research proposal

We're working on research proposals in music history at the moment. I have been through so many drafts of this one, I don't seem to be able to read it and make sense of it any more. Still, I thought I might post it anyway, more for the record than anything.


Draft research proposal: Singing South African-ness. March 2005

Aim:
The purpose of this research is to investigate the way that youth choirs in the present South African context work, primarily on a socio-cultural level, as environments facilitating the imagination and construction of South African identity. I intend to argue that choirs provide non-threatening, creative spaces within which choristers can explore the idea of “South African-ness,” both as it applies to their own and their peers’ roles within the nation, and their roles as South Africans within the international community. I aim to do this by exploring:
the identities choristers construct for themselves, and the identities they imagine for their fellow choristers
the identities choristers construct for their choirs, and imagine for other choirs
the ways that choristers imagine South Africa and the rest of the world
choristers understanding of music in terms of these identities.
This could be divided into three sections:
Constructing the individual
Constructing the choir
The South African choir.
In the first, I would examine the individuals reasons for singing, their choice of a specific choir (with particular attention paid to repertoire and performance practice within that choir), what music they identify with, and why, what music they like to sing, and why, and their conception of South Africa and their place in it. I will examine these questions in relation primarily to issues of race and language, and the way in which individuals imagine themselves, and their place in society, through music.
Under the second heading, I will again address why specific choristers select the choirs they do to sing in, but will deal more with they identities they construct for the choirs in question, than with individual identities. I will deal with individuals understanding of their own roles, and their perspectives on the roles of their peers in the choirs, and I will deal with the way choristers differentiate their choirs from 'others'. Finally, I will look at choristers interpretations of “South African-ness” in choirs, and where they believe their choir fits within this continuum.
In the third part, I will deal more specifically with the South African choir. Based on choristers interpretations of “South African-ness” in choirs, I will attempt to understand how choirs fit into broader discourses constructing South Africa, with particular refrence to the construction of a South African culture, and discourses of the “rainbow nation.” I will address the performance of South African-ness through choice of music, and performance practice, as well as issues of sound and singing technique.

Rationale: Ongoing research supported by the European Commission, and conducted by the Children's Identity and Citizenship in Europe thematic network project has recognized the challenges of identity construction in a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual political and social organization. The 2001 report of the network identified that “Children and young people make sense of their social world as they encounter different groups of people and different forms of social behaviour,” and that “Tolerance of differences and empathy, recognition of underlying similarities and solidarity will become key elements of social life.” The challenges faced by South Africans are similar, though perhaps even more intense, as South Africans are facing formulating identities within a single country, and not just within an organization that connects several countries. In fact, the need to understanding identity and the process of identity formation in order to create an effective, coherent and tollerant society is widely recognized across many academic disciplines, as evidenced by the sheer volume of writing on identity.
While postcolonial and orientalist studies, among others, have spent a lot of time theorising identity in relation to oppressed or previously oppressed groups, little cultural theoretical space has been devoted to identities of previously powerful groups. In the South African situation, particularly, the fact that white South Africans, the previously dominant cultural group, are relatively few in number, and are not aboriginal to the continent, places their identities as South African in question in the present post-apartheid context. Furthermore, attempts by various significant social/cultural actors to institutionalize modes of cultural production that have their origins in black cultures, as “African” have, to some extent, alienated white South Africans, who do not necessarily identify with these modes of production. The choral environment, however, offers the ideal forum for the negotiation of more inclusive concepts of cultural production, and by extension, identity, as it is heterogenous and inclusive by nature.
This study, in its attempt to understand and codify these modes of production and identity, thus both bridges a particularly glaring gap in current music scholarship, and bears relevance to the interdisciplinary, and largely non-scholarly project of constructing “South African-ness.” It could also have a direct impact on the cultural players who constitute the South African choral music scene, in that it can not only facilitate the development and management of more socially efficatious choirs, but can also influence policy makers and funding bodies' decisions concerning the validity of choral music as a socially significant mode of cultural production.

Theoretical framework:

I am basing my theoretical understanding of the concept of identity on Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory as discussed by McGarty and Hasslam (1997), largely because this social psychology model deals with the individual identity as constructed by participation in community. Tajfel and Turner propose that the process of identification can be split into three stages: categorization, identification and comparison. In the first, the individual distinguishes groups of people from others based on specific criteria. The criteria for categorization can range from age, gender and race, to behavioral differences, ‘class’ or constructed social status. In the case of choirs, categorization is often, though not exclusively, based on repertoire and performance practice. Once criteria for categorization have been determined, the individual then determines whether they fit into particular groups based on a process of identification. Some characteristics already associated by the individual with their self will determine what groups they most closely identify with, but thereafter, the normative behavior of the groups they have determined they belong to, will prescribe some of their behavior. Once an individual has determined what groups they belong to, they will construct a level of prestige for those groups by comparing them favourably with other groups. In order to reach this favourable comparison, the individual must compare groups based on categories in which they believe their group to be particularly strong, while underplaying categories in which their group’s performance is weaker.
This understanding of identity is quite obviously connected with Foucault’s concept of “technologies of the self,” and as no discussion on the notion of identity can ignore the impact of Foucault on this area of philosophical debate, I feel the need to address some of Foucault’s theory here. While the focus of social psychology has been an understanding of the process of identity formation with a view to identifying what is ‘normal’ for the socially constituted individual, twentieth century philosophy has, of necessity, addressed identity within the context of hegemony and social organization. The result is that Foucault’s approach to the issue of identity formation has been largely from the perspective of prescriptive, oppressive impositions of identity on the individual. While I recognize the descriptive value of his concept of “technologies of self,” I prefer to approach this as a necessary element of the constitution of the individual, rather than, as Foucault suggests, an oppressive, hegemonic technique. I have therefore adapted Judith Butler’s notion of identity as performance, and the queer theory concept of identity as self-defined and flexible, as an alternative way in to an understanding of “technologies of self.” I am not suggesting that identity performances do not, in some instances, have a hegemonic basis, but rather that in order to avoid essentialist interpretations, one needs to afford the ego informant the right to choose, and change, their identities, rather than assuming the position of privileged commentator, and labeling, or prescribing identities ourselves.

Literature review:

The idea that music is used by individuals and groups to construct or reflect identites has been addressed by many music scholars. Summarizing the findings of theorists exploring the development and articulation of subcultures, Keith Roe (1996) notes that subcultures usually develop around specific musical genres, and that music is used by subcultures to articulate their chosen identities. S. Hall & P. Du Gay (1996) address questions of cultural identity, while Kristin Kuutma (no date) deals with issues of cultural identity and nationalism in relation to Estonian folk singing traditions, and George Nurse (1964) investigates the use of popular songs in the construction of Malawian national identity. Martin Stokes (1994) examines music as a site for the articulation of ethnic and national identity, and Niall Mackinnon (1993) investigates issues surrounding musical performance and social identity in the British folk scene. Several studies have addressed the construction of ‘others’ in musical practice (Erlmann 1999, Born & Hesmondhalgh 2000), while Jane Kroger (1996) has dealt with difference particularly in relation to the formation of adolescent identities. Specific to the South African context, Nadine Dolby (2001) addresses the construction of racial identity in a South African school in the mid 1990s, with particular reference to the impact and use of popular culture, and Christopher Ballantine (2004) has commented on the engagement, or lack thereof, of white South African musicians with South African identities. To the best of my knowledge, however, no work has yet been done on the issue of choral music as a tool for the construction of identity, particularly in the South African context. Erlmann

Methodology:

As the questions informing this research came out of my own experiences of choral singing in a South African context, I have decided to approach this research mainly through a process of participant observation. My own experiences singing in various South African choirs, and my observations of these and other choir rehearsals, performances, and choir-related social interactions, inform the semi-structured interviews I am conducting with various choristers. I am supplementing the interviews, which focus mainly on choristers reasons for singing in choirs, and personal reflections on the impact of their choral experiences on their identities, with questionnaires which ask specific questions about categorizations of choirs and music. The use of these two methods in conjunction with one another affords me the opportunity to draw some generalized conclusions about various groups of choristers, without losing the individual voices and experiences. I aim to use discourse analyses of interview material and video recordings of rehearsals and performances to inform my readings of questionnaire results, and to structure my analysis of collected data.

