Shadows in the Field

Abstract

Abstract Shadows in the Field is the first book by ethnomusicologists to consider fieldwork as an issue-laden practice, rather than as a methodology requiring a prescriptive manual. The contributors to this volume challenge the very notion of fieldwork: its goals, the nature of knowledge gained in fieldwork, and the place of fieldwork in historical studies. The book ranges widely through the history of the discipline of ethnomusicology and the key theoretical issues to be addressed including ethics, politics, gender, and relations with the people studied in the contemporary fieldwork environment. It represents the most significant aspects of the new ethnography, shifting the balance away from the data-collecting model of fieldwork toward an approach that is reflexive, humanistic, and experiential.