class: title, center, middle # Music and Identity  ### Christopher Witulski, Ph.D. ### College of Musical Arts --- # Outline * Music in culture (and ethnomusicology) * Music and meaning * Identity * Nationalism * Diaspora * Individuality --- # Ethnomusicology * Studying music in and as culture * How do music and culture interact? * Does one build the other? * Do they reinforce each other? * How do people use music, and how does music influence people? * The field of study * Interdisciplinary research methods * Tools from anthropology, musicology, music theory, other social and hard sciences --- # Culture * Edward Taylor's definition from 1871's *Primitive Culture* * "Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that **complex whole** which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." * Art, knowledge, morals, customs, etc. * Habits: what people do, why * But, we're all so different! Where are the lines? * Geographic levels of culture: family, neighborhood, city, state, region, nation * Overlapping cultures: banjo player, funk bassist, researcher, musicologist, teacher, Falcon, Gator, dog owner, beer snob turned whiskey drinker, father... * What do we choose to teach our kids? --- # Music and meaning * Part of belief systems, childhood, commercial activity * Song can gain meaning with little change * Ray Charles: Sunday morning to Saturday night .center[ <!-- <video width="560" height="360" controls> <source src="/assets/i-got-a-woman.mp4" type="video/mp4"> <source src="/assets/i-got-a-woman.ogv" type="video/ogg"> </video> --> <iframe width="448" height="252" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lp246rpr2ck?si=8FA6W-bObJjVe1Ut" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> ### Ray Charles, "I Got a Woman"] --- # Music and meaning * Part of belief systems, childhood, commercial activity * Song can gain meaning with little change * Ray Charles: Sunday morning to Saturday night * Learning to understand meaning * Background or training may be required * Think about listening to classical music: it takes patience and training to “get” certain aspects * Importance of listening skills --- # Identity * How does music define who you are? How does it portray that? -- * What identities do you choose? -- * What don't you have a choice about? -- * Does music fit into any of these? What role does it play? --- # Identity * Not just personal! It's also about relationships * Can guide you into a “subculture” * Demonstrates your inclusion, along with dress, language, politics, behaviors * Importance of this interaction * Part of a group and shows your association * Yet: can create misleading stereotypes * Yet: builds some unexpected (creative) contradictions * Example: “traditional” vs. “modern” --- # Nationalism * What's the difference between a nation and a nation-state? -- * Nation-states * Clear government, land * Unified by shared (imagined) identity (though not always) * Nations * May lack land, clear government * Potentially dispersed, though unified by identity * Nation of Islam, Palestinian nation, Black Atlantic... * Late 1800 to early 1900s * Colonialism, WWI * Anyone remember Woodrow Wilson's 14 points? * Removing economic barriers, focus on self-determination of peoples --- # Nationalism * What does "nationalistic" music look and sound like? -- * What are some examples? -- * What is the point of it? -- * Music’s role in national identity * Part of specific projects, but meaning can change * Anthems, protest songs, for or against governments --- class: middle, center <!-- <video width="560" height="360" controls> <source src="/assets/Jimi-Hendrix-Star-Spangled-Banner-at-Woodstock.mp4" type="video/mp4"> <source src="/assets/Jimi-Hendrix-Star-Spangled-Banner-at-Woodstock.ogv" type="video/ogg"> </video> --> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sjzZh6-h9fM?si=3k0d3WIfRX6mNtuF" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> ### Jimi Hendrix: "Star Spangled Banner" (Woodstock, 1969) --- # Diasporas * Kinda like nations, but geographically dispersed * There is a homeland, but the community is not there (Palestine, Jewish communities) * Major examples * Jewish communities exiled or put into Eastern European ghettos * Palestinian diasporas near to home (Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt) and further abroad (Detroit) * African populations transplanted through slavery * What role could music have for these communities? -- * Brings groups together * Communities may hold onto old identities, memory, culture * Some within them may work to build new identities --- # Individuality * Groups help for understanding connections, organization * Yet: it is people who do the creating, listening, participating * Intersectionality * Overlapping individual identities * Complex negotiations with the world around us * We all navigate these things in our own way * We are all ourselves in the end --- class: title, center, middle # Music and Identity  ### Christopher Witulski, Ph.D. ### College of Musical Arts