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Full-Text Articles in Anthropology

“Sounds Like” Redemption? On The Musicality Of Species And The Species Of Musicality, Tyler Yamin, Alice Rudge Jan 2024

“Sounds Like” Redemption? On The Musicality Of Species And The Species Of Musicality, Tyler Yamin, Alice Rudge

Faculty Journal Articles

Popular and academic studies of music frequently claim that human musicality arose from the so-called ‘natural world’ of non-human species. And amid the anxieties produced by the Anthropocene, it is thought that the possibility of reconnecting with the natural world through a renewed appreciation of music’s links with nature may usher in a new era of posthuman environmental consciousness, offering repair and redemption. To critique these claims, we trace how notions of ‘musicality’ have been applied to or denied from non-human entities across diverse disciplines since the late nineteenth century. We conclude that such debates reinforce the separation that they …


The Music Of Democratic Kampuchea: Revolution Songs As Public Pedagogy, Anissa Jade Lesh May 2023

The Music Of Democratic Kampuchea: Revolution Songs As Public Pedagogy, Anissa Jade Lesh

Masters Theses

The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 utilized a variety of methods to ensure control over the country and its people. Among these methods were the creation and dissemination of revolutionary songs which extolled the virtues of the CPK, instilled fear, and provided explicit instructions on how to serve the Ângka (the organization). While scholars unanimously recognize the use of music as public pedagogy during the regime, there are very few works which explore the songs, their lyrics, or how the music itself reflected their intended sociopolitical purpose. Through the transcription, translation, and analysis …


Collective Expressions Of Monacan Indian Nation Identity: A Communicative Arts Genre Study, Gretchen E. Casler-Cline Mar 2022

Collective Expressions Of Monacan Indian Nation Identity: A Communicative Arts Genre Study, Gretchen E. Casler-Cline

Masters Theses

This study considers the current communicative arts practices of the Monacan Indian Nation, an Indigenous Virginia tribe of approximately 2500 people located in Amherst County, Virginia. Historically the tribe was a large nation that extended from the falls of the James River near Richmond, Virginia to the Southwestern portions of the state near Roanoke and now the Monacan Indian Nation homeland is at Bear Mountain in Amherst County, Virginia. The study was conducted through interviews and observations at tribal events such as the annual Powwow and culture class, as well as consistent attendance and participation as a musician at St. …


Palestinian Evangelical Christian Music In Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine, Abby Smith May 2021

Palestinian Evangelical Christian Music In Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine, Abby Smith

Senior Honors Theses

Often the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is portrayed as Jewish vs. Muslim, Hebrew vs. Arab. There is little room in the international dialogue for minorities such as Arab Christians. Though Palestinians have a rich culture of Arabic musical and poetic heritage, they are unable to produce their own new songs. In this study I interviewed three members of Immanuel Evangelical Church on their experiences and opinions on local Christian worship. The findings show that Palestinian Christians may feel unable to write worship music because of a prevalent feeling of inadequacy and a lack of musical training. I propose several …


01 Traditional Songs Introduction, William Donner Jan 2021

01 Traditional Songs Introduction, William Donner

Sikaiana Traditional Songs

This is an introduction to Sikaiana songs. It includes a discussion of the social cultural context of song composition and singing. There is a discussion of the different features of song production and a list of different song genres. Most of the discussion is concerned with traditional song expression that are part of derived form changes associated with colonialism and modernization.


