Music and Music Ethnography as Reflexivity Tools in Adult Learning

Abstract

Music and music ethnography can evoke reflexivity in adult learning. The aim of the text is to highlight -out of two “ethnographic” cases- the ability of using music and ethnographic research as tools of transformative learning in adult education through recollective experiences. Reflexivity, as an analytical and interpretive tool in music ethnography, is used in the design of a research, in the discussion between ethnographers/musicologists and musicians or non musicians -carriers of a “tradition”- or in the composition of an ethnographic “text”. In reality, discussing with the different “other” is posing questions to oneself. Listening to a melody as adults, we associatively re-create memories and older experiences. The research was based on the use of music and musical ethnography as tools of transformative learning in two cases: firstly, in culturalists of the tertiary education of the Hellenic Open University and secondly, in adult students of the secondary education who were carrying out researches in the frame of a project entitled “Narrations about music and dance: Narrations about life”. The research took place in the years 2012-2013 and was based on qualitative methods of analysis (interviews and participatory observation were used). Visual arts are already used as analytical tools in adult learning. This article underlines the necessity of initiating a fertile discussion on the embodiment of music and ethnographic research, as useful reflexivity tools, in adult learning.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3s1p247