Heartland: U2\u2019s Looking For American Soul<\/strong> U2 has journeyed \u2013 at times uneasily \u2013 through an America of pulsating metropolis, rugged heartland and shining sea. It long ago fell under the spell of America, but for just as long has felt it still hasn\u2019t found America.<\/p>\n When U2 talks about America, it often describes it in terms of an idea, a dream or an experiment rather than a physical reality.\u00a0Bono sings in \u201cAmerican Soul\u201d (ft. Kendrick Lamar) on\u00a0Songs of Experience<\/em>:<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a place \/ This country is to me a sound \/ Of drum and bass. \u2026 It\u2019s not a place \/ This country is to me a thought \/ That offers grace \/ For every welcome that is sought.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the liner notes for\u00a0Songs of Experience<\/em>\u00a0in 2017, Bono expressed:<\/p>\n \u2018American Soul\u2019 is a letter to America. A country still inventing and reinventing itself that has been a muse for this band since we first toured in the \u201880s we all read Sam Shepard\u2019s\u00a0Motel Chronicles<\/em>, heard Patti Smith and got to know the great poet Allen Ginsberg. For years I\u2019ve been boring the arse of whoever will listen, trying to explain that America is not just a country, it\u2019s an idea. It\u2019s a great idea too. But as we recorded these 12 songs we felt the idea of America was being challenged, maybe even twisted, in newly problematic ways. The rise of the alt right is not surprising \u2013 it\u2019s happening all over the world \u2013 but to see it in the USA, to see the Ku Klux Klan marching the streets of Charlottesville, without the silly costumes and pointy hats, that was a new level of absurdity and danger. Edge described it as \u2018the mental illness of racism\u2019 unmasked. Why did they feel so emboldened? And so we watched the betrayal of those words of Emma Lazarus, at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty, great words \u2018Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free \u2026\u2019. Yes, it felt like a betrayal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Indeed, U2 has long found itself under America\u2019s spell, as a\u00a0place<\/em>\u00a0not only for this Irish band to find its commercial, critical and conceptual success, but also as a\u00a0space<\/em>\u00a0to work out its identity as an exponent for the idea of America and as a sometimes critic of the reality of America. But for all U2\u2019s embrace of and messaging about America, the band assents to a shared idea that what America means and is remains as dynamic and up-for-grabs as what defines rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n As U2 performed in front of the Lincoln Memorial at President Obama\u2019s inauguration celebration, an election Bono declared to be Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s dream coming to pass, Canadian writer Randy Boyagoda was examining Salman Rushdie\u2019s fiction as a space that \u201cseeks to imagine America as embodying a set of practices. This is an extraterritorial gesture that playfully dismisses organic connections between identity, place, and history\u201d (Race, Immigration, and American Identity in the Fiction of Salman Rushdie, Ralph Ellison, and William Faulkner<\/em>. Routledge, 2010, 23). U2 and Rushdie have a history of artistic dialogue, with an affinity for the performed, provocative gesture, so it\u2019s not surprising that ten years after dedicating \u201cPride (In the Name of Love)\u201d to usher in the Obama era, U2 again sought space for a statement at the outset of President Trump\u2019s term in office with\u00a0American Soul<\/em>.<\/p>\n Following Boyagoda, Rushdie and U2 (who all, interestingly, constitute a set of non-Americans articulating America), the U2 Conference takes up the notion of an\u00a0extraterritorial America\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 that is, of America as better understood not as a place, but as a sound and practice. Our call for a conference comes at a pivotal, tense political moment in which the United States confronts its racist past and present, and from a site of asking, along with Bono, if \u201cthe idea of America [is] being challenged, maybe even twisted, in newly problematic ways\u201d? Not only do we ask\u00a0\u201cWhat does it mean to identify America as a sound and practice?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0but, \u201cWhat has come of U2\u2019s engagement with American culture and politics?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We invite scholars, students and fans to a week of online conversations and critical inquiry for more fully exploring the American soul and dream by examining U2\u2019s place, space and sound in the American socio-political experiment (broadly conceived). We welcome comparisons, as well, between U2 and other musicians who have demonstrated an active interest in shaping the American political discourse. As we examine the intersection of U2\u2019s sound, art and media messaging in American culture, we seek a critical examination of U2\u2019s contribution to engaging, energizing and defining \u201cthe American dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Presentation formats could include and are not limited to:<\/p>\n Presentation topics could include and are not limited to:<\/p>\n The deadline for all proposal materials is August 31, 2020.<\/strong>\u00a0Proposals should be 250-300 words of description or a 3-4 minute video clip, followed by the presenter\u2019s CV. Submit all proposals to\u00a0U2Con2020proposals@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Attendees who wish to chair or host a session not their own should submit a separate proposal of about 100 words expressing your interest, including full name, affiliation, status as fan, student, scholar or other, experience in virtual event formats, and contact information.<\/p>\n Decisions and replies from the conference committee will be made on a rolling basis as proposals come in, with all decisions made by September 10. All presenters are expected to pay the registration fee. Please send all questions about proposals to\u00a0U2Con2020proposals@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Conference Coordinators:<\/p>\n Via RelCFP<\/a>. See also the following which explore the intersection of religion and music:<\/p>\n The Consolations of Poetry: The Miracle of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cRough and Rowdy Ways\u201d in Time of Pandemic<\/a><\/p>\n The Everything and Nothing of Sun Ra<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nAn International Virtual U2 Conference For Scholars And Fans<\/strong><\/a>
\nOctober 18 \u2013 24, 2020<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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