Final Report Summary - MUSTERMAN (Music, Terror and Manipulation under the Greek Junta)
This project conducted extensive archival and textual research, and oral history in the form of interviews, while developing an appropriate interdisciplinary theoretical framework; the research uncovered and documented for the first time the ways in which music and cultural institutions were systematically used by the Military Junta in Greece (1967–74) in order to manipulate and terrorize. The Junta’s musical culture of manipulation was investigated primarily through the study of cultural institutions and policies, with particular regard to the status and use of folk music and to the regime’s promotion of the more “Westernized” light song. Key texts on propaganda published before and shortly after the 1967 coup d’etat by authors close to regime were placed in context and critically assessed. They highlight how the manipulation of musical genres and institutions was linked to brutal and widespread practices of torture. The project uncovered for the first time the use of music as a means of terrorizing, humiliating, and “breaking” political prisoners, primarily through new interviews with survivors. It analysed in detail the different practices deployed in three important facilities in Athens as well as the prison camp at the barren island of Giaros. Its most important outcomes are:
1. A monograph, currently in preparation. A detailed book proposal has already been submitted to Cambridge University Press.
2. The organization of the International Conference Music in Detention, which included leading academics of the field and professionals working in human rights organizations for rehabilitation of torture survivors and torture prevention.
3. Two special journal volumes were co-edited by the researcher and the project’s former scientist in charge Prof. M.J. Grant, on the thematic topics Music and Torture | Music and Punishment, and Music in Detention.
4. Publications: the number of publications exceeded the original number stated in Annex 1
• a peer-reviewed article on the use of music and sound in torture by the Junta (2013)
• a peer-reviewed article on use of music in “re-education” of political prisoners in Greek prison camps (2013)
• a peer-reviewed article on the use of folk music and the cultural politics of the Junta (to be submitted in October 2014)
• a book chapter on the use of popular music as a means of terror and manipulation in an edited volume on Greek popular music (forthcoming, 2015)
• a book chapter (in German) on music torture, co-authored with the former scientist in charge and Stephanie Leder, for an edited volume titled Music in Medicine (Springer, forthcoming)
• two introductory texts, co-authored with M. J. Grant, for the above-mentioned co-edited volumes.
5. Participation in conferences, symposia, colloquia and workshops. These included:
• a paper on music and torture under the Junta at an international conference in Cyprus
• a colloquium talk at the Musicology Department, University of Goettingen
• a paper on music, torture and testimony at an interdisciplinary conference on trauma in the humanities in Lincoln, UK
• a paper on the use of folk music under the Junta at the Second Conference of the Word and Music Association Forum in Stockholm, Sweden
• a paper on the use of music as part of the “re-education” policy for political prisoners at the international conference organized by the researcher at the University of Goettingen
• a paper on the Junta’s cultural politics at an international conference in Cyprus
Research networks were developed through the organization of meetings, workshops, attendance and presentations at conferences, and the organization of an international conference. Such networks include scholars from European and the US institutions (e.g. New York University, Manchester University, University of Warsaw, University of Oldenburg, Paris University VIII, etc.), human-rights organizations working in the prevention of torture and rehabilitation of torture survivors (e.g. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims and Freedom from Torture, UK), as well as artists and cultural organizations interested in similar issues in their work. Collaborations are expected to continue and develop further. For instance, the researcher is currently working on an application for an Initial Training Network with partners from France, Greece and Cyprus.
The critical analysis of the political abuse of culture and the use of music in manipulation as well as torture and repression increases scholarly knowledge in an understudied field. It contributes directly to an emerging and much needed reorientation of scholarship regarding music’s power to inflict damage. This reorientation was initiated by US scholars investigating the use of music in the “War on Terror”; in this light, the project contributes to the dissemination of new critical scholarship and to the further development of innovative and cutting-edge discourse in a European context. Documenting the use of such techniques (now recognized by the international community as amounting to torture) makes this research both current and relevant to unfolding public debates concerning human rights, international law and the strict prohibition on torture, fully supported by the European Union. Showing the continuity and genealogy in these practices is essential in grasping music’s devastating potential and the need to address it in current definitions of torture. To this end, meaningful collaborations were sought and established with relevant human rights organizations. In this sense, while focused on the musical culture in Greece under the Junta, the research and its theoretical framework have implications extending to civil society, well beyond national and disciplinary contexts. It contributes to the understanding of the threats to the European culture and traditions of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as well as supports the European Union’s agenda for a ‘Pan-European political culture’ (COM (2006) 35 Final).
Dissemination of research results and knowledge transfer to the general public included the following: (i) article in an online blog, (ii) added sections in existing Wikipedia entries (e.g. Greek military Dictatorship and Music in Psychological Operations), (iii) radio interviews (Germany), (iv) interview in the Goettingen University Newsletter, and (v) talks to the general public (Cyprus). Additionally the above-mentioned volume Music in Detention, co-edited by the researcher and published in "Torture: Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture" of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (after an invitation by its Editor in Chief), is also accessible online. Aiming at optimal knowledge transfer, it is accessible to the wider public, benefiting not only those working in academia but also those working in the field of rehabilitation and legal representation of survivors, as well as members of the public interested in history, politics and human rights. A proposal for a dance production on music torture under the Junta, drawing on research findings, has been prepared to be submitted at the Onassis Cultural Foundation, Athens. It consists of a team of renowned international artists. This large-scale public outreach event aims at transferring this knowledge to different groups of the public, including art, music and dance audiences. It will reinforce public debates in Greece and abroad both on the brutality of the Junta and on the recurrent use of similar kinds of torture in contemporary societies. In this collaboration, music and sound are appropriate means for rendering the traumatic nature of the research findings, in ways that capture the extremity of feeling without trivializing the topic or compromising its intensity.
