Collaborative Methodologies for Decentring Power Hierarchies in Education, Artistic Research, and Museum Curating

Decolonization demands fundamental changes in hegemonic power relations and the decentring of hierarchies such as those between scholarship/activism, theory/practice, and researcher/researched. Interrogation of these dichotomies diminishes the authority of academics as experts of a specific musical culture and transforms the balance of power. This interpretation of decolonization requires shifts in methodologies that foreground the struggles and voices of Indigenous and marginalized communities. It also engages these communities in the production and dissemination of knowledge. In this panel, we share the collaborative methodologies of five different decolonizing projects pertaining to music education, archiving, digital ethnography, and research creation in Brazil, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

José Jorge de Carvalho discusses “The Meeting of Knowledges Movement” that began in Brazil in 2010. It aims to promote a concrete decolonization of the arts in teaching, research, and archiving. Carvalho shares his experiences in promoting affirmative action for students of Indigenous and Black communities to enter all academic spaces and for Indigenous and Black masters to teach their local genres of music and dance on an equal basis with Western classical music and dance. Matthias Lewy deliberates the concepts of collaborative archiving and curating that aim to decolonize the ethnographic museum's research, archiving, and curating practices. He reflects on the “restitution” project with Indigenous co-researcher Balbina Lambos from Venezuela/Brazil, who employed Indigenous ideas of curating such as the incorporation of dance and music. Both were invited by the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin to investigate instruments and other relevant ritual objects of the Koch-Grünberg collections. Deise Lucy Oliveira Montardo presents a collaborative project conceived and developed by a Baniwa Indigenous family from Alto Rio Negro, Amazonas. One of the objectives of the project was the construction of a ceremonial house in the Itacoatiara Mirim village, located in the surroundings of São Gabriel da Cachoeira. The project helped to increase the self-esteem of children and youth by valuing their traditional music, dances, food and drinks. The project also strengthened the young people by reinforcing their presence in São Gabriel da Cachoeira in the face of the violence suffered daily in the city. The researcher acted as a consultant and the project continues to be carried out by the Baniwa until today. Wei-Ya Lin  considers the challenges of collaboration between artistic researchers in the Creative (Mis)Understandings (2018–2021) project. This collaboration involved Austria-based composers/sound creators, Tao traditional music practitioner Chien-Ping Kuo, and the contemporary Tao dancer Si Pehbowen. The formation of a digital platform with a horizontal communication structure allowed all of the collaborators to take notice of the various existing power hierarchies in field research and the daily lives of the Tao. Tan Sooi Beng makes a case for artistic research that integrates research/creative practice, performance/protest, and Western/local musics as a decolonizing approach that can help sustain endangered minority traditions in Malaysia. In particular, she discusses collaborative participatory approaches and challenges faced in the rejuvenation of the Penang Hokkien glove puppet theatre.

Metodologías Colaborativas para el Descentramiento de Jerarquías de Poder en Educación, Investigación Artística y Curaduría de Museos

La descolonización exige cambios fundamentales en las relaciones de poder hegemónicas y también en el descentramiento de jerarquías, tales como aquellas que ocurren entre trabajo académico/activismo, teoría/práctica, e investigador/investigado. La interrogación de esas dicotomías disminuye la autoridad de los académicos como especialistas en una determinada cultura musical y transforma el equilibrio de poder. Ésta interpretación de la descolonización requiere cambios en las metodologías que ponen de relieve las luchas y las voces de las comunidades indígenas y marginalizadas y que las estimulan hacia la producción y diseminación de conocimientos. En este panel nosotros compartimos las metodologías colaborativas de cinco diferentes proyectos descolonizadores relacionados con educación musical, archivo, etnografía digital y creación-investigación en Brasil, Taiwán y Malasia.

