RMA/Cambridge University Press Monograph Prize for 2021

The RMA/Cambridge University Press Monograph Prize for 2021 is awarded to Dylan Robinson for Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies (University of Minnesota Press, 2020). This book examines encounters between Canadian indigenous music and Western art music from the perspective of an indigenous Canadian. It critiques inclusionary models of performance that dominate settler colonial approaches to indigenous culture, and argues for a politics of listening that acknowledges the resistance of indigenous music to assimilation. Applying a range of interdisciplinary theoretical models, and introducing selected indigenous perspectives and terms in order to explain the sorts of alternative perspectives required, Hungry Listening is focused on seeking practical ways forward. In sum, this is an original and thought-provoking book, written in a compellingly direct style.

Dylan Robinson is Associate Professor and holds the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts at Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario.

RMA/Cambridge University Press Outstanding Edited Collection Book Prize for 2021

The RMA/Cambridge University Press Outstanding Edited Collection Book Prize for 2021 is awarded to Richard Langham Smith and Clair Rowden for Carmen Abroad: Bizet’s Opera on the Global Stage (Cambridge University Press, 2019). This collection of essays is driven by an ambitious and compelling concept: it tracks the global circulation of a single iconic text, and in doing so speaks to multiple contemporary concerns, including questions of cultural flow, adaptation, hybridity, and decolonization. The volume demonstrates outstanding rigour in terms of detail, original archival research, and editorial oversight, and is supported by a wealth of additional materials on the accompanying website. Particularly welcome is the equal and respectful space that is given to a range of different scholarly traditions and voices, an inclusive approach that exemplifies the ethos of the RMA.

Richard Langham Smith is Professor of Music at the Royal College of Music and Clair Rowden is Reader at the School of Music, Cardiff University.