8-Bit Ethnomusicology

Ariel is an anthropologist!

I was looking for inspiration for my blog post this week while listening to Volume II of Disney’s Sing-a-Long broadcast on ABC, when the song, “Part of Your World” came on with scenes from The Little Mermaid. I was promptly flooded with memories of a tumblr post claiming Ariel, sixteen-year-old and dad-defying mermaid, was indeed an anthropologist and thought, ‘This would be quite fun to dig in to for my blog post!’ For reference, below is a screenshot of said tumblr post that has popped up on various social media sites throughout the years:

Interesting theory, yeah? Not exactly a life-or-death research topic for the day, but fun to think about regardless! Now, my first step was to see if anyone else had anything to say on the topic. It was hard to find anything that wasn’t fan-fiction but I was able to find a review someone did for an Introduction to Anthropology course. Kea Lopez gives a quick glance at The Little Mermaid’s tie to anthropology, however, she focuses more on concepts in anthropology that are shown in the movie, rather than how Ariel herself is an anthropologist. Firstly, they separate two cultures set up in the movie: land and sea. In the movie, of course, Ariel belongs to the sea culture. Lopez digs in a little more by establishing cultural norms of the sea and of the land. They also dig into the misconstrued notions that the sea culture has of the materials and culture of humans. For example, the use of a dinglehopper (a.k.a. a fork). Now, the land people have no clue the sea culture exists, so misunderstandings don’t necessarily happen for them (more so the land culture doesn’t understand there is even a culture to be had underwater until Ariel drops in). Lopez’s review is helpful for laying out a base for this next part…

If we look at what Ariel does in the movie, we find a list of things that anthropologists may, also, do:

Collect things from the culture/society and try to understand their function
Longing to experience the society
Getting emotionally involved (optional ;])

This semester, in both my Field Methods and Anthropology of Music courses, we dug into these “things anthropologists may do,” why we do or do not do them anymore and what has changed in the field. (Man it was really hard not to type do-do in that sentence) So let’s go step by step with what Ariel does that anthropologists also do!

Collect things from the culture/society and try to understand their function

Ariel has her treasure trove full of items she has collected from this culture that is vastly different from her own. She has wine stoppers, forks, statues, you name it. She is collecting these things and basically making a museum. Let’s stop and imagine what she is doing with these things. Ariel does try to figure out what these mysterious items are used for, so her collection of them are not just for show. She really is trying to figure out how their society functions through the objects she uses. However, banned from having contact with the humans to ask them herself, she is forced to seek the council of Scuttle, the ill-informed segal. Scuttle takes some creative liberties when describing objects to Ariel and leads her to believe that a dinglehopper is for brushing your hair, rather than eating food. This gets her in trouble later and could probably have been avoided if she wasn’t so confident in Scuttle’s assessments (she is only 16, I think she gets a pass). However, back to the main point, Ariel is trying to understand how human society operates, why the use certain things, and what their function is. These are all things anthropologists try to do (babies do this too but they aren’t exactly doing it to understand humanity…)

2. Longing to experience the society

Ariel really, REALLY wants to be where the people are, to see them dancing, watch them run, feel the sun, I could keep going but you are probably already singing the song so I’ll stop. In the iconic song, “Part of Your World” she specifically states she has questions and wants answers. She wants to experience how they live, interview them, and understand them better (granted she also makes assumptions about how they treat 16 year-old women on land, which Ursula explains even further, but this does not seem to deter her). In my studies this term, I was taught that witnessing a group firsthand, getting to ask questions, and seeing or doing things for myself is an important part of understanding other cultures. Participant observation is key to grasping concepts. Ariel wants to observe humans, understand fire and why it burns!

When she is finally on land, she has some advantages she needs already. She speaks their language (while more so she understands, since she can’t actually speak), she has an “understanding” of how parts of their culture work, and she has a familiar face, Eric, to help her navigate her studies! She is, however, not the most perfect anthropologist, like most of us. In the dinner scene she performs the classic blunder. She thinks she understands how to use the dinglehopper in front of her because she was confidently told its purpose by Scuttle and uses it to brush her hair only to find out that is definitely NOT how to use it. She then learns its actual purpose, to eat food. This is something some anthropologists will experience. Sometimes you just have to mess it up to really figure out what is happening or why! Here is another scene from the movie where she witnesses human culture in many other forms.

3. Getting emotionally involved

Lastly, Ariel has “gone native” in the movie. Granted, most anthropologists don’t start their work intending to become part of their informants world’s forever like Ariel does. Anthropologists do get emotionally involved in their studies and with those whom they study. We have to build rapport with our informants, if not to just be a kind person, but to understand with more clarity and continue a relationship. However, “going native,” meaning becoming completely a part of the society/culture the anthropologist studies is quite a stretch and can bring along bias and barriers that impact the goals of the anthropologist. While this doesn’t directly relate to Ariel’s being a “true” anthropologist, since defining what a true anthropologist is is impossible, it is important to note because it does impact her goals and relationships. She falls for Eric (swoon!) and this clouds her judgement when speaking to Ursula. She no longer wants to understand their culture, she wants to be with Eric. She ignores the hints Ursula drops about losing her freedom to speak, both literally and figuratively, in order to accomplish this. Not every going native experience is this extreme by the way, but its still an example of what I’ve learned about doing ethnography and/or anthropology.