1. A monograph, currently in preparation. A detailed book proposal has already been submitted to Cambridge University Press.
2. The organization of the International Conference Music in Detention, which included leading academics of the field and professionals working in human rights organizations for rehabilitation of torture survivors and torture prevention.
3. Two special journal volumes were co-edited by the researcher and the project’s former scientist in charge Prof. M.J. Grant, on the thematic topics Music and Torture | Music and Punishment, and Music in Detention.
4. Publications: the number of publications exceeded the original number stated in Annex 1
• a peer-reviewed article on the use of music and sound in torture by the Junta (2013)
• a peer-reviewed article on use of music in “re-education” of political prisoners in Greek prison camps (2013)
• a peer-reviewed article on the use of folk music and the cultural politics of the Junta (to be submitted in October 2014)
• a book chapter on the use of popular music as a means of terror and manipulation in an edited volume on Greek popular music (forthcoming, 2015)
• a book chapter (in German) on music torture, co-authored with the former scientist in charge and Stephanie Leder, for an edited volume titled Music in Medicine (Springer, forthcoming)
• two introductory texts, co-authored with M. J. Grant, for the above-mentioned co-edited volumes.
5. Participation in conferences, symposia, colloquia and workshops. These included:
• a paper on music and torture under the Junta at an international conference in Cyprus
• a colloquium talk at the Musicology Department, University of Goettingen
• a paper on music, torture and testimony at an interdisciplinary conference on trauma in the humanities in Lincoln, UK
• a paper on the use of folk music under the Junta at the Second Conference of the Word and Music Association Forum in Stockholm, Sweden
• a paper on the use of music as part of the “re-education” policy for political prisoners at the international conference organized by the researcher at the University of Goettingen
• a paper on the Junta’s cultural politics at an international conference in Cyprus
Research networks were developed through the organization of meetings, workshops, attendance and presentations at conferences, and the organization of an international conference. Such networks include scholars from European and the US institutions (e.g. New York University, Manchester University, University of Warsaw, University of Oldenburg, Paris University VIII, etc.), human-rights organizations working in the prevention of torture and rehabilitation of torture survivors (e.g. International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims and Freedom from Torture, UK), as well as artists and cultural organizations interested in similar issues in their work. Collaborations are expected to continue and develop further. For instance, the researcher is currently working on an application for an Initial Training Network with partners from France, Greece and Cyprus.
The critical analysis of the political abuse of culture and the use of music in manipulation as well as torture and repression increases scholarly knowledge in an understudied field. It contributes directly to an emerging and much needed reorientation of scholarship regarding music’s power to inflict damage. This reorientation was initiated by US scholars investigating the use of music in the “War on Terror”; in this light, the project contributes to the dissemination of new critical scholarship and to the further development of innovative and cutting-edge discourse in a European context. Documenting the use of such techniques (now recognized by the international community as amounting to torture) makes this research both current and relevant to unfolding public debates concerning human rights, international law and the strict prohibition on torture, fully supported by the European Union. Showing the continuity and genealogy in these practices is essential in grasping music’s devastating potential and the need to address it in current definitions of torture. To this end, meaningful collaborations were sought and established with relevant human rights organizations. In this sense, while focused on the musical culture in Greece under the Junta, the research and its theoretical framework have implications extending to civil society, well beyond national and disciplinary contexts. It contributes to the understanding of the threats to the European culture and traditions of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, as well as supports the European Union’s agenda for a ‘Pan-European political culture’ (COM (2006) 35 Final).
Dissemination of research results and knowledge transfer to the general public included the following: (i) article in an online blog, (ii) added sections in existing Wikipedia entries (e.g. Greek military Dictatorship and Music in Psychological Operations), (iii) radio interviews (Germany), (iv) interview in the Goettingen University Newsletter, and (v) talks to the general public (Cyprus). Additionally the above-mentioned volume Music in Detention, co-edited by the researcher and published in "Torture: Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture" of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (after an invitation by its Editor in Chief), is also accessible online. Aiming at optimal knowledge transfer, it is accessible to the wider public, benefiting not only those working in academia but also those working in the field of rehabilitation and legal representation of survivors, as well as members of the public interested in history, politics and human rights. A proposal for a dance production on music torture under the Junta, drawing on research findings, has been prepared to be submitted at the Onassis Cultural Foundation, Athens. It consists of a team of renowned international artists. This large-scale public outreach event aims at transferring this knowledge to different groups of the public, including art, music and dance audiences. It will reinforce public debates in Greece and abroad both on the brutality of the Junta and on the recurrent use of similar kinds of torture in contemporary societies. In this collaboration, music and sound are appropriate means for rendering the traumatic nature of the research findings, in ways that capture the extremity of feeling without trivializing the topic or compromising its intensity.