[Anthropgrad] Pre-fieldwork Seminar by Rebekah Plueckhahn, Friday 20th February

[John White]

Anthropology Friday Seminar Series. Semester 1, 2009. Milgate Room, AD
Hope. Friday, 20th February, 3pm.

 

Approaches towards heritage preservation and expressions of current
contexts as seen through the performance practice of western Mongolian
music

 

Performances of western Mongolian musical genres potentially occur
amidst continuing discourse surrounding musical authenticity, ethnic
identity and approaches towards cultural heritage preservation. During
the communist period from 1921-1990, Mongolia experienced an
institutionalisation of national music culture, policies that
accompanied the wider attempted assimilation of Mongolian ethnic
minorities into the larger Khalk majority. Since 1990, western Mongolia,
home to several of Mongolia's ethnic minorities, has experienced a
revival of previously discouraged musical practices, practices that are
now accompanied by an influx of foreign cultural and musical influences
and economic and social change. 

In my PhD research, I plan to investigate contested notions of heritage
and authenticity, giving rise to my primary research question: How do
current contexts and experiences of performances in one ethnic group in
western Mongolia illuminate and/or reinforce perceptions of community,
cultural heritage and ethnic identity, and how is this shaped by
economic or social factors? Through analysing performance contexts of
western Mongolian musical genres, performed by one ethnic group, both in
western Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar, I plan to primarily utilize
performance and performance process as an entry point to examine how
performance and sound are linked to social processes, social networks
and how these performances occur in the face of economic and social
change. I envisage that this framework will allow me to gain an
understanding of the current motivations for, and processes that occur
during, performances of western Mongolian musical genres and of
resulting definitions of what constitutes musical, cultural and ethnic
heritage and accompanying initiatives to support continued musical
practice within the social and economic contexts of democratic Mongolia.

 

All welcome!

 

 

John White
PhD Candidate
A.D. Hope Building #14
The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 0200
AUSTRALIA
Email: john.m.white at anu.edu.au
Ph: 0419882475