Mandate
The Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media and Place (MMaP) was established in 2003 to initiate and enable music research within the academic and general community. Many of the website, CD, and other media projects of MMaP focus on the rich traditional music of Newfoundland and Labrador. Through the program of the Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology, the Centre promotes national and international exchange by sponsoring visiting lecturers and organizing a lecture series, as well as annual symposia or conferences. Located in the Arts and Culture Centre of St. John’s at the east end of the campus, MMaP houses a multimedia and audio restoration studio, a small performance space, and student workspace for the graduate program in ethnomusicology at Memorial University.
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- To foster pride in the cultural uniqueness of places and
communities, not only by valuing contemporary practices and working
with musicians on modern issues regarding appropriation and access,
but also by working to make historical materials in the rich
regional archives of Atlantic Canada in particular, come alive
through extended documentation, multimedia presentation, and
scholarly engagement with issues of race, gender, ethnicity, class,
and other aspects of collective identity.
- To offer a model for understanding problems of cultural
"difference" as articulated in music itself - that is, in the
social relations of the production and reception of music and in
the culturally shared codes of its sonic gestures. In particular,
this view of multiculturalism will differ from "top-down
multiculturalism" or other neutralizing, rosy-cast representations
of "diversity." The research should contribute to healthier
interaction as Newfoundland and Labrador become increasingly
plural.
- To advocate on issues of intellectual property and access to
traditional knowledge.
- To enhance the profile of Canadian music scholars within the
international academic community through an aggressive programme of
publication.
- To work with educators and community organizations to
facilitate the dissemination of cultural resources materials and
the development of curriculum materials on the oral cultures of
Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as diverse communities elsewhere
in Canada and internationally.
- To enable a deeper understanding of the ways media are invested
with meaning by the study of the whole circle from live
performance, through mediation, through reception. By this means,
the project will develop a generation of scholars and artists in
Canada who have more agency in making media products effective as
forms of social action.
- To establish connections between the Centre and similarly
mandated institutions and groups in provincial, national, and
international jurisdictions, for the exchange of information and
ideas.
- To promote international cultural exchange and dialogue.
