Bakhtin and Genre: Musical-Social Interaction at the Cape Breton Milling Frolic Bret D
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2011 Bakhtin and Genre: Musical-Social Interaction at the Cape Breton Milling Frolic Bret D. Woods Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC BAKHTIN AND GENRE: MUSICAL-SOCIAL INTERACTION AT THE CAPE BRETON MILLING FROLIC By BRET D. WOODS A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2011 Copyright © 2011 Bret D. Woods All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Bret D. Woods defended on April 4, 2011. ____________________________________________ Frank Gunderson Professor Directing Dissertation ____________________________________________ Juan Carlos Galeano University Representative ____________________________________________ Michael B. Bakan Committee Member ____________________________________________ Charles E. Brewer Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to all those who made me feel welcome in Cape Breton, including Amber, Lennie, Todd, Shay, Glenn, Anita, James, Rod, Lorrie, Allan, Mary, Beth, John, Jane, Barry, James, Jamie, and everyone at the Christmas Island Fire Hall. Thanks to all the couch surfers, family, and friends who accommodated me along the way; I hope to visit you again. I have an immense amount of appreciation for my dissertation advisor, Frank Gunderson, whose faith in this project and willingness to press me to see things from new angles have helped me become a better scholar. And, for my committee members, Michael Bakan, Charles Brewer, and Juan Carlos Galeano, I am equally grateful for their insight and brilliant input into this work. The collaborative efforts of a document such as this are no small task, and I am honored to have such a well-rounded and rigorous group of thinkers. I would also thank my colleagues and friends who have worked with me in many dialogs, especially Damascus Kafumbe, Janine Tiffe, Matt Morin, Peter Hoesing, Kari Kistler, and Paul Vermeren. Conversing about my topic has always jogged a memory or created an inspiration in me that allows me to pursue a particular avenue of thought that I would not have considered on my own. Thanks also to my wonderful family, for their furtherance of me in my dedication to my work. Often my research keeps me from spending all my time with them, and I am grateful for their continued steadfast commitment to supporting me in my life’s goals. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………………. vi List of Audio Examples……………………………………………………………………….. viii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………... ix PROLOGUE…………………………………………………………………………………… x 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………... 1 1.1. Background and Significance……………………………………………………... 4 1.2. Literature Review………………………………………………………………….. 9 1.2.1. Specific Sources…………………………………………………………. 9 1.2.2. General Sources…………………………………………………………. 12 1.2.3. Theoretical Sources……………………………………………………… 15 1.2.4. Media Sources…………………………………………………………… 21 1.7. Theoretical Approach……………………………………………………………… 21 1.8. Methodology………………………………………………………………………. 26 1.9. A Roadmap of Sorts……………………………………………………………….. 28 2. THE LAND OF TREES AND HIGH MOUNTAINS………………………………………. 31 2.1. Highland Settlers in the New World: Historical Perspectives…………………….. 33 2.2. A Wealth of Gaelic: Language and the Diaspora…………………………………. 37 2.3. Gaelicness and Scottishness: The Gaelic College at St. Ann’s…………………… 40 2.4. Traveling in Cape Breton………………………………………………………….. 45 2.5. Gaelic Song and the Fèis Movement……………………………………………… 48 2.6. Féis an Eilein……………………………………………………………………… 50 2.7. Portrait of the Milling Frolic………………………………………………………. 55 2.8. Milling Frolic at the Christmas Island Fire Hall…………………………………... 57 2.9. Milling Frolic in Johnstown, Cape Breton………………………………………… 62 3. GAELIC COMMUNITY, LANGUAGE, AND IDENTITY……………………………….. 65 3.1. The Current State of the Gaelic Language in Cape Breton……………………….. 70 3.2. Gaelic Identity and Social Life in Cape Breton…………………………………… 76 3.3. The Milling Frolic as Cultural Revitalization…………………………………….. 82 4. CHRONOTOPES: GENRE AND MUSICAL-SOCIAL INTERACTION…………………. 84 4.1. Bakhtin, the Novel, and Being-As-Event…………………………………………. 87 4.2. Forms of Style and the Chronotope………………………………………………. 90 4.3. Accessing Genre…………………………………………………………………... 93 4.4. An Ethnographic Narrative on the Chronotope and Genre……………………….. 98 4.5. The Construction and Consumption of Meaning: Self-other Actualization…………………………………………………………… 101 iv 5. DIALOGISMS: GRAMMAR, NARRATIVE, AND SPACE-TIME………………………. 103 5.1. Preserving the Old or Inventing the New: Identity and Tradition ………………... 105 5.2. Commodification of Song: A Type of Preservation? …………………………….. 111 5.3. “Our Traditions Will be Lost if We Don’t Sing Them.”………………………….. 119 5.4. Forced to Preserve as Opposed to Disseminate…………………………………… 121 5.5. In the Community during the Week of the Féis…………………………………. 123 6. TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY OF MUSICAL-SOCIAL INTERACTION…………………. 127 6.1. Narrative, Symbol, and Music…………………………………………………….. 129 6.2. Chronotope, Genre, Heteroglossia………………………………………………… 132 6.3. Dialogisms in Space and Place……………………………………………………. 138 6.4. A Narrative of Ethnographic Identity…………………………………………….. 139 7. POLYPHONY AND AUTHORSHIP IN A COLONIAL/POST- COLONIAL DIASPORA…………………………………………………………………… 143 7.1. The Politics of Representation…………………………………………………….. 145 7.2. Tradition and Transformation: Continuity and Change in the Milling Frolic……………………………………………………………………… 149 7.3. Identity as the Focal Point in Social Interaction at the Milling Frolic…………….. 151 7.4. On the Growing Notion of Celticity………………………………………………. 155 7.5. Celticity: Transcending Nationality for a Broadly-Encompassing Notion of Tradition………………………………………………………………... 157 8. MOVING BEYOND METHODOLOGY: INTERDISCIPLINARY THEORY AND PRACTICE IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY……… 159 8.1. Interdisciplinary Imaginings of a Discipline………………………………………. 161 8.2. Dialogic Interaction……………………………………………………………….. 162 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………… 178 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………………. 180 A. VISUAL NARRATIVE……………………………………………………………. 180 B. HUMAN SUBJECTS COMMITTEE APPROVAL……………………………….. 193 C. FÈIS SOCIETIES IN SCOTLAND: A MOVEMENT……………………………... 194 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………… 199 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………………………………... 211 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of Northern Nova Scotia from Antigonish to Cape Breton (Google 2011)……. 3 Figure 2: The park at Commercial Street, Glace Bay, Cape Breton, N.S……………………… 47 Figure 3: Around the Milling Table (Comunn Féis An Eilein)………………………………… 56 Figure 4: Milling frolic table at Christmas Island……………………………………………… 59 Figure 5: Glenora Distillery in Glenville, Cape Breton………………………………………... 66 Figure 6: Published in The Halifax Herald Limited…………………………………………… 68 Figure 7: The commemorative trademarked bottle, booklet, and packaging of the “Battle of the Glen Special Edition Canadian Malt Whisky” (Glenora Distillery)….. 69 Figure 8: MacIsaac performing “Sleepy Maggie” on the Conan O’Brien Show (1997) moments before flashing the cameras…………………………………….…. 108 Figure 9: CD Jacket of Còmhla Cruinn………………………………………………….…….. 118 Figure 10: Meandering the Backroads of Central Cape Breton……………………….……..… 180 Figure 11: Little Narrows Ferry………………………………………………………………... 180 Figure 12: Finding Fuel………………………………………………………………………... 181 Figure 13: MacKenzie’s Little Narrows Country Store……………………………………….. 181 Figure 14: Entering Christmas Island from Grand Narrows…………………………………… 182 Figure 15: Cross Lines on the Corner of Dorchester and Esplanade, Downtown Sydney…….. 182 Figure 16: A Street Sign in Sydney……………………………………………………………. 183 Figure 17: Dimensions of Identity: The Nova Scotian, Canadian, and Gaelic Flags………….. 183 Figure 18: St. Columba Catholic Church, Iona, Cape Breton, N.S……………………………. 184 Figure 19: Sydney Waterfront, Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia…………………………… 184 Figure 20: Hillside view of the Waterfront and the Giant Fiddle……………………………… 185 Figure 21: Sydney’s Giant Fiddle……………………………………………………………… 185 Figure 22: Coastline at Glace Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia………………………………... 186 Figure 23: Glace Bay Coastline………………………………………………………………... 186 Figure 24: Local Birdlife in Glace Bay………………………………………………………… 187 Figure 25: Central Cape Breton………………………………………………………………... 187 Figure 26: Malagawatch Church on the Bras d’Or Lakes on the way to Highland Village Museum (The Griffin 2004)…………………………………….. 188 vi Figure 27: Malagawatch Church en route to its new location (The Griffin 2004)……………... 188 Figure 28: The Barra Strait Train Bridge………………………………………………………. 189 Figure 29: Coal train, having just crossed the Barra Strait from Grand Narrows to Iona……... 189 Figure 30: Road to the Black House, Highland Village Museum…………………………….. 190 Figure 31: A view from the Black House overlooking Bras d’Or Lakes……………………… 190 Figure 32: The Finished Malagawatch Church at Highland Village Museum………………… 191 Figure 33: View of the Malagawatch Church from Grand Narrows…………………………... 191 Figure 34: Looking out from a house over a lake……………………………………………… 192 Figure 35: A glimpse of Piper’s Cove in the distance…………………………………………. 192 vii LIST OF AUDIO EXAMPLES This PDF contains several audio excerpts that pertain to the overall experiential ethnography.