Bibliography:
History
Erlmann, Veit. 1991. African Stars: Studies in Black South African Performance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fabian, Johannes. 1978. “Popular Culture in Africa: Findings and Conjectures” Africa: 48(4) pp. 315-334 [45]
Blacking, John. 1959. “Continuity and Change in African Culture” African Music 2(2) pp. 15-23 [46]
Identity
Bennett, H. Stith. 1983. “Notation and Identity in Contemporary Popular Music” Popular Music 3 pp. 215-234 [39]
Dolby, Nadine. 2001. “White Fright: The Politics of White Youth Identity in South Africa.” The British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 22(1) pp. 5-17 [12]
Grieves, Jim. 1982. “Style as Metaphor for Symbolic Action: Teddy Boys, Authenticity and Identity” Theory, Culture & Society 1(2) (Autumn) pp. 35-49 [43]
Hall, S. 1998. “Subjects in history: making diasporic identities” The House That Race Built pp. 289-300 Lubianao, W. (ed.) New York: Vintage Books [23]
Hall, S. & Du Gay, P. (eds) 1996. Questions of cultural identity London: Sage [29]
Jarviluoma, Helmi. 1995. “Local Construction of Identity: Analysing Category-Work of an Amateur Music Group” Popular Music: Style and Identity Will Straw, et al (eds.) pp. 155-161 Montreal: The Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions [15]
Kroger, Jane. 1996. Identity in Adolescence: the Balance Between Self and Other London: Routledge [51]
Kuutma, Kristin. Cultural Identity, Nationalism and Changes in Singing Traditions [1]
Mackinnon, Niall. 1993. The British Folk Scene: Musical Performance and Social Identity. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press.
McGarty, Craig and Haslam, S. Alexander. (eds.) 1997. The Message of Social Psychology: Perspectives on Mind in Society. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.
Nurse, George T. 1964. “Popular Songs and National Identity in Malawi” African Music 3(3) pp. 101-106 [47]
Roe, Keith. 1996. “Music and Identity Among European Youth: Music as Communication.” in Paul Rutten (ed.) Music in Europe, Part II: Music, Culture and Society in Europe pp. 85-97. Brussels: European Music Office.
Stokes, Martin. (ed.) 1994. Ethnicity, Identity and Music: The Musical Construction of Place. Oxford: Berg.
Tomlinson, Alan. (ed) 1990. Consumption, Identity and Style London: Routledge [53]
Community
Anderson, B. 1983. Imagined Communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London & New York: Verso.
Born, G. & Hesmondhalgh, D. (eds) 2000. Western Music and its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press.
Garofalo, Reebee. 1986 “How Autonomous is Relative?: Popular Music, the Social Formation and Cultural Struggle” Popular Music 6(1) pp. 77-92 [37]
Sonn, Christopher C., and Fisher, Adrian T. 1998. Sense of Community: Community Resilient Responses to Oppression and Change. Journal of Community Psychology, Vol 26(5) pp. 457-472 [8]
Place
Breen, Marcus. 1993. “Making Music Local” Rock and Popular Music: Politics, Policies, Institutions Tony Bennett, et al (eds) pp. 66-82 London, Routledge [26]
Fenster, Mark. 1995. “Two Stories: Where Exactly Is the Local?” Popular Music: Style and Identity Will Straw, et al (eds.) pp. 83-87 Montreal: The Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions [16]
Frith, Simon. 1993. “Popular Music and the Local State” Rock and Popular Music: Politics, Policies, Institutions Tony Bennett, et al (eds) pp. 14-24 London: Routledge [27]
Jarviluoma, Helmi. 1995. “Local Construction of Identity: Analysing Category-Work of an Amateur Music Group” Popular Music: Style and Identity Will Straw, et al (eds.) pp. 155-161 Montreal: The Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions [15]
