Ethno Research

Millie

Documentary pilot: Capturing Footage at Ethno Gatherings

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With international travel not currently an option for our research team, we’re piloting the creation of a documentary using film footage captured by the people attending Ethno events themselves.

This instruction video is for those who have been given the task of filming the footage – the ‘videographers’ – and should help with using the kit, and understanding the types of footage we’re hoping for. It can be viewed alongside the Production Manifesto document, which you can download below the video.

Production-Manifesto-iPod-documentary-pilotDownload

Arts and Culture Team

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As we come to the end of 2020, here’s a chance to hear from the Arts & Culture team based at University of Toronto Scarborough.

The Arts and Culture team looks at how Ethno participates in the shaping of culture through music at local, regional, and global levels, and how Organizers, Artistic Leaders, and participants understand and describe the impacts of Ethno. This involves examining the place of traditional/folk musics at Ethno and the place of Ethno in traditional and folk music scenes in Europe and beyond. We’re also looking at professional musical collaborations that have grown out of Ethno.

The Arts and Culture Team is also exploring how Organizers, Artistic Leaders, and participants navigate discussions of cultural issues at Ethno camps and how they may (or may not) introduce and facilitate such discussions.

Our research involves a combination of interviews and participant-observation, including an analysis of the Ethnopia, Ethno Forever, and Ethno-World Facebook pages. We plan on sharing our research through an interactive “sound map” of Ethno camps, written reports and articles, and conference presentations.

Video introducing the Arts and Culture work package

Pedagogy and Professional Development Team

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As we come to the end of 2020, here’s an update from the Pedagogy and Professional Development team.

Our aim in the pedagogy and professional development project is to document a range of understandings of Ethno pedagogy; and to describe and theorise how these understandings are translated into practice. We are specifically interested in pedagogical and professional development values, principles and practices, within the context of Ethno-World.

We are also interested in the ways in which these values, principles and practices are put into practice at local, national and global levels. Examples of the ideas we are exploring are transformational music-making; multi-faceted musicianship; and global musical citizenship: we will value your thoughts on these and other topics you highlight. In brief, we are interested in how and why Ethno pedagogy is described as ‘magic’.

Trauma-informed and consent-based practice

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As we come to the end of 2020, here’s a chance to hear from Catherine Birch about her research around trauma-informed and consent-based practice.

With trauma-informed and consent-based practice as a theoretical lens, this inquiry aims to determine to what extent Ethno-World has considered issues of trauma, gender and consent.

For example, how are social and cultural boundaries navigated within the parameters set by each Ethno camp? In the daily group warmups, what is the opt-out for someone who is deeply uncomfortable about physical touch? What provision is there for the participant who has reasons why they cannot engage in a particular activity? How is trauma taken into account, or past trauma identified? How does that impact the planning, and facilitation of an Ethno camp?

The inquiry will focus on how good practice is currently implemented into Ethno camps, considering the social and cultural diversity of participants, enabling a safety-net for those who have experienced prior trauma, and providing the wider Ethno-World with a platform for discussion and constructive dialogue around these sensitive issues.

Ethno Organizers (SenseMaker®)

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As we come to the end of 2020, here’s a chance to hear from Dr Dave Camlin and Helena Reis, about the Ethno Organizers project.

In this project we are using the power of story to build up a detailed understanding of the complexities surrounding the organisation of Ethno events at a local level. We’re pioneering a ‘distributed ethnography’ approach using SenseMaker®, which involves Ethno organizers as interpreters of the significance of their own stories.

A video introducing the SenseMaker project

Sustainability/Covid-19 project

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As we come to the end of 2020, here’s a chance to hear from Dr Sarah-Jane Gibson about the Sustainability/Covid-19 project.

For the Sustainability/Covid-19 project we’ve been looking at the impact switching to on-line facilitation has had on the Ethno organisation. We’ve seen how some of the events organised by Ethno have encouraged further initiatives within the Ethno Network and also how the opportunity to facilitate on-line teaching sessions have provided Artistic Leaders with new skills to support on-line teaching and given them the opportunity to ‘have a voice’ and share their own cultural practices. Largely, this research has revealed the importance of the artistic leader in curating a successful final Ethno product and the innovativeness of the Ethno Network in adjusting to change.