
Sounding Good
Advancing Cultural Sustainability and Social Justice through Music
Catherine Grant(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 25. November 2025
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-19-769843-3 (ISBN)
Description
Like biological species and languages, many musical and other cultural practices around the world are at risk. In some cases, the threat to their future is due to social inequalities or injustices that impinge upon people's capacity to engage in vibrant cultural lives of their choosing, such as assimilation policies, systemic land dispossession, forced displacement, or erasure of certain cultures in education. In Sounding Good, author Catherine Grant joins artist-researcher collaborators from across five continents to explore the deep and sometimes surprising interplays between music, cultural sustainability, and matters of social justice.
In Cambodia, a "magic music bus" chugs through rural provinces, joyfully returning traditional music to people and places from which it has nearly disappeared. In a refugee camp in the harsh Algerian desert, people come together to sing old and new songs about everyday life in the camps, their nostalgia for their Western Saharan homeland, and their hopes for the future. In a university class in Brazil, students learn songs, dances, and stories from a senior Indigenous culture-bearer--the first time these cultural practices have been welcomed into formal tertiary education. Through these cases, and others from Vanuatu, India, and Australia, Sounding Good demonstrates how strong and sustainable cultural practices can advance the cause of social justice, and vice versa.
Traversing a range of pressing contemporary social concerns--from forced migration, educational equity, and poverty to matters of racial, cultural, and climate justice--Grant contends that music can help us better understand the ways that cultural sustainability and social justice are entangled. Not only will this understanding help musicians, communities, scholars, and cultural agencies in local and global efforts to protect and promote the rich diversity of musical practices around the world, but it will also enhance our prospects of an equitable and thriving world, now and into the future.
Collaborators:
Arn Chorn-Pond
Jose Bonifacio da Luz (Bengala)
Jose Jorge de Carvalho
Jessie Lloyd
Saurav Moni
Violeta Ruano Posada
Mohamed Sleiman Labat
Sandy Sur
Thorn Seyma
In Cambodia, a "magic music bus" chugs through rural provinces, joyfully returning traditional music to people and places from which it has nearly disappeared. In a refugee camp in the harsh Algerian desert, people come together to sing old and new songs about everyday life in the camps, their nostalgia for their Western Saharan homeland, and their hopes for the future. In a university class in Brazil, students learn songs, dances, and stories from a senior Indigenous culture-bearer--the first time these cultural practices have been welcomed into formal tertiary education. Through these cases, and others from Vanuatu, India, and Australia, Sounding Good demonstrates how strong and sustainable cultural practices can advance the cause of social justice, and vice versa.
Traversing a range of pressing contemporary social concerns--from forced migration, educational equity, and poverty to matters of racial, cultural, and climate justice--Grant contends that music can help us better understand the ways that cultural sustainability and social justice are entangled. Not only will this understanding help musicians, communities, scholars, and cultural agencies in local and global efforts to protect and promote the rich diversity of musical practices around the world, but it will also enhance our prospects of an equitable and thriving world, now and into the future.
Collaborators:
Arn Chorn-Pond
Jose Bonifacio da Luz (Bengala)
Jose Jorge de Carvalho
Jessie Lloyd
Saurav Moni
Violeta Ruano Posada
Mohamed Sleiman Labat
Sandy Sur
Thorn Seyma
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
24 b/w illustrations, 1 table
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
494 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-769843-3 (9780197698433)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
approx. 04/2026
Oxford University Press Inc
€30.50
Not yet published
Person
Music researcher and educator Catherine Grant has worked with musicians and communities in Australia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Vanuatu on projects supporting the strength and sustainability of cultural expressions. She has published over 60 journal articles, book chapters, books, and creative outputs in the areas of ethnomusicology, cultural heritage, and music education, including the monograph Music Endangerment: How Language Maintenance Can Help (OUP, 2014) and the award-winning Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures (as co-editor; OUP, 2016). Grant is recipient of an Australian Future Justice medal for her research, advocacy, and activism on music endangerment and sustainability.
Collaborators:
Arn Chorn-Pond
Jose Bonifacio da Luz (Bengala)
Jose Jorge de Carvalho
Jessie Lloyd
Saurav Moni
Violeta Ruano Posada
Mohamed Sleiman Labat
Sandy Sur
Thorn Seyma
Collaborators:
Arn Chorn-Pond
Jose Bonifacio da Luz (Bengala)
Jose Jorge de Carvalho
Jessie Lloyd
Saurav Moni
Violeta Ruano Posada
Mohamed Sleiman Labat
Sandy Sur
Thorn Seyma
Author
music researcher and lecturermusic researcher and lecturer, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University
Content
Acronyms
Note
Preface
About the Companion Website
Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: This Music Is Magic Music Introducing: Arn Chorn-Pond and Thorn Seyma
Catherine Grant with Arn Chorn Pond and Thorn Seyma Chapter 2: Oh Give Me A Land Introducing: Jessie Lloyd
Catherine Grant with Jessie Lloyd Chapter 3: Masters in the Academy Introducing: Jose Bonifacio da Luz ("Bengala")
Introducing: Jose Jorge de Carvalho
Catherine Grant and Jose Jorge de Carvalho with Bengala Chapter 4: Music for Life and Livelihood Introducing: Saurav Moni Catherine Grant with Saurav Moni Chapter 5: Music for a Desert Homeland Introducing: Violeta Ruano Posada Introducing: Mohamed Sleiman Labat
Catherine Grant with Violeta Ruano Posada and Mohamed Sleiman Labat Chapter 6: Weaving Sound Through Ocean and Land Introducing: Sandy Sur Catherine Grant with Sandy Sur Chapter 7: The Eyes of All Future Generations Catherine Grant Appendix 1: Case Studies
Appendix 2: Map of Case Study Locations
References
Index
Note
Preface
About the Companion Website
Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: This Music Is Magic Music Introducing: Arn Chorn-Pond and Thorn Seyma
Catherine Grant with Arn Chorn Pond and Thorn Seyma Chapter 2: Oh Give Me A Land Introducing: Jessie Lloyd
Catherine Grant with Jessie Lloyd Chapter 3: Masters in the Academy Introducing: Jose Bonifacio da Luz ("Bengala")
Introducing: Jose Jorge de Carvalho
Catherine Grant and Jose Jorge de Carvalho with Bengala Chapter 4: Music for Life and Livelihood Introducing: Saurav Moni Catherine Grant with Saurav Moni Chapter 5: Music for a Desert Homeland Introducing: Violeta Ruano Posada Introducing: Mohamed Sleiman Labat
Catherine Grant with Violeta Ruano Posada and Mohamed Sleiman Labat Chapter 6: Weaving Sound Through Ocean and Land Introducing: Sandy Sur Catherine Grant with Sandy Sur Chapter 7: The Eyes of All Future Generations Catherine Grant Appendix 1: Case Studies
Appendix 2: Map of Case Study Locations
References
Index