Musical Ethnographies in the 21st century

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Barbara Alge
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2021 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 493839071

The volume "Musikethnographien im 21. Jahrhundert (Musical Ethnographies in the 21st century)" brings together ten articles by ethnomusicologists working in the German speaking world, that is, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The volume is mainly intended to be used by students, who have with this volume an equivalent to the English volume "Shadows in the Field" edited by Gregory Barz and Timothey Cooley in 2008 [1st edition 1997] at hand. "Shadows in the Field" rates as mandatory reading in ethnomusicological seminars on methods and as a reference work for fieldwork and ethnography in ethnomusicology. Similar to the reedition of "Shadows in Field" from 2008, the volume "Musikethnographien im 21. Jahrhundert" focusses on the reflexive approach of ethnomusicological fieldwork. Thirteen years after "Shadows in the Field" the present volume discusses current paradigms of fieldwork such as multi-situated fieldwork, reflexivity, dialogicity, polyphony, feedback and collaborative research as well as questions of repatriation, ethical handling of research data, the roles of researchers and research partners. It also includes reflections on the temporality of ethnographic material collected through field research, the role of digital social media and auto-ethnography. A postcolonial perspective pervades nearly all articles. Some artciles of the volume highlight gender discourses, a feminist critique, consequences of the Black-Lives-Matter debate as well as the importance of activism and intervention through performance ethnography. Research fields serving for reflection are in this volume popular music (Kuduro, Schlager, World Music, Folk and Rap) as well as indigenous music cultures (Yoreme, Pemón), traditional music and dance from Madagaskar, Portugal, Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe as well as Soundscapes Studies. The contributions are systematized according to theories in ethnography (part I), methodological considerations (part II) and the topic area "Ethnography, Memory, and the Past" (part III).

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants