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Ethnography in the Performing Arts a Student Guide

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Ethnography in the Performing Arts a Student Guide Ethnography in the Performing Arts A Student Guide Dr Simone Krüger 2008 Ethnography in the Performing Arts: A Student Guide In order to understand the individual and group creativity, expression and experience that lies at the heart of the performing arts, ethnography is a particularly suitable tool, allowing us both to study and reach our own understandings while gathering those of the people involved and situating them within their broader social and cultural contexts. Yet what is ethnography, and how do we approach ethnography in a performing arts culture, be it in music, dance or drama? This is the concern of the student guide here, which illustrates the multiple, complex steps of ethnographic research and writing, and presents them one-by-one in simple, reader- friendly language. Written with the novice fieldworker in mind, the content is informed by the multifaceted experiences of university students when conducting their own ethnographic research project in music, dance and drama. Their ethnographies, as well as fieldnotes and other collected materials serve as illustrative matter and case studies. Hopefully you will find the student guide useful and meaningful for the conduct of your own ethnographic project in the performing arts. Cover photograph: An ethnographer’s tools Cover Design by LGS, David Bridge TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF FIGURES ....................................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. V INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 A note on the project ................................................................................................ 2 A personal reflection on the project ..................................................................... 3 How to use the guide ................................................................................................ 3 Structure of the student guide .................................................................................. 5 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCING RESEARCH ........................................................ 9 What is a researcher? ................................................................................................ 9 The research cycle ................................................................................................... 10 Quantitative and qualitative approaches to research ............................................ 13 Quantitative research .......................................................................................... 14 Qualitative research ............................................................................................ 14 The application of research approaches to the research process ..................... 16 Ethnography – a qualitative research method ................................................... 18 Ethical considerations ............................................................................................. 19 The student participants .......................................................................................... 21 Music ethnography locally ................................................................................... 21 Ethnography in a remote music culture............................................................. 24 Other research projects ....................................................................................... 26 SAMPLE ETHNOGRAPHIES ........................................................................... 27 Representation of Gender in Liverpool’s Krazy House ......................................... 27 The Impact of Globalisation on Brazilian Music in London ................................. 34 ‘Drop it like it’s hot’: Gender Representations in Rap and Hip Hop Clubs .......... 39 ‘A Game of Two Halves’: Gender and Football ...................................................... 44 CHAPTER II. APPROACHING ETHNOGRAPHY ............................................ 49 What is ethnography? .............................................................................................49 Long-term versus short-term ethnography ........................................................ 51 Designing an ethnographic research project ......................................................... 52 What: The research base ..................................................................................... 53 Where and who: The research site and people .................................................. 54 When: The timeframe for research .................................................................... 56 How: The collection of documentation ............................................................. 58 The role of literature ............................................................................................... 59 Preparing the project .............................................................................................. 62 Gaining entry and consent .................................................................................. 62 Research with young people ......................................................................................64 Page | i Considering health and safety during research ................................................. 64 Validity and reliability in ethnography .................................................................. 67 Truth in ethnography ..........................................................................................68 Reflexivity and auto-ethnography ..................................................................... 69 Writing a research proposal ................................................................................... 70 Preparing a presentation .......................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER III. DOING ETHNOGRAPHY ......................................................... 73 Ethnographic research methods ............................................................................. 73 Participant-observation ....................................................................................... 74 Performance ethnography .................................................................................. 75 Applied Performance Ethnography: Ethnodrama ..................................................... 77 Informal interviewing .......................................................................................... 78 Informal group interviews .......................................................................................... 85 Technology in the age of globalisation ...............................................................86 Virtual ethnography ................................................................................................... 87 Capturing ethnographic data ................................................................................. 90 Ethnographic fieldnotes ..................................................................................... 90 Audiovisual techniques ....................................................................................... 92 Visual ethnography .............................................................................................94 Ethnographic film ....................................................................................................... 95 The ethical ethnographer........................................................................................98 Data management ..................................................................................................102 CHAPTER IV. WRITING ETHNOGRAPHY .................................................... 103 Reading ethnographic data ................................................................................... 104 Transcription of words ...................................................................................... 104 Transcription of performance ............................................................................107 Analysis of ethnographic data ................................................................................ 111 Coding data .......................................................................................................... 111 Looking for themes............................................................................................. 112 Transformation of ethnographic data ................................................................... 116 Interpretation of ethnographic data ..................................................................... 119 A FINAL NOTE… ............................................................................................ 123 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 125 Selected Ethnographies in the Performing Arts ................................................... 132 Page | ii TABLE OF FIGURES Figure I- 1: The Research Cycle .................................................................................... 11 Figure I- 2: The Academic Knowledge Continuum .................................................... 15 Figure I- 3: Writing Conventions in Quantitative & Qualitative Research .............. 16 Figure I- 4: The Research Cycle in Quantitative and Qualitative Research .............. 17 Figure II- 1: Research Design .....................................................................................
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