We are pleased to announce the third meeting of “Theorizing African American Music,” to take place in person, June 5–7, 2025, at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. TAAM-Emory will feature paper sessions, a keynote by Horace Maxile, and two evening concerts on June 5 and 7. All paper proposals should be submitted by 11:59 pm (EST) on January 31, 2025.

TAAM highlights African American and Black perspectives on music and music theory, perspectives that have historically been marginalized in the United States. This conference provides a platform for scholars interested in the theory and analysis of African American music. TAAM foregrounds Black voices as we welcome all music theorists, musicologists, ethnomusicologists, music critics, composers, performers, and others invested in African American music. The intent of the conference is twofold. First, we address the historical erasure of African American scholars and their perspectives from the discipline of music theory. Equally important, we include musicological, ethnomusicological, and other analytical perspectives on American musics that can reasonably be said to have roots in African Americanism.

TAAM invites paper proposals of no more than 250 words. We will also consider panels or groups of papers—please contact us with questions if you have them. Each presenter will have a thirty-minute time slot consisting of a twenty-minute paper and ten minutes of Q&A on topics including but not limited to:

• African Americans in music theory.
• African American and African diasporic figures in classical music.
• African American opera.
• Musical genres with roots in African Americanism such as blues, boogie-woogie, disco, doo-wop, funk, gospel, hiphop, jazz, Motown, ragtime, rap, rock, soul, among others.
• The history of racial exclusionism or antiblackness in the American academic study of music.
• Analytical approaches to specific pieces/works, expressions, or music genres with roots in African Americanism.
• African American music’s reception in American music institutions.
• The intersection of African American musical traditions with other musics.