“Practices of Contemplation and Mindfulness”

“Practices of Contemplation and Mindfulness”

This roundtable will open up a dialogue around ethnomusicologists’ roles within daily lives beyond the normative academic and applied professions. Ethnomusicologists are everywhere. Many years after the groundbreaking work of recognizing the shadows we cast in the field (Barz and Cooley, 1997), we invite conversation around the impact we have, individually and collectively, at home. Does ethnomusicological training shift our being-in-the-world in ways that are worth noting and have the potential to serve in a crisis-laden age on fire with othering? Five scholars will briefly share how they engage in distinctive—and perhaps surprising—ways as ethnomusicologists in their daily lives, asking: How do we activate our training within our worlds, both in our everyday interactions and in ways that resonate in our wider communities? Are there distinctive features of ethnomusicological training and engagement that resound beyond academic contexts? And how might we collaborate, share, and learn from one another and our communities? What is the role of ethnomusicology in our efforts to impact the world(s) around us? 

SEM Education Section

World Music Pedagogy Workshops

October 19, 2024

10:00 a.m.
At the Nexus of Ethnomusicology, Music Cognition, Music Education: World Music Pedagogy

Patricia Shehan Campbell, University of Washington
Jen Mellizo, Smithsonian Folkways
Amanda Soto, Texas State University

11:00 a.m.
Take a Seat! Exploring Hawaiian Music and Dance through Hula Noho

Sarah H. Watts, Penn State University

12:00 p.m.
Sargam for Student Singers: Exploring the Beginning Stages of Karnatak Music Vocalization in the Western Choral Classroom

Rachel Schuck, University of North Texas

1:00 p.m.
Little Frogs and Little Pigs: Swedish Song and Dance Games

Carrie Danielson, Florida State University

Ten years after the publication of Timothy Rice’s, “Ethnomusicology in Times of Trouble” (2014), the world is no less riven by conflict and violence. As music researchers, educators, and practitioners, we remain invested in the wellbeing of musical communities and often try to foster hope amid brutal injustices that endanger the lives of vulnerable populations. Lei Ouyang reminds us that “moments” of crisis are linked to broader systems and structures, i.e., to “larger movements and histories…that need to be understood and addressed for change to be possible” (2024, 326). Yet those of us who bear witness to human suffering may hold competing stances on whether, when, and how to address specific moments in and through our work. Various responses to humanitarian, political, and socioeconomic crises may reflect a struggle to find common ground among those with differing cultural backgrounds, professional obligations, and ideological commitments. 

In light of these challenges and opportunities, roundtable participants are invited to address the following questions:

• What kinds of advocatory obligations do we have toward marginalized groups, and how might we most effectively fulfill them, both on an organizational level as well as in our individual research and writing? 
• To what extent have our studies of music in times of crisis yielded new theories or moved us “away from vertical knowledge structures to horizontal ones in which knowledge is created in equal partnerships with communities and community musicians”? (Rice, 204) 
• Given our diversity of perspectives, beliefs, and worldviews, how might we harness the power of critical reflection and healthy discomfort “to engage with work that is relational and intergenerational and that demonstrates hope, care, and solidarity”? (Ouyang, 327)
• How do we work together—particularly in times of trouble—to promote empathy, equity, and accountability within our field(s) and institutions while cultivating safer spaces for educational and professional growth?

Chair and Moderator: 

Melvin L. Butler (SEM President), University of Miami

Discussants:

Samuel Araujo,  Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Kyra Gaunt, University at Albany, State University of New York

Deonte Harris, University of North Carolina

Adriana Helbig, University of Pittsburgh

David McDonald, Indiana University

Jessica Schwartz, University of California, Los Angeles

Jeffrey Summit, Tufts University

Ethnomusicological Exits: Breaks, Goodbyes, Partings

In this roundtable we reflect on ruptures, breaks, loose ends, and suspensions in our practice as ethnomusicologists. What happens when we are unable to give fieldwork the continuity that it requires and merits? What happens when professional engagements and ties are placed under strain? How do we practice ethnomusicology well in a context of increased political and economic isolation? The roundtable responds to a wider situation afflicting our practice, for those of us with ties to the United Kingdom and Ireland. First, changes in immigration policy under the UK government’s ‘hostile environment’ have in many cases led to decreased numbers of international applicants, threatening the cross-cultural richness of our sector and undermining our institutions’ financial standing, ultimately causing a wave of program closures and redundancies. Second, Brexit has had consequences for those of us with professional and research ties in the European Union. In such conditions, the presumption of mobility, for so long a privilege of researchers with British citizenship, applies to a far lesser extent. We may not take for granted the status of the (partially) postcolonial United Kingdom as a hub for dynamic intercultural exchange.

Ethnomusicological work in this context also suggests challenges about relations in the research ‘field’. It is widely recognized that the neatness of fieldwork ‘endings’ is now implausible (if it ever was otherwise). Our engagement with research respondents tend not to conclude with closure, but continue to hang around. Sometimes this ‘hanging around’ takes the form of responsibilities during and after publication. It may also take the form of loose ends; unresolved questions; longings; unfulfilled expectations; cruel optimism; perhaps even more decidedly negative affects such as trauma. Often, the forms this ‘hanging around’ takes are defined by processes beyond our full control: for instance, our (in)ability to continue professional practice or to travel freely. This roundtable will reflect on these interlinked questions.

“Practices of Contemplation and Mindfulness”

Three Scholars will answer your questions about navigating career pathways, public ethnomusicology, work/life balance, and more!

Room 1: Dr. Janice Mahinka, Associate Professor of [Ethno]Musicology and Co-Program Coordinator for Music, Harford Community College

Potential topics include tenure and promotion, committee and community organization work, syllabus design, pedagogy issues, work/life balance, teaching at a community college.

Room 2: Dr. Christina Sunardi, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Chair of the Department of Dance, University of Washington-Seattle

Potential topics include pathways to tenure and full professorship, balancing administrative work with teaching and research, publishing, syllabus design, balancing service with research and teaching, work/life balance, navigating academia as a woman of color.

Room 3: Dr. Panayotis League, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and Director of the Center for Music of the Americas, Florida State University

Potential topics include job applications and interviews, the tenure process, work/life balance, integrating research-performance-teaching, community outreach, collaboration with academics and public folklorists, navigating challenging political environments in academia, advising students, grant applications. 

Chair: Katherine Brucher

Chair: Sean Williams, Evergreen College

“Practices of Contemplation and Mindfulness”

“Practices of Contemplation and Mindfulness”