Orienting to Pedagogical Service

Abstract

This essay considers the Society for Music Theory’s valuations of research, service, and pedagogy in light of Sara Ahmed’s (2006) reflections on orientation and labor. Ahmed’s description of the philosopher’s writing table turns attention to the domestic labor that creates the conditions for the very work of philosophizing; by bringing this analysis to bear on Stephen Lett’s “Making a Home of The Society for Music Theory, Inc.” (2023, forthcoming), this article brings the following question to the fore: What sorts of labor are “relegated to the background” of the SMT members’ own “writing tables”? This article thus extends Lett’s metaphor of the SMT’s homemaking practices, questions the meaning of service through the lens of pedagogy and research, and highlights the role of academic contingent labor within this network.