Ethnographic Methods

Ethnographic methods generally pertain to the principal qualitative research methods of participant observation, fieldnote writing, ethnographic interviewing, and the ethnographer's participation in music and dance as formal and informal processes for the study of musical actions and behaviors. This seminar examines these methods, while critically considering the central connections between methods and the ethics of fieldwork and ethnographic representation as related to ethnographic intent, researcher reflexivity, notions of power and privilege, authority, hearing and representing individual voices, and politics of positionality, which refers to the ethnographer's conduct throughout the research and writing process. Selected ethnomusicological and anthropological scholarship on ethnography and (recent) musical ethnographies highlight such ethical concerns and responsibilities while introducing fieldwork settings, analytical renderings, and theoretical framing. Focusing on ethnography as methodological practice, and as text, this seminar includes writing labs to practice processes of data analysis, interpretation, and the transformation of field data into written and other ethnographic representations. The seminar further introduces fieldwork technology, visual sociology/ethnography, filmmaking, and examples of virtual ethnographic presentation and dissemination. Focusing on how scholars represent musical experiences further exposes methods and theories of critical ethnography, auto-ethnography, and performance ethnography while highlighting examples of music-making that center not only on artistic activity but also on social interactions.