Kong, Lily. 1995. “Popular Music in Geographical Analyses” Progress in Human Geography 19 pp. 183-198 [48]
Street, John. 1995. “(Dis)located? Rhetoric, Politics, Meaning and the Locality” Popular Music: Style and Identity pp. Will Straw, et al (eds) pp. 255-263. Montreal: The Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions [14]
Globalisation
Erlmann, Veit. 1999. Music, Modernity, and the Global Imagination: South Africa and the West. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nationalism
Anderson, B. 1983. Imagined Communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London & New York: Verso.
Gilroy, Paul. 1987. There ain't no black in the union jack: the cultural politics of race and nation Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [22]
Hall, S. 1998. “Subjects in history: making diasporic identities” The House That Race Built pp. 289-300 Lubianao, W. (ed.) New York: Vintage Books [23]
Juste-Constant, Vogeli. 1990. “Haitian Popular Music in Montreal: The Effect of Acculturation” Popular Music 9(1) pp. 79-86 [35]
Larkey, Edward. 1992. “Austropop: Popular Music and National Identity in Austria” Popular Music 11(2) pp. 151-186 [32]
Mbembe, Achille and Posel, Deborah. 2004. “The Promise of Freedom and its Practice: Global Perspectives on South Africa’s Decade of Democracy” Concept paper in The Promise of Freedom and Its Practice: Global Perspectives on South Africa’s Decade of Democracy, Programme of colloquia and public lectures, Wiser, University of the Witwatersrand.
Nurse, George T. 1964. “Popular Songs and National Identity in Malawi” African Music 3(3) pp. 101-106 [47]
Stokes, Martin. (ed.) 1994. Ethnicity, Identity and Music: The Musical Construction of Place. Oxford: Berg.
Street, John. 1993. “Local Differences? Popular Music and the Local State” Popular Music 12 pp. 43-55 [38]
Tutu, D. 1994. The Rainbow People of God. London: Doubleday.
Race/Ethnicity
Alleyne, Mike. 2000. White Reggae: Cultural Dilution in the Record Industry. Popular Music and Society 24(1) pp. 15-30 [4]
Ballantine, Christopher. 1995. “The Identities of Race, Class and Gender in the representation of early Black South African Jazz and Vaudeville” Popular music, Style, and Identity Will Straw, et al. (eds.) pp. 9-12 Montreal: The centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions [18]
Daley, Mike. 2003. Why Do Whites Sing Black?": The Blues, Whiteness, and Early Histories of Rock Popular Music and Society 26:2 pp. 161-167 [5]
Dolby, Nadine E. 2001. Constructing Race: Youth, Identity, and Popular Culture in South Africa. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Dolby, Nadine. 2001. “White Fright: The Politics of White Youth Identity in South Africa.” The British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 22(1) pp. 5-17 [12]
Fitzgerald, Jon. 1995. “Black or White? Stylistic Analysis of Early Motown 'Crossover' Hits: 1963-1966” Popular Music, Style and Identity Will Straw, et al. (eds.) pp. 95-98 Montreal: The Centre for Research on Canadian Cultural Industries and Institutions [17]
Gilroy, Paul. 1987. There ain't no black in the union jack: the cultural politics of race and nation Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [22]
Levine, Lawrence 1977. Black culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk thought from Slavery to Freedom Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press
Soudien, C. 1998. “We know why we're here: the experience of African children in a "coloured" school in Cape Town, South Africa” Race, Ethnicity and Education 1(1) pp. 7-29 [21]
Stokes, Martin. (ed.) 1994. Ethnicity, Identity and Music: The Musical Construction of Place. Oxford: Berg.
