JULIE BEAUREGARD
Julie Beauregard is Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Music Education at University of Missouri – St. Louis, specializing in general/classroom music. Dr. Beauregard has 12 years of preK-12 music teaching experience, previously held faculty positions at Oregon State University, Northwestern University, the Eastman School of Music, and instructed in online contexts through Kent State University and Boston University. She serves as a Member-at-Large on the MayDay Group’s Steering Committee and was formerly Oregon’s SMTE chair. A Presser scholar, music educator (BME ’99, MA ’06, PhD ’12), and ethnomusicologist (MA ’19), she seeks to reveal hidden or marginalized phenomena through her research by exploring topics including intercultural music transmission, popular music education, music teacher identity, alternative assessments, music teacher preparation, and embodied knowledge.
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Sexual Safety for Women Conducting Geographically Distant Musical Fieldwork
The work of ethnomusicologists has expanded the repertoire of diverse and culturally respectful materials music educators may draw upon in their work over recent decades. As ever-greater emphasis is placed on authentic multicultural repertoire, music educators are conducting ethnographic fieldwork in foreign cultures with greater regularity themselves (Campbell, 2003; Talbot, 2015). A significant percentage of this population is women (Gardner, 2010). As fully embodied instruments of research, these women need to be equipped to conduct fieldwork in a manner that is simultaneously ethical, knowledge-producing, and safe.The necessity of relationship-building while in the field is undeniable, but human interaction is inherently messy and imbued with all manner of personal characteristics, including sexuality (Lawrence, 2017; Wong, 2015). In this provocation I situate and explore the ever-present and often problematic sexual aspects of being an ethnographer, a “physical as well as intellectual [person]” (Markowitz 1999, p. 162) who “form[s] real relationships” with musical culture bearers (Koskoff 2014, p. 134).
Ethnographers are first situated as people who are both sexed and sexualized. To be sexed is to have a biological sex, with related anotomical and hormonal attributes; “we are all raced, classed, and gendered (and sexed and nationalized)” (Townsend-Bell, 2009, p. 311). To be sexualized is to be externally ascribed features of eroticism and possession of procreative potential (Oxford, 2013). Issues subsequently addressed include traditional gender roles in various instrumental musical cultures, fieldworker identity, power differentials of ethnographer and culture bearer(s), potential cross-cultural misunderstandings in fieldwork relationships, unwanted advances and sexual violence, desire and erotics in and of fieldwork, and intimacy with the Other.
While ethnomusicologists engage in fieldwork training courses (Rice, 2017) and numerous fieldwork manuals exist for that discipline, similar resources are scant for music educators. This is particularly problematic for women, who are at the greatest risk of sexual danger while in the field (Sharp and Kremer, 2006). Though experiences by members of other groups (e.g., men, gender non-conforming, LGBTQIA+ individuals, BIPOC) are acknowledged and import of intersectional considerations also imperative, “the research literature to date indicates that [sexual harassment and assault during fieldwork] is overwhelmingly a problem faced by female researchers, especially those interviewing male subjects” in perceived interracial heterosexual exchanges (Sharp and Kremer 2006, p. 320; see also Clancy, Nelson, Rutherford, and Hinde, 2014). As such, cisgender White women are focal to this provocation. In doing ethnography with geographically distant culture bearers, women need to be prepared to act as both scholars and potentially vulnerable people in the field. This is particularly true in intense study with male master musicians, an almost certain relationship in instrumental contexts (Cohen, 1998; Doubleday, 1999; Doubleday, 2008; Koskoff, 2000). A thorough fieldwork preparation process for music educators is therefore called for, of which relational knowledge-gathering and sexual safety are essential parts.
References
Campbell, P. S. (2003). Ethnomusicology and music education: Crossroads for knowing
music, education, and culture. Research Studies in Music Education 21(16): 16-30.
Clancy, K. B. H., Nelson, R. G., Rutherford, J. N., and Hinde, K. (2014).“Survey of
Academic Field Experiences (SAFE): Trainees Report Harassment and Assault.”
PLoS ONE 9(7): 1-9.
Cohen, J. (1998). Q’ero. In (D. A. Olsen, Ed.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
Online, vol. 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Doubleday, V. (2000). Music and Gender. In (A. Arnold, Ed.) The Garland Encyclopedia of
World Music Online, vol. 5: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent: 812-816. New
York, NY: Garland.
Doubleday, V. (2008). Sounds of Power: An Overview of Musical Instruments
and Gender. Ethnomusicology Forum 17(1): 3-39.
Gardner, R. D. (2010). Should I stay or should I go? Factors that influence the retention,
turnover, and attrition of K-12 music teachers in the United States. Arts Education
Policy Review 111(3): 112-121.
Koskoff, E. (2000). Gender and Music. In (T. Rice, Ed.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World
Music Online, vol. 8: Europe.
Koskoff, E. (2014). A Feminist Ethnomusicology Writings on Music and Gender. Chicago,
IL: University of Illinois Press.
Lawrence, S. (2017). Performing Desire: Race, Sex, and the Enthnographic
Encounter. Ethnomusicology 61(3): 468-485.
Markowitz, F. (1999). Sexing the Anthropologist: Implications for Ethnography. In (F.
Markowitz and M. Ashkenazi, Eds.) Sex, Sexuality, and the Anthropologist, 161-174.
Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Oxford English Dictionary Online (2013). Sexualized. Retrieved from
http://www.oed.com.ezp.lib.rochester.edu/view/Entry/271677?redirected
From=sexualized#eid
Rice, T. (2017). Modeling Ethnomusicology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Sharp, G. and Kremer, E. (2006). The Safety Dance: Confronting Harassment,
Intimidation, and Violence in the Field. Sociological methodology 36: 317-327.
Talbot, B. C. (2015). Outside ourselves: Becoming better teachers through ethnographic
fieldwork. PMEA News (summer): 48-49.
Townsend-Bell, E. (2009). Being true and being you: Race, gender, class, and the
fieldwork experience. PS: Political Science and Politics 42(2): 311-314.
Wong, D. (2015). Ethnomusicology Without Erotics. Women and Music: A Journal
of Gender and Culture 19(1): 178-185.
Ethnographers are first situated as people who are both sexed and sexualized. To be sexed is to have a biological sex, with related anotomical and hormonal attributes; “we are all raced, classed, and gendered (and sexed and nationalized)” (Townsend-Bell, 2009, p. 311). To be sexualized is to be externally ascribed features of eroticism and possession of procreative potential (Oxford, 2013). Issues subsequently addressed include traditional gender roles in various instrumental musical cultures, fieldworker identity, power differentials of ethnographer and culture bearer(s), potential cross-cultural misunderstandings in fieldwork relationships, unwanted advances and sexual violence, desire and erotics in and of fieldwork, and intimacy with the Other.
While ethnomusicologists engage in fieldwork training courses (Rice, 2017) and numerous fieldwork manuals exist for that discipline, similar resources are scant for music educators. This is particularly problematic for women, who are at the greatest risk of sexual danger while in the field (Sharp and Kremer, 2006). Though experiences by members of other groups (e.g., men, gender non-conforming, LGBTQIA+ individuals, BIPOC) are acknowledged and import of intersectional considerations also imperative, “the research literature to date indicates that [sexual harassment and assault during fieldwork] is overwhelmingly a problem faced by female researchers, especially those interviewing male subjects” in perceived interracial heterosexual exchanges (Sharp and Kremer 2006, p. 320; see also Clancy, Nelson, Rutherford, and Hinde, 2014). As such, cisgender White women are focal to this provocation. In doing ethnography with geographically distant culture bearers, women need to be prepared to act as both scholars and potentially vulnerable people in the field. This is particularly true in intense study with male master musicians, an almost certain relationship in instrumental contexts (Cohen, 1998; Doubleday, 1999; Doubleday, 2008; Koskoff, 2000). A thorough fieldwork preparation process for music educators is therefore called for, of which relational knowledge-gathering and sexual safety are essential parts.
References
Campbell, P. S. (2003). Ethnomusicology and music education: Crossroads for knowing
music, education, and culture. Research Studies in Music Education 21(16): 16-30.
Clancy, K. B. H., Nelson, R. G., Rutherford, J. N., and Hinde, K. (2014).“Survey of
Academic Field Experiences (SAFE): Trainees Report Harassment and Assault.”
PLoS ONE 9(7): 1-9.
Cohen, J. (1998). Q’ero. In (D. A. Olsen, Ed.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
Online, vol. 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Doubleday, V. (2000). Music and Gender. In (A. Arnold, Ed.) The Garland Encyclopedia of
World Music Online, vol. 5: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent: 812-816. New
York, NY: Garland.
Doubleday, V. (2008). Sounds of Power: An Overview of Musical Instruments
and Gender. Ethnomusicology Forum 17(1): 3-39.
Gardner, R. D. (2010). Should I stay or should I go? Factors that influence the retention,
turnover, and attrition of K-12 music teachers in the United States. Arts Education
Policy Review 111(3): 112-121.
Koskoff, E. (2000). Gender and Music. In (T. Rice, Ed.) The Garland Encyclopedia of World
Music Online, vol. 8: Europe.
Koskoff, E. (2014). A Feminist Ethnomusicology Writings on Music and Gender. Chicago,
IL: University of Illinois Press.
Lawrence, S. (2017). Performing Desire: Race, Sex, and the Enthnographic
Encounter. Ethnomusicology 61(3): 468-485.
Markowitz, F. (1999). Sexing the Anthropologist: Implications for Ethnography. In (F.
Markowitz and M. Ashkenazi, Eds.) Sex, Sexuality, and the Anthropologist, 161-174.
Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Oxford English Dictionary Online (2013). Sexualized. Retrieved from
http://www.oed.com.ezp.lib.rochester.edu/view/Entry/271677?redirected
From=sexualized#eid
Rice, T. (2017). Modeling Ethnomusicology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Sharp, G. and Kremer, E. (2006). The Safety Dance: Confronting Harassment,
Intimidation, and Violence in the Field. Sociological methodology 36: 317-327.
Talbot, B. C. (2015). Outside ourselves: Becoming better teachers through ethnographic
fieldwork. PMEA News (summer): 48-49.
Townsend-Bell, E. (2009). Being true and being you: Race, gender, class, and the
fieldwork experience. PS: Political Science and Politics 42(2): 311-314.
Wong, D. (2015). Ethnomusicology Without Erotics. Women and Music: A Journal
of Gender and Culture 19(1): 178-185.