Thoughts on Decolonising Ethnomusicology

What is it about?

My part in this group publication is a response to Naila Ceribašić's position paper discussing ethnomusicology in relation to current intellectual trends and concerns. Ceribašić then provides a response to the various replies. In my response, I take up the idea of decolonising ethnomusicology, replying specifically to two proposals Ceribašić put forward: one being on how we attend to the significance of local schools and particularities of knowledge production, the other being the thought that we might "go pidgin" as part of a strategic attempt to provide an alternative to a dominant anglophone discourse. In short, I share a sense of the importance of research at or near home, although I think there are some further complexities to this not captured in a model of mainstream vs. home. I find the "going pidgin" proposal less applicable to the places where I've worked or researched, where consultants and researchers alike are typically expert in multiple languages.

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Why is it important?

Ceribašić uses her Croatian position to provide a new perspective on how national traditions of scholarship combine in the wider academic world. This is valuable and distinctive insofar as many of the views on the state of the discipline come from anglophone scholars. Her paper is responded to by a diverse team of researchers from several nations and disciplinary backgrounds, including folklore studies, and cultural studies as well as ethnomusicology.

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