José Jorge de Carvalho discute el Movimiento Encuentro de Saberes que propone una descolonización concreta de las artes en la enseñanza, la investigación y el archivo, y que empezó en Brasil en 2010. Carvalho comparte dos experiencias complementares e interrelacionadas en la promoción de políticas de inclusión: a) acciones afirmativas para estudiantes de comunidades indígenas y negras entrar en todos los espacios académicos; b) contratar mestres (sabedores tradicionales) indígenas y negros para enseñar sus géneros musicales y de danza propio en igualdad de condiciones con los profesores que enseñan la música y la danza clásica occidentales. Matthias Lewy elabora los conceptos de archivo y curaduría colaborativos que buscan descolonizar las practicas de investigación, archivo y curaduría de los museos etnográficos. Desarrolla una reflexión sobre el proyecto de “restitución” con la co-investigadora indígena Balbina Lambos de Venezuela/Brasil que empleó ideas indígenas de curaduría, tales como la incorporación de danza y música. Ambos han sido invitados por el Museo Etnológico de Berlín para investigar los instrumentos y otros objetos rituales relevantes de las colecciones de Koch Grünberg. Deise Lucy Oliveira Montardo presenta un proyecto colaborativo concebido y desarrollado por una familia indígena del Alto Rio Negro, Amazonas. Uno de los objetivos del proyecto fue la construcción de una casa ceremonial en la aldea Itacoatiara Mirim, ubicada en los alrededores de São Gabriel da Cachoeira. El proyecto aumentó la autoestima de los jóvenes al valorar sus tradiciones de música, danza, comidas y bebidas.  También los estimuló a reforzar su presencia en São Gabriel da Cachoeira, frente a la violencia que sufren todos los días en la ciudad. Wei-ya Lin reflexiona sobre los cambios de colaboración ente los compositores/creadores de sonido basados en Austria y el músico y practicante tradicional Tao Chien-Ping Kuo y el danzarino Tao contemporáneo Si Pehbowen como investigadores artísticos en el proyecto (Mal)Entendidos Creativos (2018-2021). La formación de una plataforma digital con una estructura de comunicación horizontal permite a todos los colaboradores tomar conciencia de las varias jerarquías de poder presentes en el trabajo de campo y en la vida cotidiana de los Tao. Tan Sooi Beng argumenta en favor de la investigación artística que integra la practica de investigación/creación, performance/protesto, y músicas occidentales/locales como un acercamiento descolonizador que puede sostener las tradiciones amenazadas de las minorías en Malasia. Más específicamente, ella discute las practicas de colaboración participativa y los retos enfrentados para el rejuvenecimiento del teatro de títeres Hokkien de Penang.

Reflections

José Jorge de Carvalho reflects: As we engage in the ICTM Dialogues, one point becomes clearer. Each one of us works with a general and common theory of collaboration and participation that can fit well within the framework of Applied Ethnomusicology. In this vein, one of the common issues we face is the matter of intangible cultural heritage, with all the political articulations around the communities’ demands for archive restitution. This entails, necessarily, on our part, the effort of bringing together the voices of members of the communities with whom we develop our research, and our efforts. Therefore, a conceptual and political position about representation of non-academics within the academy, sensitive to our specific case of music and dance, is something we will have to continue exploring together. Another connected issue is the institutional aspect of Applied Ethnomusicology. Perhaps we can think of producing some collective reflection in the future about this third locus of our research: neither the community nor the campus where we work, but rather the institutions (public and private) outside our quotidian teaching space where archives of traditional people’s cultural heritage are being kept.

Some ICTM members raised concerns about specific terminologies in music and dance studies that have not been accepted by international music journals and book publishers. A few members have volunteered to develop a list of terminologies for the future reference of publishers and authors.

Wei-Ya Lin raised issues about access to the collection of the Indigenous Tao music from Taiwan at CREM (Centre for Research in Ethnomusicology) at the Sound Archives of the Musée de l'Homme, Paris. Following Dialogue 4, CREM has opened the collection to everyone who can access the internet since 2022.

Matthias Lewy is involved in a new project "Sounding Amazonia in the Museum,” where a sound-centred concept with cultural participation of the inhabitants of Amazonia is being developed in the family area of the Humboldt Forum Berlin (Amazonia). The basis of this work is an interculturally sensitive approach to curating that is critical of colonialism. Pemon specialists from Venezuela and Germany will collaborate with Laida Mori (Shipibo-Konibo, Peru/Austria), the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Bernd Brabec, Austria; Matthias Lewy, Venezuela/ Switzerland) and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK/Germany).

Questions to Consider

How do we change our methodologies so as to decentre power hierarchies in research and teaching? Can we decolonize methodologies without interactions and collaborations with Indigenous researchers? What are the challenges in collaborative composition and artistic research, with Indigenous communities and minorities?

How do we include the voices of Indigenous researchers in collaborative museum archiving and curating? Are there general characteristics that define an Indigenous researcher or an Indigenous community? If so, who defines these characteristics?

Central to the decolonizing power of the Meeting of Knowledges Movement are questions related to: (i) decolonizing the curriculum by certifying masters as lecturers and researchers; (ii) decolonizing the role of the music teacher by offering courses on all musical traditions of all ethnic groups and nations; (iii) decolonizing the musical canon by decolonizing the whole curriculum; and (iv) decolonizing musical practices by reshaping the bodies and minds of colonized Westernized musicians.

Further References