So, it seems to me that Ariel is quite the potential anthropologist. If you, ya know, leave out the fact that: she is 16, is a cartoon, we have no other background information about her other activities or interests, that her interests in human culture gets totally derailed by a cute boy (relatable), and that its the mid-1800s in England during this movie, among other things. So, Pending the release of more information, I think Ariel is on her way to becoming a pretty good anthropologist! While she isn’t a full-fledged anthropologist, I don’t have enough information to make that claim, she definitely does things that anthropologists also do! THE END 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it! See you all in class!

Where the heck have I been?! And a tribute…

I haven’t posted in a couple weeks…its been looming over my head but I haven’t done anything about it. It the words of my grandfather, my “get up an go” got up and left! I have had no will, focus or motivation to do anything the past couple weeks. I’ve been drudging through homework or diving into anything that could distracting me from doing actual academic work. Zoom classes seemed to go on forever and I couldn’t seem to find a place, position or mental mantra that I could do to feel better. Today is a little different, albeit late on Sunday night, I finally feel like I am not forcing myself to do whats needed of me. I am over-the-moon that this feeling has passed.

Even though I have come out of my academic slump, right after it came the news that my beloved mentor, friend, and the person who inspired me to become an ethnomusicologist passed away from Creutzfeldt-Jakob (KROITS-felt YAH-kobe) disease. Dr. Maria Paula Survilla was incredible, let me tell you. No, really, I am actually going to tell you how incredible she was. The next part of this post is a summary of her life, that parts which I know, and you should read it because I love her and I think you will find her inspiring as well.

Her and I (ignore my horrendous choice of lipstick)

Lets start at the very best part, this woman is like a freaking PRINCESS! And I am only joking a little. Her mother is the President in exile of Belarus. We would joke with the freshman each year and tell them she was a princess until they asked her about it. So thats just one cool fact, but if you look at the wiki page for her mom (in the link above), you will see that her family moved many different places. This meant that she learned many different languages, SIX to be specific: Belarusian, French, Spanish, Russian, English, and Polish. Fun fact: she learned Polish from late night sit-coms, ridiculous right?

For a while her family lived in Spain. This was when she was little. Apparently, where they lived, everyone would touch her hair because it was a lovely shade of blonde and very few people had blonde hair. Her mother even took her to a modeling agency because of it and she was PUT ON A BILLBOARD FOR SCHWEPPES ADVERTISEMENTS. She is the little girl on the right! How heckin’ cool!

I learned a lot of these things during a month long class traveling the Camino de Santiago’s northern route. Me, my boyfriend, best friend, and some of my classmates took this amazing trip with her. We visited religious sites, met amazing people, and bonded deeply. From this trip I was in awe of her. She is an amazing story-teller and unbelievably smart, not that I doubted it. She and I had worked closely all year, but on this trip I learned from her what fieldwork meant, how to travel internationally, how to take charge when others look down on you, how to be mindful, and the meaning of “go with the flow.”

I mean this woman is insane. On top of what I already told you, this woman was an outstanding artist, ran her own business all based on sheep, had two kids who are hecking musical prodigies, a husband who is so wonderful (and was also my clarinet professor), and was the Executive Director at the Foundation for Belarusian Research and Advocacy. I don’t know how she did it. But she did, and she still found time to teach mindfulness, be there for her students, and enjoy her family.

My boyfriend and I would house-sit for her family during the summer, take care of their cats, and visit their house during the year from time to time. I would airdrop here stupid Trump memes from my computer to hers either in class or from somewhere in the music building where I could reach her computer without being near her door. She would message me during tests I was taking…in her class! I could always message her about school or life and she would respond thoughtfully and with incredible sincerity. She was always so grounded. So kind. She is who I aspire to be someday. And to be honest, I think her passing helped get me out of my funk. This may be hyper-cliche, but I have a new-found appreciation for my life and inspiration to do right by her. She had so much faith in me and kindness, but still pushed me to go beyond my “best.” I cannot believe I got the chance to learn from this incredible woman. I hope you all can find a person like this. Someone who inspires you each day to be better, push a little more, but remain grounded.

***Just a little side note, I talked about her personality and credentials a lot, but not a lot about her academic work. So, in case you were wondering, she studied Rock music in Belarus for her dissertation, and graduated from the University of Michigan (and got Blacklisted because of it, aka she would have gotten arrested if she went back). She also wrote a chapter in the book “Global Pop, Local Language” in 2003. She was an avid women’s rights advocate and was deeply intrigued by protest music.

Community Arts Relief: A Positive Story in a Trying Time

It’s been a pretty tough week for Iowa. Our governor won’t issue a stay-at-home order, she criticized the national medical advisor, and Iowa has been pointed out on various platforms from not making the same choices as other states. Fortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere part of Iowa and not in some of the metropolis areas, so I have not encountered many issues. However, the stress at home is building. Loneliness and tediousness of the isolation life are taking over. I, for one, am not transitioning well to working from home but I doubt anyone is. So I started thinking about who else would be experiencing something similar that could give me a bit of hope, guidance, or inspiration to keep moving forward and not slump in a heap of “meh” (yes, this is the technical term for shrugging shoulders and disappearing into Netflix Scooby-Doo episodes). Then I got a Facebook notification from the Taiko Community group that I am a member of and someone had posted that they received relief funding to help offset this effects of this pandemic. So I began to dig a bit about relief funding, thinking maybe that would be my inspirational fix and BOY DID I FIND IT.

The individual who posted received relief from somewhere in Boston. A quick google search led me to The Boston Foundation website and their insanely long list of COVID-19 resources. Below is there front page, which first draws your eye to what they are doing to help with COVID-19.

Front page of The Boston Foundation Website

I kept clicking. While their man “COVID-19 RESPONSE FUND” link lays out that they will be giving donations to those who are underserved or where need is greatest and will inevitably treat the underserved in society (which makes sense), it was there “OTHER RESOURCES” link that made my jaw drop. The list of donation links is long and the scope of help is broad. I have never bothered looking at relief funds for particular cities so I cannot say if this is a normal or abnormal resource, but it amazed me nonetheless. I mean, this list serves families, college students, racism, religious institutions, restaurants, and affordable housing, just to name a few. I was even more taken aback at the support for artists that was shown on this list. There was an Artist Relief Fund, Music Maker Relief Fund, Singers’ Relief Fund, Dance Relief Fund, and another, DIFFERENT, Artist Relief Fund. You can look at the whole list here! I was amazed to say the least. Just stopping here would have given me the positivity I needed to stop sulking around, but I was hooked and continued to dive deeper into Boston’s relief work for artists.

I found an online festival and a group dedicated to helping artists whose livelihood comes from their gigs that social distancing or stay-at-home orders take away. However, this particular fund had a lot of prerequisites in order to get funding, although, I believe they were still looking to do some good.

The dance fund that was tied to the list, supports freelance dancers who teach or perform. They focus on getting money out fast and providing relief to those who don’t own a small business (businesses were encouraged to apply for small business relief funds instead). Similarly, other groups were giving monetary supplements for those who perform and are freelancers, such as the Singers Fund and the Music Makers Fund. However, the Boston Artist Relief Fund amazed me the most and had also impacted my life without my knowledge. Their program goes until the 30th of June, which is longer than most others, and the relief extends to speaking opportunities that other funds do not cover.

I did not recognize it at the time, but the relief fund granted me access to a Taiko and COVID-19 Webinar that originally had a limited number of members. The fund gave money that allowed 100 more people to participate and through that, I was able to speak with others in the Taiko Community about their experience (both as an ethnographic experience but also as a member of the community).

The city of Boston’s relief support astounded me. So I went looking for others. I found that Chicago has one, New York has one, Los Angeles is working on a page that lists places for funds like Chicago, New York and Boston all have, and the site I Care if You Listen has started a list of places where artists can get funds from across the states which they are updating throughout this period.

This internet hole that I dug into definitely gave me the inspiration to get my butt of the chair and work and made me glad that society is trying to take care of its artists. Hopefully, this helps give you a little light too and pulls you away from a nihilistic attitude that is very easy to slip into!

Have a great day everyone! Oh… and here are some puns from Pinterest. Just for an extra giggle.

If your life was a movie: what would be your background music playlist?

This is one of my favorite questions to ask my students when I teach music courses. It’s relatable to most people, if they enjoy music. So for this blog post, I am going to create a series of questions to ask people that ends up in a “life” playlist. It’s really a kind of interview about musical “taste.” I’ll answer the questions for myself in this blogpost, but feel free to find your own answer to this question. I figure, in this time of crazy, unstructured, and just plain weird days, this little activity would be a good distraction or even a mental health practice. A reminder to meditate on your life and pause! So, lets get started!

What song would be your “walking/going to class” song?

I would want something upbeat, that keeps my feet moving and makes me feel like I am ready to take on the world. For me, this song is “Pre-Occupied” by Jon Bellion. This song is the perfect mix of cocky and honest. Take a listen here:

Okay next question: what would be the song playing when it’s raining outside, cold, and you just want to be cozy?

I am a big fan of lofi hip-hop for these days. I also use this music to study. I don’t usually want lyrics or something that would create a “mood” (like when you listen to sad songs and then you get in a sad mood, every thing you think about is just…sad) so I usually steer clear of these songs. Lofi hip-hop gives me a chance to appreciate the day without pushing a mood on it. I pick this live YouTube channel often:

Whats the music that would be playing when you are stressed out and need a cathartic release?

I live alone when I am in Maryland so I can usually just let it all out. I’ll be dancing around the apartment or doing weird karate moves to let my pent up energy out. However, right now I am in my house in Iowa, where my weirdness needs to be a little more tame for the sake of my father’s sanity. So I am going to give two songs for my answer to this question. One that reflects what I want to let out when I won’t bother anyone and another one that lets me get out my feelings just by listening! This first one is a song I’d play when I’m not able to do my karate kick, take-up-space-stress-relief option: “Something Big” by Shawn Mendes. Its got the drive I want and the strong beats make it so I only pay attention to the song. Whatever is stressing me out cannot get the prime spot in my head!

This next one is the one I listen to when I can take up space and dance out my stress (for the record no I am not a good dancer :P). These dances are not choreographed and are usually just me pretending to me an overly-dramatic musical character which is why the song that I’d choose comes straight out of Hamilton. “Farmer Refuted” is my favorite song to act out. I can be sassy, use my hands in wild, over-exaggerated movements, and let my stress out by singing along with Alexander Hamilton’s part. This might be a bit of a power move, since Hamilton basically “wins” the argument with the farmer. Regardless, it lets me be wacky and lets me relieve my stress. It, also, doesn’t hurt that it leads into my favorite song from the show: “You’ll Be Back”

Alright last question: What song would be in the background when you are having the most amazing time with your friends? Like the zoom out scene at the end of a movie that leaves everyone with a happy go lucky feeling or maybe a little but bittersweet? For me, this song, and the feeling it gives me, comes from an actual movie. I am an AVID How to Train Your Dragon fan. I’m just the tiniest bit obsessed with that series! I have all the Build-A-Bears of the dragons and have all the movies. So when this song played in the credits on the third and last movie, it really got me. Minor spoilers if you haven’t seen the third movie since the video I have tagged includes the credit scenes.

So thats the end of my questions. I hope this made you all think of your own “life playlist” and maybe go practice some mindfulness with your favorite songs! Feel free to comment your answers or ask a question to others in the comments! See you all soon!

HERbeat: an ethnographic reflection

Mindfulness, Perseverance, Community, Support, and “Space and Place.” These are the main things that stuck with me throughout my weekend at HERbeat. I attended the HERbeat concert, which I covered a little bit of in my previous post. Sunday, however, was even more HERbeat centered meetings. I went to a 3 hour community building event where I met the stars of HERbeat, listened to their reflections about being a leader in the taiko community and being a woman, and I got to speak with activists and social justice centered taiko community members. Overall, my weekend was filled with fun, challenge, and connections. This blogpost will highlight most of these things, so enjoy!

Just as a general heads-up, this is quite a long post that, in theory, would be for me to refer back to during my research, so please feel free to skim this (it is not my usual humor content) or dive into the parts you feel you want to know most about!

GAD, MDD, and Ethnography: My experiences

This weekend was amazing overall. I practiced ethnography, built my skills, stepped out of my shell, and met some of the most inspiring people. I also felt like an outsider, scared, unsure, and unaccomplished. These two feelings, essentially inspired versus scared sh*tless, consumed me for most of the weekend. Since college, I have battled General Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder which puts some roadblocks in my path every now and then. I am pretty open about both of these disorders and if anyone wants to talk about them (whether in regards to me, themselves, or how the disorder manifests in general) I am always willing to talk or simply listen. This week and weekend, my disorders manifested themselves pretty strongly. They got in my way so many times and I had to use various tools in my theoretical “toolbox” to work through these issues.

I was doing something I have never *seriously* done before. It felt new, scary, and exciting. I went into the weekend with mindset goals to try and use what I was feeling to my advantage. I told myself “count down from three and once you get to 1 you have to just go do the thing. No sitting and worrying. No trying to make it perfect. Just do the thing.” This was an amazing tactic for the week. I met amazing people, I was task oriented, and I didn’t give myself time to worry or think about how I looked, how red my face was, or in what ways I did terribly. There was only once when I was so afraid that counting back from three did not work, but I was lucky that a kind soul reached out and said, “you can hang out with us!” I learned later that she had been in a similar position and she uses her knowledge and experience to help others feel comfortable in spaces they are uneasy in. I was very grateful for her help throughout the day.

All of the HERbeat stars on the mainstage

Saturday Night: The Concert

Being a “baby ethnographer,” can be hard to navigate what is good or bad and I don’t believe that being perfect is an expectation but rather striving to do well is something worth doing. However, it also means that you are going to mess up, slip up, and fall on your face a few times. I did both great things and slip ups this weekend so let’s go through them, shall we? We will start at the actual concert. It was Friday night, my father was with me because he spontaneously decided to by a ticket. We showed up early for a preconcert talk about the unsung women of the film that is being made from the concert and to catch a preview of the film. This would be my dad’s first time seeing taiko, but a musical experience I had been thinking about for two years.

The preconcert talk focused on the mostly all-women cast and crew, the idea for a 2-week residency at the Ordway Performing Arts Center, and how this idea came to be in a film. Emphasis was put on how there were many intersections of culture, generations, and style. Both Asian Americans and Japanese artists were a part of the cast, as well as the film crew, in order to get the most rounded perspectives. The two-week residency was so they could film performances and practices, while getting a deep look into the lives of these under-represented taiko all-stars. Talk about the film, during this portion of the concert, told how Twin Cities taiko artist Jennifer Weir received resounding yeses when she shared her idea about the project and that it was given immense support from all sides. A little clip showed some of the show and clips of the fun had during the two week residency. It was also at this time that I met face to face with the Takoma Park, Maryland taiko director and we talked some about how important this event was to my research and how he was excited to support such an event. With that, the talk ended and the concert was set to begin.

I was seated in the front row of the balcony to be sure I had an unobstructed view. My notes in tow, I began to set up my pages to write about details I learned throughout the night. Those who surrounded me were divided in their opinion on the “seriousness” of this event. Some were dressed incredibly well, others were in more casual clothes. Jazz music was playing in the background as people found their seats, which I found ironic since the modern taiko vision came from the ideas of a jazz drummer. A group of dedicated taiko players were huddled near the stage and chatted vigorously until the lights flicked, indicating five minutes til show time. Before the show begin, Jennifer Weir came out to address the crowd. She stated that people unfamiliar with the taiko community might found the crowd similar to that of a sporting event, which was answered with hoots, hollers and laughter. Weir emphasized that a performance “like this” has never happened before and that the place was sold out: an amazing feat for this first-ever event!

Major Reflections from the Concert!

Rather than going through each song, I would like to articulate concepts that stood out to me throughout the show. First off, Wier was right, the crowd was rowdy and shouted when someone showed themselves off, either in a virtuosic fashion or through their personality. Each member got to choose their outfit, showing their individual style, unless the song dictated otherwise. Cases where they were to wear a particular outfit were usually intended to tell a story or was intended for historical accuracy, so the dress was meant to convey a character or match the historical context. Everything was memorized by the performers. This included rhythms, movements, which drums where and when, acting and other choreography. Many of these aspects, in addition to how the cast spoke of themselves, reminded me shows where people talk about the creation of a film more than it reminded me of a concert. However, it was very much like a concert in how participatory the feel was. Despite being in a fancy concert venue, the audience was encouraged to shout their praise and uplift the cast using their voices. One song even included the audience through beat and voice in a call and response. Vocal shouts and sounds of praise happened specifically when cast members got to show off their impressive skills. However, this usually happened when skills were shown on a drum and happened less so for instruments such as voice, fue, shakuhachi and shamisen. My opinion is that when these instruments were being played, the general tone of the songs were quieter, less virtuosic, and more story like, guiding the attention away from the individual and more to the group.

Overall, each song had a specific purpose that hinted or emphasized directly something that was important to the women of this taiko group. Most were about perseverance, determination, passing of time, or highlighted the importance of women in stories. Before the “last song” (I say this because they called it the last song even though an encore song was listed in the program), Japanese member Kaoly Asano (a short bio can be found at the bottom of this linked site) delivered an important speech. The HERbeat movement does not exist to tear men taiko players down, but rather lift women taiko players up. Kaoly’s message put this in perspective. She stated that is is more that just HERbeat, it is HISbeat too and most importantly it is OURbeat, extending this concert to anyone and particularly the marginalized and underserved. She ended her speech with “may OURbeat roar to all of the world.” Then, after the encore song, which was essentially a celebration for the taiko women by the taiko women and the crowd, Jennefier Weir once again came back out to speak to everyone. She stated that taiko is about feeling powerful, finding a voice, healing, bringing peace, and to build/lift up community. A standing ovation was received twice and the sound of cheering was deafening. However, this is not where my weekend ended.

Sunday Morning: Women and Taiko Community Event

The community aspect Weir told of at the end of the concert was continued the next morning when I groggily got out of bed to attend a 3 hour “sparking community conversations” event held by the organizers of womenandtaiko.org, Michelle Fuji and Karen Young. Here is where I got to practice a more active form of ethnography, combining both participant observation and interview skills. I started out very awkwardly, I didn’t know anyone there. As I told above, I was approached by a kind soul who started introducing me to people and allowed me to be more brave than I had felt moments before. I met those who performed and those who were simply passionate and those who were looking to learn more about taiko and women. I was able to practice and refine my elevator speech many times that day, each time getting less awkward and more confident. The meeting began with everyone doing the call and response performed at the night before and a practice of space and place that involved talking to a table member about where you were from (space) and your intentions for the day (place).

I noticed here that others knew much more about this practice than I did and that many of these people had already formed bonds at other taiko events that clued them in to certain procedures and processes. Needless to say it was here I felt the most awkward. I have been involved a sporadically in the taiko community. There is not much diversity in Iowa nor events for taiko people and everything was very far away. It was an extremely limited community and I wasn’t so involved that I would travel coast to coast to learn. However, the next part in this event was to find people we had not spoken to, sit down, and share our stories, which helped me bond with members and become establish myself in this community. I met someone who was a social justice activist interested in researching this event and a performer from the concert who hailed from California, aka the foremost place for taiko happenings. Making connections with them set me a little more at ease and here is when I started my practice of counting down from three, allowing me to get contact information from both of these people. Soon after we were encouraged to get breakfast and I used this time to ask Michelle, Karen, and Jennifer Weir for their contact info. Based on their body language I could tell that Karen and Jennifer were very much so willing, however Michelle seemed annoyed. I do not know if this was towards me, or as I later found out, a side effect of her unchecked injury from the concert the night before. Regardless, I felt proud that I checked that off my list of “contacts to get.”

We next sat and listened to some of the performers from the night before tell their stories. Some questions were about how they got asked to partake in the concert and other questions were more geared toward their taiko journeys. I was taking notes during this point, along with a few others, however, Michelle kindly asked us to put these away as the stories being shared were personal and they wanted to respect the privacy of those sharing. I put my notes away, understanding Michelle’s point and recognizing its importance that I had not thought of while writing, but continued to discover commonalities. Everyone who spoke was incredible honest, humble, and powerful. Some talked about growing too old for taiko while others shared how they felt being on the same stage as the pioneers for women and taiko professionals.

Sunday Ending Reflections

Other themes were collaboration, mindfulness, and community, each which the other performers echoed back as being important to their process and this project. The leaders of this event continually referenced this film, their website, and the events correlated to this event a movement, keying in on how women have been involved in taiko for years however equality is just now being discussed. This movement, as the recalled near the end of the meeting, is meant to bring women to the face of taiko, a place that has been dominated by men. To do so, Michelle and Karen wanted to establish mini-community groups where everyone could discuss what aspects of taiko life were important to them. Groups were formed around ideas that put taiko in conversation with parenting, LGBTQ+ inclusion, business, and activism. I went to the activism group in hopes to introduce myself to others who could help with my research. It was there we shared stories of how important this movement is and I met so many who were willing to help me with my project. I collected cards and emails/phone numbers of those who wanted to help and got to experience the input of others whose passion equaled or surpassed mine.

Overall it was an amazing experience which gave me so much to consider, question, and follow up with. I could not imagine a better weekend to begin being a “baby ethnographer,” to challenge myself in a week that was already challenging, and to inspire and motivate me to do it more. I hope you all get to experience similar times in your life that reinvigorate you and light you up! And with that, the longest possible blogpost I will ever do, is done!

#OURbeat

Greetings from Minneapolis, Minnesota! I had the amazing opportunity this weekend to see an all-women taiko performance at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts. An event like this has never happened before today and I have been looking forward to it for months! See, my goal is to do my master’s thesis on this group of inspiring people and their journey to bring gender equality to taiko leadership. I’ll come back to their story in a bit. First, I am going to give you a little background on taiko!

All the various drums and more in a taiko ensemble

Taiko literally means “big drum” in Japanese and has had various uses throughout Japan’s history: war signals, religious performances, parties, ceremonies, etc. If you want to learn more about its history and uses read here! Because of traditional Japanese gender norms, men have usually had many more opportunities to lead in general, including playing in Taiko ensembles. In the past, taiko had ONLY been for men. However, history and women’s rights have moved forward, allowing women to fully participate in Taiko ensembles. Except, allowing them to fully participate and actually being afforded the opportunity to take on all the responsibilities that have historically only gone to men is easier said than done. Women have been able to take on all the roles of a Taiko ensemble for years and yet very few of them have become leaders. Why is this?

Various types of ensembles and set ups from the night!

Well, men, because they were historically predisposed to leadership roles, have more connections, prestige/assumed prestige, and chances to gain experience, are most often the leaders of taiko ensembles. It is not that women have not been interested or have actively been barred from taking on major taiko roles. In fact, more the 2/3rds of taiko players in the U.S.A. are women! It is more so that men’s history has given them more opportunities and gave them a theoretical advantage to lead these groups. Noticing this, a group of taiko-playing women got together and started the project called, “HERbeat”: an all-women taiko group aimed at bringing the best women in the taiko community together and performing around the globe to inspire other women to lead in their own taiko groups! You can read about their amazing project here and this is the intro video for the concert that shows you their line-up!

And let me tell you, that line-up did AMAZING things tonight. They showcased their musical, dance, and compositional skills through 11 different songs. These women showed what it means to be a female taiko player, emphasize their identities across race, nationality, gender, sex, and so much more. At the end of the show, they emphasized their message to the audience: HERbeat, HISbeat, OURbeat. These wonderful ladies believe that taiko brings people together and that this concert and the coming film will help inspire the entire taiko community and even more so taiko women to persevere and bring peace to the world.

Tomorrow, I attend four workshops that are meant to spark conversations about gender inequality in taiko ensembles and also empower women to lead by giving them experience and knowledge. These workshops are given more context at the bottom of this page. If you would like to read more about the film click this link and if you want to learn more about my interests and knowledge on this, click me! Just kidding, just come talk to me! Over and out!

The Ten Lies of Ethnography

This week we have been talking A LOT about ethics in my Field Methods class. In fact, there are two weeks just spent on ethics. We have also had to submit to the IRB (Institutional Review Board) for our research projects in this class, which are going to be our final. While all of this is important, hard work to do before doing research, it can be EXCRUCIATINGLY monotonous. Dictating everything, understanding the forms required and how best to write them…its hard to figure out the first go round, however, our class has a wonderful teacher who has helped us a lot along the way. We officially submit our projects this Tuesday, and we will probably get them back from the board very quickly with a list of edits. Nevertheless, we will start becoming ethnographers this semester and with being ethnographers, comes a host of *battles* we will face when decided how to interact or maintain ourselves at our ethnography sites.

In order to be prepared and understand the ethical complications of ethnography, we read Gary Alan Fine‘s “The Ten Lies of Ethnography: Moral Dilemmas of Field Research.” In this reading Fine goes through various types of “ethnographers,” each fictional characters with their own dilemmas: Whether too kind, too abrupt, too hands off, and many more variations that ethnographers could find as dilemmas when doing fieldwork. In class, when we were discussing this topic, I related it to a buzzfeed personality quiz…so in true Allison fashion, I had to create one! Last night, with the help of my friend Julia Kuhlman and the many positive affirmations of my weird creative ideas from Allie Pecoraro, the personality quiz was created!

In the process of making this personality quiz I feel I at least got some educational ideas out of it or at least will remember these dilemmas and Gary Alan Fine’s deductions on them. Making a personality quiz on the Buzzfeed site is very easy and well laid out. We started with our “descriptions” of each ethnographer, aka the result you get after taking the quiz. The point in these results was to, hopefully, be funny while drawing out the issues each type of ethnographer faces based off of Fine’s descriptions. Again, while not complete accuracies of ethical or true situations, the exaggerations allowed us to think as a class how we would deal with these situations. For example, how would we deal with being in a place where someone we disagree with will be there and potentially get in the way of our research. Or, how much information do we need to divulge to our interlocutors before it becomes to self-fulfilling of an experience.

This is just the heading, a link to the actual quiz will be below!

All of these ideas, although exaggerated in the quiz itself, are important to consider when going out into the research field and when interacting with interlocutors. You can take the quiz itself here 🙂 I hope you enjoy the creativity and hopefully get a kick out of it. If you would like to see more of my antics, I will post some of my other drawings and fun creations on the front page of my blog in the coming days. These “creations” usually help me organize or remember important information, even if they seem simplistic or superfluous. Please enjoy those as well 🙂 Have a great week everyone!

Can History Channel’s Ancient Aliens teach us to be better ethnographers?!

Okay, okay before you judge me for watching the show Ancient Aliens, I guess I should share my background with it and answer some basic questions. Do I believe in everything they say? Heck no!!! Do I think it is good scholarship (if it even counts as scholarship sometimes?) Also definitely a no. Do I think there are aliens? Maybe. I think that this isn’t the only planet with life, and if there is another planet with life I would consider the living things on that planet alien but probably not the round eyed, big head, green dudes or anything resembling E.T. but honestly how ironic would that be if they did look like that?! Sorry, back to the focus! Okay, so then, why do I watch the show? I really like knowing random things. I love conspiracy theories, adventures, ghost stories, true crime, puzzles, National Treasure type stuff, video games where I can explore like The Last of Us and Uncharted. I would watch the History Channel every snow day (if I didn’t have a Harry Potter book in tow) and during the day usually Ancient Aliens is on for part of the morning. I think it is a great thing to turn on when I want to multitask because I am not interested enough to pay too close attention but it also gives me sound in the background while I work. This past week I turned it on via Netflix and started on my Field Methods homework featuring ethnographic fieldwork and how to begin a research project. To my surprise, my homework and Ancient Aliens were weirdly referencing similar techniques, and thus, this post was born. (Yes, I know I promised functionalism but honestly this is much more interesting, even if it does sound a little crazy.)

You might know this guys form some memes 🙂

The people who appear on Ancient Aliens are passionate, and there should be no doubt about that if you have seen the show before. I think their passion plays a big part in their work and hypothesis. Honestly their passion was getting me excited to do my own work. They get so excited when they are explaining their research and it’s inspiring! Interestingly enough, at least to me, bits of the episode that inspired this post included one of my favorite researchers who sounds extremely inspired every time he makes grand statements. You can watch him below if you would like!

His passion is amazing and regardless of how much of this stuff you can disprove, I aspire to be as excited about something as he is! (Most of the time if I am going to get super excited there is probably a dog somewhere that I have just noticed.) These guys also ask a ton of “why is that” questions. This was my first connection to the readings for my Field Methods class. I was reading a section on “Theory- Explanation and Prediction” in H. Russell Bernard’s Research Methods in Anthropology. Bernard says the first thing you do in research is look at a relation between some variables and asking “what causes this phenomenon?” Boy oh boy do these guys do that. They are always, ALWAYS asking why. Always looking for the answers to questions (albeit sometimes the answers are not always reasonable…). Bernard states that the next thing to do is to look for a paradigm or model /theory. Most of the paradigms the researchers use on Ancient Aliens are based off religion and space phenomena. These guys love to *lightly* back up their questions with these theories. I say lightly because widely proven theories are rarely used but they are theories none-the-less! Below is a perfect example of this.

The last thing Bernard says that I felt connected with this show, is about four big research “arenas.” Bernard gives these arenas: 1. nature vs nurture 2. evolution 3. internal/external (that behavior is influenced by values and environmental conditions) and 4. social facts/emergent properties (basically the influence of social interaction as a broad topic). The people on Ancient Aliens focus on ALL of these. Their theories and hypothesis are so grand that it is almost impossible for them not to hit one or more of these issues during a show. Also these guys read so much literature to find evidence that backs up their theories! Evidences is a key component to every research project!

These next two videos are just to simply prove my points from above. However all of my writing on the connections between Ancient Aliens and ethnography/research begs a real big question: if they are doing these things, then isn’t this good research? HECK TO THE NO!!!!!!!!!!! (exclamation points added for extreme emphasis) These people use psuedo-science left and right, say lies all throughout the show and conveniently leave important information out so they can *technically* make their point. This whole post may just simply promote how easy it may be to get a public to believe something, especially to an untrained ear/eye. It also may speak to how easy it is to create false data or connections. Which leads me to a little side track: the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and ethics training! If you are going to do ethnography, you will have to get approved by the Institutional Review Board, most likely. I highly doubt some of the people in the above videos have done so. IRB checks to make sure you are treating people with respect and that your research is ethical among other things. This brief description of why the IRB exists highlights another aspect of my Field Methods homework but also another aspect of why the show Ancient Aliens is unethical science. The word choice and research competency of this show is far behind many research institutions. I have tried to avoid putting videos in this blog post that show examples of this but it may have occurred in some. There has been many reviews that have slammed Ancient Aliens for these things and I will post some below. The information shared and research done on this show would most likely not pass IRB or ethnic research guidelines. So then, to answer the question posed in the title of this blog post: Can History Channel’s Ancient Aliens teach us to be better ethnographers? In MANY aspects of the answer, no. But this show does well at showing passion and encouraging viewers to ask questions and those are good qualities of ethnographers. It is also good for a little giggle (if you watched the video above about extraterrestrials editing human DNA, the end bit about homosapien- sapien – ______ is great for a laugh) So minus the glaring issues with this show, remind yourself to be passionate and if you find yourself lacking a little passion, find someone who is passionate and have them talk to you about it. It rubs off! If you can’t find anyone, Ancient Aliens has always been there for me!

Research about why Ancient Aliens is bad! 😛 For more, all is takes is a quick google!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-idiocy-fabrications-and-lies-of-ancient-aliens-86294030/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/09/03/what-archaeologists-really-think-about-ancient-aliens-lost-colonies-and-fingerprints-of-the-gods/#600937727ab0

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/28/how-tv-shows-use-serious-archaeology-promote-bogus-history/

What Even is Culture Anyway?

We deem many aspects of life as some part of a “culture.” Mental Health Culture. Black Culture. Pop Culture. But what does culture even mean in those cases? Oxford Dictionary says, when you google the definition of culture, that culture is: “the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group” (2nd definition chosen because it was more descriptive). While many would agree with this definition, anthropologists have been struggling to define or redefine culture because of the struggles that it presents when doing ethnographic research in these places. This week in my Anthropology of Music course, we looked at varying definitions of culture, who thinks them, and why. I will lay out some of them here to give you a background on this complicated term before diving into my main goal for these blog posts.

In “Forget Culture: Replacement, Transcendence, and Reflexation,” Robert Brightman lays out many anthropologists’ and philosophers’ opinions on culture. Brightman lays this out through headings that argue what culture is vs what it is not. Those Brightman selected to highlight argue that culture is either hopelessly flawed or should be thrown out all together. Some argue that it should be replaced because of its misuse and troublesome definition. So then, what are these peoples issues with the term culture? What are its defects? Bourdieu believes culture is simply reified abstraction, that it doesn’t exist. Murdock suggested that it exists so that we can talk about the abstractions from the “phenomena of individuals interacting with one another and with their natural environments.” (512) Brightman next examines that culture could be ideation or meaning to which Abu-Lughod subscribes too as well as a father of anthropology Franz Boas. However, disagreements within this value arose when it was determined that culture has then become “practice” and is no longer worth studying in that way. Brightman continues in this way, labeling other issues with culture and the anthropologist who subscribe or reject each notion. However, Brightman ends with this definition, that “culture can be represented as ‘a class of phenomena conceptualized by anthropologist in order to deal with questions they are trying to answer.'” (531) Culture is almost relative in this sense. It works for what the researcher needs it for. Belief of what a culture is is also highly individualized. So can there be an authentic representation of another’s culture by an ethnographer? I would argue no.

I would also say that it is okay that it is not. Objectivism in ethnography has also been rejected by anthropologists, because no one can be truly objective in any given circumstance. This idea was discussed in my Field Methods course, happening alongside the Anthropology of Music course I referenced earlier. The professors of these two courses have tried to align their discussions and topics to go hand in hand throughout this semester and it will be something I plan to focus on during blog posts such as this. One class may be heavier weighted than another each writing but I will try to find ways to tie them together if possible. This weeks theme must have been “tearing down everything anthropologists thought they knew” week (if I am going to title it myself!). I found this weeks readings provocative and helpful but also someone dense and repetitive (most likely because the people writing these were still subscribing to the “make it as hard to read as possible” ideology). However, I feel like I have a better understanding of the history of anthropology when it comes to culture and objectivity in ethnography. We also looked at the lineage of Franz Boas in anthropology. Starting with Tylor then Boas-Kroeber–Benedict and separately discussing the ideas of Geertz and Rosaldo. I look forward to learning more this semester, however dense it may be, and hopefully better understand the anthropological rock that ethnomusicology stands on.