Oct 21 Lecture Power Point

Fieldwork

Music is a form of creative expression that is also a mode of expressing, critiquing, confirming, creating, and contesting categories of individual and group identity (e.g., nationality, race/ethnicity, generation, gender, class).

Ethnomusicologists study the processes of music-making and the meanings of these processes through fieldwork

ethnography—a written report that documents and analyzes a fieldworker’s experiences in the field and extends them to the theoretical discussions in the disciplines of ethnomusicology and cultural anthropologyfrom the Greek:•Ethnos—the people •Graphia—writing, recording, describing

Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)

Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942)

Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea

Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922)

The Anthropologist must “grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, and realize his vision of his world.”--B. MalinowskiArgonauts of the Western Pacific (1922)

Malinowski and fieldwork collaborators

Characteristics of Fieldwork• Fieldwork is essentially intrusive• Qualitative research• Serendipity • Rapport • Trust • Entrée • Culture Shock • Faux Pas

Informants Consultants

“Studying a group of people” “Learning about a group of people”

small-scale or tribal cultures, nonwestern small-scale, nonwestern AND complex societies ALSO working “at home”

Fieldwork Techniques:

• Qualitative research• Participant Observation—of everyday

life and of special events and performances

• Field Notes• Interviewing—directed and open-ended,

life story collection• Questionnaires or surveys

Fieldwork Techniques:• Learning an instrument and/or musical

repertoire• Recording (film or audio) of musical

performances• Transcribing musical performances• Collecting musical instruments or

recordings of musical performances• Collecting other materials related to music

production and performance

Always for Pleasure (1978)Directed by Les Blank

Brass bandFuneralSecond Line

• Ethics—being in accordance with the accepted principles of right and wrong that govern the conduct of a profession. Moral behavior.

A fieldworker’s ethical obligations:

from the American Anthropological Association’s Code of Ethics

(Bear in mind that some anthropologists do research with animals, usually nonhuman primates)

A fieldworker’s ethical obligations:

To avoid harm or wrong, understanding that the development of knowledge can lead to change which may be positive or negative for the people or animals worked with or studied

• To respect the well-being of humans and nonhuman primates

• To work for the long-term conservation of the archaeological, fossil, and historical records

• To consult actively with the affected individuals or group(s), with the goal of establishing a working relationship that can be beneficial to all parties involved

Ethics in the field:

• Full disclosure• Informed consent• Human subjects approval• Anonymity of subjects and/or location if

requested• Reciprocity and obligations

• “the imponderabilia of actual life”

The ethnographer must “grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, and realize his vision of his world.”

“the imponderabilia of actual life”

Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific