This paper discusses the twofold role of music as a means to manifest border-induced (cultural) difference and simultaneously foster alternative modes of belonging. The author draws on her ethnographic research, consisting of participant observation, desktop research, and interviews, and reflects on her auto-ethnographic recordings of engaging with refugee musicians. The discussion unfolds around vignettes that exemplify moments of musical encounters among refugees and between refugees and people from the host society. The vignettes are narrated from the refugee interlocutors’ point of view, who are engaged in the musicking instances as listeners and musicians. It discusses how they devise music to cope with their estrangement from home and to articulate narratives of belonging. It illuminates how refugees challenge stereotyped representations of themselves, reinforcing the terms under which they can become “visible” and “audible.” Finally, the article argues that refugees’ narratives suggest understandings of reality as a continuum in ways that challenge the linear reifications produced by nation-state bordering practices and displacement-induced ruptures These understandings are embedded in music’s mobilities and their intersections with human movement, informal networks, and the cultural industry
This article focuses on the potential of in-group music lessons to foster musical citizenship. It further discusses the relation between musical citizenship and conventional citizenship and shows how musical citizenship reorientates our thoughts towards citizenship, particularly in the light of the recent pandemic. The discussion is based upon reflection on semi-structured interviews conducted during my ethnographic fieldwork research on musicking among refugees sheltering in reception centres. The discussion is framed with approaches to citizenship and musical citizenship. The discussion is structured in three parts. First, I conceptualize my interlocutors’ current ‘in limbo’ status. Second, I show how music learning in-group fosters musical citizenship and helps navigate exclusions. Third, the attention shifts on how music learning was impacted by the way that the lockdown was implemented as a measure to limit the spread of the pandemic, highlighting the inclusivity of ‘musical citizenship’ undermined by (conventional) citizenship and the relevant exclusionary policies.
This interview was conducted by Chrysi Kyratsou and discusses the experience of the QUB Science Shop in facilitating partnerships across academia and community and making sure that they are mutually beneficial and sustainable through time. In the core of the initiative is the 'Knowledge-Exchange' between the partners at a community-engaged project, which lends its name to the initiative. Dr Emma McKenna outlines the basic principles that have shaped the work undertaken by the Science Shop. She explains how the initiative stemmed from radical ideas in the 1960s, to transform largely understandings of the role of academia in addressing current problems of community, under the scope of what the community really needs. Dr McKenna elaborates on the potentials and challenges that underpin community-engaged work. She outlines the different types of partnerships that can be shaped, how the objectives are set, and what are the criteria to deem a partnership as successful. She presents the roles of the different stakeholders that participate in a community-engaged project, and situates the activity of Science Shop between local focus and international contexts, identifying the respective potentials and challenges. Finally, Dr McKenna reflects over the contribution of Science Shop in realising Sustainable Development Goals, and sketches how further improvement and development should be understood and envisaged. IMPACT Journal met with Dr Emma McKenna on 5 August 2021 to discuss the experience of Science Shop in ensuring sustainability in community engagement, as well as the vision of building a sustainable world and what the role of universities can be.
Welcome to this, the first issue of the International Modern Perspectives on Academia and Community Today (IMPACT) Journal. In creating this Journal and producing this first issue we have proven that multidisciplinary working is possible. Moreover, we have shown that as academics, we have the power to challenge the norms and work in innovative ways within the contexts of our institutions. Thinking and working in innovative ways reflects on our practices as we reimagine our work and role in working with the community. Through the creation of a multidisciplinary Journal, we intend to provide a platform that will not only host approaches used in various disciplines but will also act as a merging point by putting forward perspectives from the communities alongside academic work. In doing so, we hope to promote new forms of dialogue, which have the potential to generate new research directions, and help cement the notion that academia and community are intertwined rather than separate entities within the social relations. The purpose of academic practice is to serve the needs of the community as both members of the community and academics who adopt an advocacy standpoint. Therefore, we hope that through the collaborative working practices underpinning this initiative we can achieve our aim to promote community involvement and engagement and meaningful contribution in the short and long term.
The article focuses on the local music and dance of Zoupanochoria, a cluster of villages lying on the boundaries of the different geographic areas of the Greek parts of Epirus and Macedonia. Identifying music with either side of the boundary results in contestations over locals’ identity and sparks dispute over symbolic belonging to distinct musical traditions and their geographic origin. The research shows that musicians blend elements (tunes, rhythms, instrumentation) of both music traditions. Based on the repertories performed in two community festivities, the article relates their different structure and organization with alternative expressions of belonging and shows the resolution of dispute and discontent that the local dance Lotzia provides. This border situation resonates metaphorically with the Greek tradition to name the newborn baby after one of the grandparents, thus signifying bonds with the family. However, highlighting bonds with a specific part of the family can engender disputes. This metaphor can be applied to many forms of community solidarity-building in Greece and the wider Balkans, as the one examined here.
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