Whitesell, Lloyd. 2001. White Noise: Race and Erasure in the Cultural Avant-Garde. American Music 19(2) pp. 168-189 [3]
Colonialism
Comaroff, Jean and Comaroff, John L. 1991. Of Revelation and Revolution, vol. 1: Christianity, Colonialism and Consciousness in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gender
Bayton, Mavis 1993. “Feminist Musical Practice: Problems and Contradictions” Rock and Popular Music: Politics, Policies, Institutions Tony Bennett, et al. (eds.) London: Routledge [25]
Cooper, Sarah (ed.) 1995. Girls! Girls! Girls!: Essays on Women and Music London: Cassell [19]
McClary, Susan. 1991. Feminine Endings: Music, Gender and Sexuality Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press [28]
Youth
Brake, Mike. 1980. The Sociology of Youth Culture and Youth Subcultures: Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll? London: Routledge & Kegan Paul [56]
Coleman, Arthur. 1961. The Adolescent Society Chicago: Free Press Glencoe [55]
Dolby, Nadine. 2001. “White Fright: The Politics of White Youth Identity in South Africa.” The British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 22(1) pp. 5-17 [12]
Gilroy, Paul. 1993. “Between Afro-Centrism and Euro-Centrism: Youth Culture and the Problem of Hybridity” Youth 1(2) pp. 2-13 [49]
Kroger, Jane. 1996. Identity in Adolescence: the Balance Between Self and Other London: Routledge [51]
Performance/Music:
Agawu, Kofi. 2003. Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions. New York and London: Routledge.
Bebey, Francis. 1975. African Music: A People's Art Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill [50]
Erlmann, Veit. 1996. Nightsong: Performance, Power and Practice in South Africa Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press [44]
Mthembu, Edward Zabalaza. 1994. Some elements of neo-traditional performance practice in contemporary Zulu Choral singing in the Hulemn zone high school choirs Durban: University of Durban Westville, Unpublished thesis [20]
Analysis/Theory
Cohen, Sara. 1993. “Ethnography and Popular Music Studies” Popular Music 12(2) pp. 123-138 [33]
Coplan, David. 1982. “The Urbanisation of African Music: Some Theoretical Observations” Popular Music 2 pp. 113-129 [41]
Fabbri, Franco. 1982. “What Kind of Music?” Popular Music 2 pp. 131-143 [42]
Middleton, Richard. 1993. “Popular Music Analysis and Musicology: Bridging the Gap” Popular Music 12(2) pp. 177-190 [40]
Shepherd, John. 1982. “A Theoretical Model for the Sociomusicological Analysis of Popular musics” Popular Music 2 pp. 145-177 [30]
Tagg, Philip. 1982. “Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method and Practice” Popular Music 2 pp. 37-67 [31]
Thornton, Sarah. 1995. “Exploring the meaning of the mainstream: Or Why Sharon and Tracy Dance Around Their Handbags” Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital Cambridge/Hanover: Polity/Wesleyan University Press [54]
Authenticity
Redhead, Steve and Street, John. 1989. “Have I the Right? Legitimacy, Authenticity and Community in Folk's Politics” Popular Music 8(2) pp. 177-184 [36]
Dance
Barz, Gregory and Gunnerson, Frank. 2000. Mashindano!: Competitive Music Performance in East Africa. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers. [106]
Lyrics
Frith, Simon, 1988 “Why Do Songs Have Words?” Music for Pleasure: Essays in the Sociology of Pop Simon Frith (ed.) pp. 105-128 New York: Routledge [24]
Timbre
Olwage, Grant. 2004. “The Class and Colour of Tone: An Essay on the Social History of Vocal Timbre.” Unpublished paper.
Tan Shzr Ee. A Singapore Sound? The Story of Choirs in Singapore [9]
Taste
Pegg, Carole. 1983. “Factors Affecting the Musical Choices of Audiences in East Suffolk, England” Popular Music 4 pp. 51-74 [34]