Festival Activism Edited by David A. McDonald, Andrew Snyder and Jeremy Reed

For decades, festivals have been important sites of inquiry for folklorists and ethnomusicologists alike as celebrations of culture. Moving beyond traditional discussions of staged culture and multiculturalism, however, this edited volume explores how festivals may be mobilized as strategic forms of direct action.

Festival Activism (Indiana University Press, 2025) is a diverse collection of case studies from scholars, performers, and arts administrators, all of whom deftly argue that festivals do more than simply celebrate culture; they also shape culture, creating new forms of aspirational community with direct political effects. Specifically, this volume addresses the many ways festivals provide resources for imagining and enacting social change, alternative citizenship, and long-term political transformation, revealing how performers, participants, and organizers encounter and challenge the myriad forms of violence that frame their worlds.

David A. McDonald is Associate Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington. Since 2002, he has worked closely with Palestinian refugee communities in Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, and North America. Andrew Snyder is Research Fellow in the Ethnomusicology Institute—Center for Studies in Music and Dance at NOVA University Lisbon in Portugal. He is also a trumpeter and guitarist who plays a wide variety of popular music styles. Jeremy Reed is an independent public humanities researcher. His work focuses on festivals and the public sphere in the Middle East.

Other contributors to Festival Activism include: Oladele Ayorinde, Filippo Bonini Baraldi, Louise Barrière, Eric Fillion, Jennie Gubner, Deonte L. Harris, Steven Hatcher, Ajay Heble, Serene Huleileh, Kimberly Marshall, Ruthie Meadows, Miguel Moniz, and James Nissen. This volume is part of the Activist Encounters in Folklore and Ethnomusicology book series published by Indiana University Press.