MusM Composition (Electroacoustic Music and Interactive Media) / Course details

This course-unit focuses on the principles and practices of fieldwork and ethnography, with particular reference to music. It offers you the opportunity to extend your knowledge and understanding of issues relating to ethnographic fieldwork and writing, and to develop a toolkit for undertaking primary research with human subjects and present-day communities, whether close to home or further afield. Topics normally include: historical perspectives on fieldwork practice; the development of fieldwork methodology; ethical considerations; gender and other personal factors in the field; multi-sited and virtual fieldwork; the roles of archives and transcription; ethnographic film; ethnographic writing; and the politics of ethnographic representation. As part of the course you may have the opportunity to carry out your own small ethnographic project and/or undertake exploratory activity related to your dissertation topic.

This unit is available to students taking the following programmes:

MusM Music

MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice

MA Social Anthropology

Students taking other programmes should consult the Course Unit Director.

• To explore issues in fieldwork practice and ethnographic writing, primarily through a detailed study of set texts supplemented by practical exercises.
• To examine changes in approaches to fieldwork and ethnography from a historical and interdisciplinary perspective.
• To consider ethical questions relating to fieldwork impact and the politics of representation.
• To equip participants with a sound theoretical and methodological foundation for their own ethnographic investigations.

(All fieldwork is subject to government guidelines)

• Demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of different approaches to fieldwork and ethnographic writing, from both practical and theoretical perspectives.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the personal, professional, ethical and political issues associated with research in the field and representation in academic writing.

(All fieldwork is subject to government guidelines)

• Synthesise and evaluate a wide range of material relating to the topics under consideration.
• Present informed, cogent and critical evaluations of the material studied.
• Interpret primary texts, engage with secondary literature, and formulate their own arguments.
• Design research questions and identify and develop appropriate methodologies.

• Put into practice the skills necessary for undertaking successful fieldwork, including participant-observation, interview design and practice, note-taking, recording and transcription.
• Articulate, discuss and support findings coherently in both written and verbal form.
• Demonstrate a command of diverse writing styles.
• Work effectively towards clearly delineated goals.

(All fieldwork is subject to government guidelines)

• Produce high-quality work independently with self-motivation and critical self-awareness.
• Demonstrate well-developed skills in the use of library, online and other resources.
• Demonstrate initiative, sensitivity and sound judgement in interpersonal and collaborative work.
• Show that they have acquired a solid theoretical and methodological foundation for their own ethnographic work and developed skills appropriate to undertaking an individual research project.

• Barz, Gregory F. and Timothy J. Cooley (eds.), Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives on Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology, 2nd edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008)
• Brettell, Caroline B., When They Read What We Write: The Politics of Ethnography (Westport, Conn: Bergin and Garvey, 1993)
• Clifford, James, and Marcus, George E. (eds.), Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986; 25th anniversary edition 2010)
• Cooley, Timothy (ed.), Fieldwork Impact: special issue of The British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 12, 1 (2003)
• Landau, Carolyn and Janet Topp Fargion (eds.), Ethnomusicology, Archives and Communities: Methodologies for an Equitable Discipline: special issue of Ethnomusicology Forum, 21, 2 (2012)
• Madden, Raymond, Being Ethnographic: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Ethnography, 2nd edition (London: Sage, 2017)
• Nettl, Bruno, The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-Three Discussions (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2015)
• Pink, Sarah et al, Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice, (London: Sage, 2016)
• Stock, Jonathan P.J. and Beverley Diamond (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Ethics and Research in Ethnomusicology (New York and London: Routledge, 2023)