On the Beach

Abstract

How has “the migrant crisis” affected musicology? What “edges” now appear, with what implications for musicology’s persistent call to historicize? This article suggests these have been more persistent questions than the current language of “crisis” might suggest. Taking some examples with the ongoing Syrian war as a backdrop, the implications of Mieke Bal’s injunction to “remember with” are explored as a route to thinking through the dilemmas of activism and compassion.