Co-dependent processes of stability and variability of musical traits: An evo-devo approach to music transmission

Abstract

It has been argued that cultural evolution and genetic inheritance are driven by similar rules (Dawkins, 1976). Some cultural evolutionists have adopted the modelling tools and strategies of population genetics in order to study processes of cultural transmission and evolution (Boyd and Richerson 1985, 2005), meaning that cultural evolution can be analyzed as information stored and transmitted through individuals’ minds. However, this gene-centred approach to culture misperceives two interrelated factors: the important role that the development of individuals plays in the production and transmission of cultural traits, and the sociomaterial overlap in which these cultural traits are embedded. Unlike a purely gene-centred perspective, the evo-devo research agenda has focused on two key problems about evolution: how do evolutionary mechanisms generate and modify organismal developmental processes, and how does the structure of organismal developmental processes shape back the patterns and processes of evolution (Müller 2007, 2017, 2019). In other words, to understand either evolutionary or developmental processes, we need to understand how they shape one another. Despite this promising theoretical approach, few evo-devo inspired models of cultural evolution have been applied to analyze how the sociomaterial overlap that scaffolds the transmission and innovation of cultural traditions (see e.g. Griesemer 2014, Tavory et al. 2014) and the development of individuals are intimately interconnected. Music is a paradigmatic example to study these interrelated processes. In this talk, I present an evo-devo model for the transmission of musical traits. In particular, I argue that the transmission of musical traits should be analyzed as co-dependent processes between the development of individuals and the sociomaterial overlap (e.g. rituals, musical repertoire, musical instruments, social norms, etc.) in which a particular musical practice is embedded. I show that this model enables a deeper understanding of complex cultural dynamics shaping both the stability and variability of musical traditions, providing a partial solution to the problem of determining the relevant aspects that must be replicated by an agent (or group of agents) in order to adequately reproduce a cultural trait over time. In order to show how this conceptual framework can be applied to explain concrete cases of musical transmission, I refer to my ethnomusicological work conducted over several years in Mexico in the Totonac indigenous community of Huehuetla, Puebla (Villanueva 2012).