Institutional affiliation (if any)
• E-mail address
• Format of presentation
• Title of your submission
• Abstract (300 words max – for panels, 1 abstract for the panel and 1 for each paper)
• Short bio (50 words max per presenter)
• Technical requirements