This talk presents the principal themes of a book in progress that engages contemporary rebetika performance in Greece to probe the democratizing potential of participatory music practices. My work is in direct conversation with the writings of political theorist Chantal Mouffe that harness critical artistic practices in the public sphere to the realization of agonistic democracy. Using the participatory music practices of the Rebetiki Istoria club in Athens as a case study, I further develop Mouffe's work to better understand under which conditions counterhegemonic music practices will engender agonism. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research in the club, I suggest that its music practices offer a framework for overcoming fundamental shortcomings of agonistic theory and demonstrate the possibility for agonistic peace as a dynamic equilibrium between the constitutive political tensions of liberal democracy.
About the speaker: Yona Stamatis is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at UIS, Director of the Music Program, and Chair of the Department of Art, Music, and Theatre. Her research interests center around music and social justice with a focus on Greek folk and popular song. Recent publications include "Rage Against the Machine's Evil Empire: Music and Political Socialization in Early Adolescence" in The Adolescentia Project: Essays on Music, Adolescence, and Identity (Oct 2022). She is a violinist and a bouzouki player in the early rebetiko style.