shadows in the field new perspectives for fieldwork in ethnomusicology sep 2008

[...]... ethnographic monographs, all the better In this second, revised edition, Shadows in the Field integrates new responses to recently revealed issues in ethnomusicology The inclusion of these additional voices within the shadows of our discipline strengthens the original goals of this publication by maintaining an involvement with issues relevant to our discipline—both current and historical—as they relate to fieldwork... just for ethnomusicologists but also for all ethnographic disciplines Why do we focus on fieldwork when the liveliest debate among social sciences during the past several decades has been about the adequacy and legitimacy of our means for describing the cultural Other in writing? The reasons lie hidden in the sonic shadows of the musical practices we are privileged to study The power of 3 4 Shadows in the. .. is only in experience that we know But, pointing at a problem does not solve it During the decade following the original publication of Shadows in the Field, fieldwork as the defining method of ethnomusicology once again must be reassessed The motivations for this reassessment are both practical and ideological Practically, funds for long-term overseas fieldwork appear to be diminishing, and international... globalization Always leading the charge—as was true with the original Shadows in the Field graduate students are good indicators of disciplinary change In informal surveys of graduate programs in ethnomusicology there is currently an almost even split between students adopting traditional fieldwork-based projects involving extended periods away from home in the field and students designing alternative research... Yes, the old fieldwork is certainly dead Long live the new fieldwork! 14 Shadows in the Field The New Fieldwork What are the characteristics of the new fieldwork? Face-to-face interaction remains a cornerstone of fieldwork The ‘‘ethno’’ in ethnomusicology has always referred to people—any person, any group of people, however they are constituted Ultimately, if not only and always, we judge our disciplinary... anything distinguishes contemporary ethnomusicology from previous eras of the discipline, it is our practice of talking with, playing music with, experiencing life with the people about whose musical practices we write The returning and new authors of the second edition of Shadows in the Field reiterate the book’s initial central theme: fieldwork is experience, and the experience of people making music... studying classical traditions of Asia and the Far 8 Shadows in the Field East We do not wish to question the quality and integrity of the pioneering work of these early scholars, only to historically and socially situate their work and to suggest how their shadows impact our own fieldwork Several authors in this book, in fact, find that they must strive to define for themselves new roles as fieldworkers in. .. an escape for many in the face of the crisis If so, in their escapist forays they encountered a different world out there in their longing for holistic theories of culture, and by extension a new world ‘‘at home’’ within the academy with requisite desires for absolutes What they discovered in the crisis-ofrepresentation quest was a postmodern—and later globalized—reality where distinctions between cultures,... enjoys playing Polish mountain fiddle music, American old-time banjo, and guitar as well as singing in choirs As this book is being published, Cooley is serving as the editor of Ethnomusicology, the journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology, and is the president of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Southern California Chapter Whereas Cooley’s work in Central Europe and Midwestern America focused on the musical... Ethnomusicology (Post–World War, Early Cold War, Pre-Vietnam, Not-Yet-Ready-forPostcolonial Ethnomusicology) The American academy and society at large entered a period of change in the 1970s to which in many ways the original publication of Shadows in the Field was a response, and it is this period that we now are beginning to reassess What we might call the ‘‘ethnographic’’ disciplines—including ethnomusicology, .