In the groove and in the moment: epistemology and ethics in ethnography with Sudanese musician revolutionaries

Cathy A Wilcock

doi:10.1177/14687941211047720

Abstract

This study discusses the methodological component of a research project with Sudanese musicians and their associated activist groups. The methodology included song-writing and, as such, is an example of collaborative creative research practice. Proponents of collaborative creative practice argue that the combination of aesthetic methods with ethnographic and participatory research methods brings both epistemological and ethical dividends. This paper considers whether these alleged epistemological and ethical advantages bore out in this research project. While confirming some benefits, my study also shows evidence of underlying tensions between aesthetic ‘micro-methods’ and ethnographic and participatory traditions of knowledge production. In relation to the alleged epistemological dividends, I argue that autoethnographic embedding in collaborative creative practice is alone insufficient. It requires a theoretical framework which theorises the relationship between one player’s musical experience and another’s. Only with this, can the sensory experiences of the researcher be used to inform analysis of participant observations and interviews. The autoethnographic experiences of the researcher are not findings in themselves. In relation to the ethical dividends, unlike other arts-based research, I found that the aesthetic micro-methods in this study did not naturally lend themselves to participant empowerment. The pursuit of aesthetic goals has its own division of labour which can lead to the deprioritisation of self-expression and co-learning which constitute the primary aims of classical participatory research. Overall, collaborative creative practice did enhance this research project but there are important caveats. To reflect these, I aruge that creative collaboration should not be considered as a simple sub-set of either ethnographic or participatory research but as a method in its own right.

Highlights

Inspired by feminist and postcolonial critiques of knowledge production, many sub-fields within the social and political sciences have recently heralded an ‘aesthetic turn’ (Bleiker, 2017)
I have not asked my participants why this is the case, and I would not want to assert my privilege by raising the issue. These dynamics make me question whether my status as a young white British female academic with knowledge about Sudan makes my participants feel as though their space is being intruded upon. With this in mind, conducting research with musician-activists in as ethical a way as possible seemed to have been served by the choice of collaborative creative practice as a method
Having reflected on the epistemological and ethical issues arising during this musicking ethnography, I can come to some tentative conclusions which promote collaborative creative practice for socio-political research

Summary

Introduction

Inspired by feminist and postcolonial critiques of knowledge production, many sub-fields within the social and political sciences have recently heralded an ‘aesthetic turn’ (Bleiker, 2017). Several epistemological and ethical dividends are allegedly brought about by collaborative creative practice According to proponents, they offer access to experiential and emotional knowledges which conventional approaches cannot supply (Degarrod, 2013; Loaiza, 2016; Mullett, 2008; Vacchelli, 2018). Collaborative creative practice as a socio-political research method is still in its infancy and lacks methodological reflection (Coemans and Hannes, 2017: 41; van der Vaart et al, 2018: 1). It is important for the growth of this methodological approach in this field that the researchers using it can defend it to sceptics. The sections consider each alleged epistemological and ethical dividend in turn starting with two epistemic claims related to sensory and emotional knowledges and continuing to consider three ethical claims related to power, self-expression and co-learning

Methods

Conclusions