Anthony McCann songwriter

As well as being a songwriter, Anthony McCann is an experienced researcher and educator, having worked at the University of California, the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, and the University of Ulster.

Among Anthony's current research interests are: the politics of gentleness; emotional climate; social theory; pedagogy; personal and political dynamics of enclosure; Irish traditions; critical legal studies/anthropology of law; music, copyright, and intellectual property. Anthony considers himself primarily a Social Ecologist, although he has also worked in the disciplines of Celtic Studies, Spanish, Irish Studies, Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, Media Studies, Visual Culture, Cultural Policy and Management, and Museum and Heritage Studies.

Below are some examples of his research and writings:

"Crafting Gentleness: The Political Possibilities of Gentleness in Folkloristics and Ethnology" (PDF) This is the annotated transcript of a talk presented in Estonia in 2007.

"In search of 'tradition': what might we like our kids to learn about life?" (PDF) This article was based on presentations given at the University of Tartu, Summer 2010. It was published in the Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics, as part of a special issue 'Cultural Heritage: Entanglements of Knowledge and Property'.

"A Tale of Two Rivers: Riverdance, A River of Sound, and the Ambiguities of 'Tradition'" (.doc) This article was published in Ethnologie Francaise in 2010.

Enclosure Without and Within The Commons. This article was published in Information and Communications Technology Law 14(3):217-240 in 2005.

Beyond The Commons: The Expansion of the Irish Music Rights Organisation, the Elimination of Uncertainty, and the Politics of Enclosure. This is Anthony McCann's Ph.D. dissertation, finished in 2002.

All That Is Not Given Is Lost: Irish Traditional Music, Copyright, and Common Property. This paper was awarded the 1998 Charles Seeger Prize for student ethnomusicology. It's an example of using a resource-management approach to analysis issues of enclosure and the commons. In my current work I critique this way of approaching these issues (see 'Enclosure Without and Within' above).

"Irish Traditional Music and the Copyright Debate." Article commissioned for the German magazine Irish Folk Festival (Sept. 2003). This article summarizes material from the Ph.D. dissertation.

"Irische traditionelle Musik und die Diskussion über Urheberrechte." German translation of the above article, donated by Petr Pandula, editor of Irish Folk Festival.

"Questioning IMRO" This is an article posted on Indymedia (Ireland) on Thursday, July 17, 2003, which raises a few questions about the politics of performing rights.

"Questioning Educational Strategies: The Challenges of Radical Pedagogy in Discussions about Irish Traditional Culture."(PDF) This is the abstract of a paper presented at Crosbhealach an Cheoil/The Crossroads Conference on the 27th April 2003, at the University of Ulster, Magee College, in Derry.

"Raising One Higher than the Other": The Hierarchy of Tradition in Representations of Gaelic and English Language Song in Ireland (Excerpt) Written by Anthony McCann and Lillis Ó Laoire, this article appears in full in the book Global Pop, Local Language, edited by Harris M. Berger and Michael T. Carroll, which is now available from The University Press of Mississippi (272 pp., 2003, ISBN 1578065356) or from Amazon.com and other outlets. Excerpt posted with permission.

Public Lecture, "Beyond the Commons: Intellectual Property and the Masks of Enclosure", November 2002, Library of Congress, Washington DC Summary (PDF)

Beyond the Term "Music" This is a slightly longer draft of a 2002 AAA conference paper. The term "music" is so common in the English language that it seems natural and inevitable that it be used as an analytic category. However, what if we're just fooling ourselves that there is a thing called "music"? While I'm here, a similar critique could be levelled at the concept of "language", something which I don't address in the paper.

Review of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance Videos. This article was written in collaboration with Ethnochoreologist Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain, who lives in Limerick, Ireland. It was published in the journal Ethnomusicology.

Local Empowerment and International Cooperation "A Report on the Working Conference, "A Global Assessment of the 1989 Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore"." Written by Tressa Berman, Peter Seitel & Anthony McCann. Published in Cultural Survival Quarterly 24(4):28-31.

The Impossibility of Translating Séamas Mac Annaidh's Cuaifeach Mo Londubh Buí into English (PDF). This paper was presented in 1998 at the conference of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literature.

'Ar Lorg na Gaoithe': Death, the Quest for Immortality, and the Pursuit of the Unjustified Self in Séamas Mac Annaidh's Cuaifeach Mo Londubh Buí (PDF). This thesis was undertaken for the degree of M.Phil in Irish Studies at University College, Galway. It was submitted in 1997. It is testament to my early fondness for the dynamics of literary enclosure, and my fascination even then with attempts to eliminate uncertainty. Apologies for the lack of a contents page, but the three chapters more or less follow the elements of the title.

Feel free to follow the links below ...

Crafting Gentleness