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In Socialism Now: Singing Activism after Yugoslavia, Ana Hofman embarks on a captivating journey through singing, songs, and other cultural expressions to trace the recent recuperation of socialist ideas and experiences in the post-Yugoslav context. Combining historical and ethnographic approaches, the book offers a nuanced account of the activities of the self-organized choirs that have emerged in the region in the last two decades. Their singing activism demasks the privatization, dispossession, and political and social fragmentation that, instead of a promised capitalist dreamland, have shaped lives in the region after the dissolution of socialist Yugoslavia.
Socialism Now imparts a perspective on the politics of music and sound outside the usual understanding of social justice or social change. The book's central concept, strategic amateurism, provides a unique perspective on the power of nonprofessional, communal leisure musical activities in contesting the pervasive commodification in all spheres of life. Through its in-depth sociopolitical and cultural analysis of contemporary forms of music activism, Socialism Now revalorizes the "lost" historical knowledge and lived experiences from the former Second World in envisioning music and soundâs anti-capitalist political potential today.
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
