Polly Withers

Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Denver, Colorado, US.

I am presenting a paper titled "Gendering Secular Rituals and Liminal Spaces in 'Alternative' Youth Palestinian Music Cultures" as part of the GENDER AND SEXUALITY DISCOURSES IN THE ARAB WORLD AND BEYOND panel, at this four-day conference in November. 

"Border Crossing/ Boundary Maintenance" SFE-BFE Joint Conference, Paris, France.

I presented a paper at this 4-day joint conference, organised by the British Forum for Ethnomusicology & the Societe Francaise d'Ethnomusicologie, at the musee du quai Branly, Paris, France.

Middle East and Central Asia Music Forum, City University, London, UK.

I presented my work about the political dynamics that underpin the construction of multiculturalism via the representation of specific musicians.

http://www.city.ac.uk/events/2015/may/middle-east-and-central-asia-music-forum

Research in the Arts: Presentation of Work in Progress. CRL, EHESS, Paris, France

I gave a paper at the doctoral research seminar about research in the arts. My contribution was titled "Gendering Secular Rituals and Liminal Spaces in 'Alternative' Palestinian Youth Music Cultures", & explored the transgressions of/on normative gendered and hetronormative identities in Palestinian rave and party cultures.

Concept note and full abstract here: http://www.ehess.fr/fr/enseignement/enseignements/2014/ue/863/ 

New Directions in Palestinian Studies, Brown University, US

I presented a paper titled '"I'm not a Palestinian musician, I'm a musician who happens to be Palestinian": Negotiating Nationtionalisms in Youth Popular Music in Palestine' on the "Cultures of Nationalism" panel as part of this two day symposium at the Middle East Centre at Brown University, Rhode Island, US. 

http://palestinianstudies.org/polly-withers/

RMA Research Students Conference, Bristol University, UK

I presented as part of the "politics and music" panel at this three day conference at Bristol University, UK. My paper explored the politics of rave cultures in Palestine, using a gendered and classed point of departure to do so.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/gradschool/pg-activity/conferences/rma/

Cultures of Resistance, The Case of Palestine and Beyond, University of Exeter.

Together with Sophie Richter-Devroe, I organised a two-day workshop titled 'Cultures of Resistance: The Case of Palestine and Beyond' at the University of Exeter. This was hosted by the European Centre for Palestine Studies and the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, and was attended by various academics from the US, Europe and the Middle East. 

I gave a paper at this workshop which drew from my work on gender, Orientalism and imperialism in the culture industry. 

Concept paper is here: https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/instituteofarabandislamicstudies/docs/conferences/Concept_Note.pdf

And agenda here: http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/instituteofarabandislamicstudies/docs/conferences/Cultures_of_Resistance_Workshop_Agenda_Short.pdf

Why Gender Matters in Social Science Research. University of Exeter.

I presented my research at part of this student workshop, exploring why gender matters in postgraduate research. 

Cultures of Resistance, Birmingham University

I presented my research at this student symposium on Palestinian hip hop, the culture industry, and the politics of transnationalism(s).