Hip-Hop's Diversity And Misperceptions, Andrew Cashman Aug 2020

Hip-Hop's Diversity And Misperceptions, Andrew Cashman

Honors College

The misperception that hip-hop is a single entity that glorifies wealth and the selling of drugs, and promotes misogynistic attitudes towards women, as well as advocating gang violence is one that supports a mainstream perspective towards the marginalized.1 The prevalence of drug dealing and drug use is not a picture of inherent actions of members in the hip-hop community, but a reflection of economic opportunities that those in poverty see as a means towards living well. Some artists may glorify that, but other artists either decry it or offer it as a tragic reality. In hip-hop trends build off of …


Songs From Home: A Study Of Musical Traditions Amongst Iraqi Refugees, Moira Rose Dunn May 2019

Songs From Home: A Study Of Musical Traditions Amongst Iraqi Refugees, Moira Rose Dunn

Anthropology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Families relocating to new communities face the hardships of learning how to navigate in a new legal and cultural environment and can also experience an interruption of past forms of passing down cultural, personal, or familial traditions, such as music. My research asks the following questions: how does music exist in the memories and daily life of Iraqi refugees in the Quad Cities, and how does the community provide specific expressive outlets for them? Using a combination of interviews with resettled Iraqi refugees and community members who try to reach out to them and participant observation, this research focuses on …


Jesse Routte: Using Style To Signify Injustice, Emma Nordmeyer May 2019

Jesse Routte: Using Style To Signify Injustice, Emma Nordmeyer

Race, Ethnicity, & Religion

Jesse Routte, first African-American student to graduate Augustana, made national headlines in 1947 for wearing a turban on a visit to Alabama. In this paper, I explore how Routte's stylistic choices uprooted and questioned the racism of the Jim Crow era.


Unmasking Hybridity In Popular Performance, Hannah M. Harder Apr 2018

Unmasking Hybridity In Popular Performance, Hannah M. Harder

Student Publications

This paper explores cultural hybridization in popular music and the eroticization of the exotic eastern aesthetic. Using musicology and anthropology as tools, the paper examines varying perspectives of the artists, audience and marginalized groups. Although cultural appropriation has been used recently as a blanket buzzword in mainstream dialogue, it does provide a platform to discuss complex issues on gender, race and sexuality that has been muddled by colonial mentalities.


Nau, Kathy (Fa 1061), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Sep 2017

Nau, Kathy (Fa 1061), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1061. Paper titled “Iowa Fiddle Tunes” by Kathy Nau in which she writes about her project documenting fiddle tunes collected by Bill Hamilton of Winfield, Iowa. Includes annotated music for approximately 23 tunes.


Elmore, Harold W. (Fa 975), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Oct 2016

Elmore, Harold W. (Fa 975), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 975. Project titled: “Transcriptions of stories, song lyrics and calls.” Project includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of stories, song lyrics, doodle bug charms, and calls from Edmonson County and Warren County, Kentucky. Sheets include a brief description, informant’s name, and some with motif index number.


Mission In Evolving Cultures: Constructively Managing Music-Related Conflict In Cross-Cultural Church Planting Contexts, David R. Dunaetz Oct 2016

Mission In Evolving Cultures: Constructively Managing Music-Related Conflict In Cross-Cultural Church Planting Contexts, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

The choice of music, an essential element of worship and church life, must be addressed in cross-cultural church planting contexts. As cultures evolve, church planters are faced with choices about musical styles that may lead to interpersonal conflicts within the church. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine factors that may enable cross-cultural church planters to constructively manage music-related conflicts when they arise. Members of church plants, like all people, have various goals when entering into such conflicts. They are concerned about the content of the conflict (i.e., the musical style) and thus have content goals. They are …


The Symphony Of State: São Paulo's Department Of Culture, 1922-1938, Micah J. Oelze Jun 2016

The Symphony Of State: São Paulo's Department Of Culture, 1922-1938, Micah J. Oelze

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1920s-30s São Paulo, Brazil, leaders of the vanguard artistic movement known as “modernism” began to argue that national identity came not from shared values or even cultural practices but rather by a shared way of thinking, which they variously designated as Brazil’s “racial psychology,” “folkloric unconscious,” and “national psychology.” Building on turn-of-the-century psychological and anthropological theories, the group diagnosed Brazil’s national mind as characterized by “primitivity” and in need of a program of psychological development. The group rose to political power in the 1930s, placing the artists in a position to undertake such a project. The Symphony of State …


Brame, Lawrence R. (Fa 861), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives May 2016

Brame, Lawrence R. (Fa 861), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 861. Collection consists of Negro spirituals collected from individuals in Kentucky. Song lyrics are provided along with the names of sources who provided each song. This project was conducted by Lawrence R. Brame for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.


Music And The Migrant: A Transnational Account Of Cumbia, Irene L. Mekus Feb 2016

Music And The Migrant: A Transnational Account Of Cumbia, Irene L. Mekus

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

This paper looks into the cultural synthesization and the transnational ties of cumbia between Latin America and the United States. Three case studies look at the story of migrants and their transnational ties through cumbia and are analyzed through an ethnomusicology framework.


Nothing Happens Here: Songs About Perth, Jon Stratton, Adam Trainer Jan 2016

Nothing Happens Here: Songs About Perth, Jon Stratton, Adam Trainer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This essay examines Perth as portrayed through the lyrics of popular songs written by people who grew up in the city. These lyrics tend to reproduce the dominant myths about the city: that it is isolated, that it is self-satisfied, that little happens there. Perth became the focus of song lyrics during the late 1970s time of punk with titles such as 'Arsehole of the Universe' and 'Perth Is a Culture Shock'. Even the Eurogliders' 1984 hit, 'Heaven Must Be There', is based on a rejection of life in Perth. However, Perth was also home to Dave Warner, whose songs …


Reflections Of The Past (Fa 812), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jun 2015

Reflections Of The Past (Fa 812), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archive Project 812. Recording of George C. Wright discussing resources for African American research in Kentucky (Side A) and Rena Niles talking about her folk musician husband John Jacob Niles (Side B). Two small printed pamphlets were also included with the recording that was sponsored by the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives and produced by Clay Guance of the University of Kentucky.


The Woman Composer: Culture And Social Ideologies Behind Her Success In Music Composition, Julia K. Brummel Apr 2015

The Woman Composer: Culture And Social Ideologies Behind Her Success In Music Composition, Julia K. Brummel

Music and Worship Student Presentations

Music is an art that has been enjoyed since almost the beginning of time. This art has carried many traditions and ideologies with it that are still prevalent today. One such idea that began early on and is still an attitude that must be fought in today’s musical culture, is that women are unable to be quality composers. For as long as music has been composed, men have dominated in writing and performing their own works. The lack of women composers throughout history is a subject that has interested many music historians. There are reasons behind this issue and many …


Sonic Jihad — Muslim Hip Hop In The Age Of Mass Incarceration, Spearit Jan 2015

Sonic Jihad — Muslim Hip Hop In The Age Of Mass Incarceration, Spearit

Articles

This essay examines hip hop music as a form of legal criticism. It focuses on the music as critical resistance and “new terrain” for understanding the law, and more specifically, focuses on what prisons mean to Muslim hip hop artists. Losing friends, family, and loved ones to the proverbial belly of the beast has inspired criticism of criminal justice from the earliest days of hip hop culture. In the music, prisons are known by a host of names like “pen,” “bing,” and “clink,” terms that are invoked throughout the lyrics. The most extreme expressions offer violent fantasies of revolution and …


Cosaan To Tostan: The Evolution Of Wolof Women’S Verbal Art As A Means For Social Empowerment, Iana Robitaille Apr 2014

Cosaan To Tostan: The Evolution Of Wolof Women’S Verbal Art As A Means For Social Empowerment, Iana Robitaille

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For Wolof women, verbal art has always been an important tool for negotiating power. In a public context, griottes have lent their voices to traditional ceremonies such as marriages and baptisms; in a private context, all women have used songs as accompaniment to daily tasks and as an informal way to comment on the society in which they live. This paper explores the way that certain Wolof songs, sung by and for women, simultaneously challenge and adhere to traditional Wolof culture—that is, the way their texts and performances both contradict and perpetuate traditionally mandated gender codes. In order to achieve …


