Recovering Musicology as a Public Service in the Neoliberal University: Obstacles, Obligations and Opportunities

Just what is the point of musicological research? Increasingly, it seems this is a question that is being answered definitively outside the walls of a university. At the end of 2021, for instance, the Australian Federal Government’s Acting Minister for Education and Youth exercised a power of veto over six Australian Research Council applications that had otherwise been recommended by the Council for funding. While a chorus of protests emanated from around the world from hundreds of senior academics and like institutions decrying the chilling impact they believed the decision would have on the principles of arms-length government funding, the value of so-called blue-sky research, and academic freedom more generally, the Minister was unmoved. Underpinning these protests was, however, a shared belief that the work of a university is fundamentally a ‘public’ good, and as such, worth defending. A university has its own raison d’être, which is neither to further the narrow self-interests of those who are fortunate enough to be its members, nor to pursue the interests of a particular government or outside interest. It is, rather, to teach and research in order to disseminate knowledge for the good of society as a whole. As such, ‘editorial interventions’ in the work of a university like the Acting Minister’s vetoing of certain humanities and social sciences grants, should be only done to advance the interests of that public good, and not (as it appeared he had done) to advance personal, sectarian, party-political or ideological advantage. In principle, at least, governments and other funding bodies should therefore allow academics unfettered ability to undertake their work as a public good, but this in turn implies a reciprocal contract of trust. Academics should also–if not set aside—then at least consciously moderate their own preoccupations and selfinterest in favour of general principles such as the disinterested pursuit of knowledge, and a commitment to truth in public utterances. As far as the discipline of music is concerned, an individual may, and no doubt often does, study music principally to advance a personal interest, or secure a personal benefit, and indeed the justification for passing at least a proportion of the cost of a university education to the student is usually couched in such terms. This chapter argues, however, that if musicologists are effectively to justify ‘hands-off’ public support for their work they must put aside the temptation to accommodate narrowly conceived instrumental justifications for their labour, and instead both undertake, and be seen to undertake, their work in a manner that consciously serves the advancement and dissemination of musical knowledge as a public good.