Socialism Now

In Socialism Now: Singing Activism after Yugoslavia, Ana Hofman embarks on a captivating journey through singing, songs, and other cultural expressions to trace the recent recuperation of socialist ideas and experiences in the post-Yugoslav context. Combining historical and ethnographic approaches, the book offers a nuanced account of the activities of the self-organized choirs that have emerged in the region in the last two decades. Their singing activism demasks the privatization, dispossession, and political and social fragmentation that, instead of a promised capitalist dreamland, have shaped lives in the region after the dissolution of socialist Yugoslavia. Socialism Now imparts a perspective on the politics of music and sound outside the usual understanding of social justice or social change. The book's central concept, strategic amateurism, provides a unique perspective on the power of nonprofessional, communal leisure musical activities in contesting the pervasive commodification in all spheres of life. Through its in-depth sociopolitical and cultural analysis of contemporary forms of music activism, Socialism Now revalorizes the "e;lost"e; historical knowledge and lived experiences from the former Second World in envisioning music and sounds anti-capitalist political potential today. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.