Folkloric Musicians Among The Bugakhwe, Robert Veith Jan 2014

Folkloric Musicians Among The Bugakhwe, Robert Veith

Masters Theses

Increased access to global media by traditional culture in remote parts of Africa has, in many cases, seen indigenous music marginalized in favor of imported forms. In some places, a folkloric tradition thrives, though this music may face extinction if those who practice it do not document their art in a way which can be passed down to future generations. For this project, I recorded seven musician/composers of the Bugakhwe, a Khoisan people group living in the Okavango Delta region of Botswana. Two were given enough studio time to create a complete CD-length set, so as to show off the …


Kachin Sound Instruments Within The Context Of The Kachin Baptist Convention Of Northern Burma: History, Classification, And Uses, Walter Brath Apr 2013

Kachin Sound Instruments Within The Context Of The Kachin Baptist Convention Of Northern Burma: History, Classification, And Uses, Walter Brath

Masters Theses

This organology identifies and describes the Kachin's sound instruments, classifies them according to the Hornbostel-Sachs' system, and considers evidence of an indigenous classification scheme. Very little research exists to date on the music of the Kachin peoples of Northern Burma. This paper cites the only known indigenous organology and is the first English language study to extrapolate evidence into an emergent classification system. This qualitative study is based on ethnographic interviews, the minimal literature available on the topic, and participant observation drawn from fieldwork conducted in the Kachin State of Northern Burma (modern day Myanmar) during the months of May …


Interview With Hazel Forsythe About Her Ethnic Background (Fa 601), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Feb 2013

Interview With Hazel Forsythe About Her Ethnic Background (Fa 601), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview conducted by Elizabeth Mosby Adler with Hazel Forsythe for an oral history and cultural project titled EthniCity: Contemporary Ethnicity in the Inner Bluegrass. The interviewee discusses her multi-cultural background in Guyana and how it has affected her connection to music, food and the people around her.


Williams, Donna (Fa 595), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jan 2013

Williams, Donna (Fa 595), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 595. Paper titled “Turning Legend to Song,” written by Donna Williams for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. The paper analyzes the propensity of songwriters to rely upon tales and legends for inspiration in the composition of songs. Williams focuses on Boone County, Kentucky’s legend of Skull Bone Cave.


Moore, Julian "Jack" (Fa 536), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Jan 2011

Moore, Julian "Jack" (Fa 536), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 536. Sixteen music tracks recorded by Julian "Jack" Moore, soloist, accompanied by Mary Alice Black, pianist. The selections are chiefly hymns.


Cooper, Laura (Fa 314), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Sep 2008

Cooper, Laura (Fa 314), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 314. Paper: "Cowboys and Songs" written by Laura Cooper for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.


Interview With J. C. Hubbard (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Nov 2001

Interview With J. C. Hubbard (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of interview with J. C. Hubbard conducted by Amber F. Ridington on 18 November 2001. From folk studies student project concerning the operations of the Quonset, 1946-1959, a recreational center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.


Interview With David Dye (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Oct 2001

Interview With David Dye (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of interview with David Dye conducted by Amber F. Ridington on 31 October 2001. From folk studies student project concerning the operations of the Quonset, 1946-1959, a recreational center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.


Interview With Doral Glen Conner, 1930-2020 (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Oct 2001

Interview With Doral Glen Conner, 1930-2020 (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of interview with Glen Conner conducted by Amber F. Ridington on 23 October 2001. From folk studies student project concerning the operations of the Quonset, 1946-1959, a recreational center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.


Interview With Mary Ann Fisher, 1923-2004 (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Oct 2001

Interview With Mary Ann Fisher, 1923-2004 (Fa 200), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Oral Histories

Transcription of interview with Mary Ann Fisher conducted by Amber F. Ridington on 6 October 2001. From folk studies student project concerning the operations of the Quonset, 1946-1959, a recreational center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.