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All About Africa
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An exploration of Western understanding of the Non-Western in the twentieth century, with particular reference to the ethnomusicological knowledge of the musics of Africa.The early twentieth century saw the emergence of a number of new fields of inquiry that were to have a considerable impact on the nature of scholarly investigation in the course of the century. Ethnomusicology, which emerged primarily in response to a growing awareness in the ‘West’ of culturally diverse non-western music worlds (Nettl, 1985. pp. 12-17), was one such discipline. The field emerged in a world of racial prejudice and inequality, at a time of Western colonial expansion and was profoundly shaped in its early years according to those circumstances. Recently, it has been argued that the discipline continued to be moulded by the ideological constraints of the socio-political circumstances of its inception throughout the century, and it is my opinion that the field was indeed stunted in its development as a result. The investigation of these claims becomes even more problematic in light of current arguments that knowledge and knowledge of the ‘Other’ in particular, consists of the subjective interpretation and representation of internalized experience (Chernoff, pp. 1-23). The aim of this essay is to explore these concepts in terms of the ethnomusicological material that has emerged in relation to African music and to explore the possibilities for improvement in future study. In order to do so, it is necessary to first explore the literature itself in order to gain an understanding of how a standardized Western conception of African music as a single homogeneous entity could emerge and how it was endorsed and reproduced consistently within the discipline. One of the dominant characteristics of ethnomusicological material is its capacity (if we are to reduce it to a ‘…single homogeneous entity…’) to see the general in the particular. In the case of African music, particular ethnic groups are researched, reduced to typology and portrayed as representative models for the entire continent. Jones himself, in a chapter entitled ‘The Homogeneity of African Music’ argued that all of African music, without the distinction of popular, classical or folk, could be reduced to typology and concluded that because he could reduce Africa’s music in this way, it was largely homogeneous. It is ironic that even as he reduced the music of the continent in this way, he observed that musical manifestations of Africa were ‘lamentably uncharted’ (Jones, 203-229). This propensity for seeing the general in the particular results from the methodological difficulty of researching a continent the size of Africa as well as the assumption that it is possible to do so. Thus, it can be seen as both a symptom of Western conceptions of Africa and her music as well as a contributing factor to the hegemonic construction of African music to be found within the discipline. In Edward Said’s exploration of the static image of the Middle East that prevails in the West, Said identified the self-referentiality of Orientalist texts as a means of reinforcing and legitimizing the constructed image of the Orient (Said, pp. 176-178). In my opinion, this is also true of what Waterman calls ‘Africanist’ texts (Nettl and Bohlman, pp. 169-182). Erich von Hornbostel’s influential theories in ‘African Negro Music’, though motivated by an overt desire to distance European and African music in order to prevent their fusion and also the product of the ideological attitudes regarding the relationship between Europe and Africa of the 1920s (ibid, pp. 170-176) are still explored as neutral theories born of objective study. Very often, it is the case that canonic texts escape objective evaluation because of the credibility they are afforded while occupying positions of influence and authority within a discourse. The existence of canonic texts within a discourse coupled with the tendency to refer to the texts of the discourse for corroboration reinforce the discourse itself and obstruct the formulation of alternatives and criticisms. The ethnomusicologist is confronted with many conflicting objectives in his dual role of representative and interpreter of an unfamiliar culture and music system. The lack of common understanding between ethnomusicologist and subject and between subject and readership becomes highly problematic as the ethnomusicologist is forced to explain and essentialize as well as theorize his subject. The situation is further complicated by the geographical distance between the ethnomusicologist and his subject, as well as the geographical size of that which he is trying to illuminate. The ethnomusicologist is forced to subjectively reify his subject and reduce his subject to representative fragments, which temper the understanding of the audience. In the case of Africa, the continent comprises a fifth of the world’s total land area and contains more than three thousand ethnic groups each with their own cultural practices and rituals. Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that we find accounts of African music, whether popular or otherwise, that decontextualize the music and remove it from its social setting. We read books entitled ‘The Music of Africa’, ‘African Music: a People’s Art’ or ‘The Study of African Music’ and even as their authors argue that African music is not a static, homogeneous entity, they continue to subsume the musics of a continent into single volumes. Ethnomusicology, having emerged in close relationship with the comparative musicology of the Berlin school, has traditionally sought to understand the unknown through comparison with the familiar. This comparativism has proven itself to be highly problematic as it endorses an ethnology of difference while encouraging the evaluation of other musics in its own cultural context, rather than in theirs. At the same time, comparative approaches to the study of Other musics, enables what Said referred to as a state of ‘binary opposition’ (Said, p. 46), in which the spectrum of musical activity is divided into the music of ‘the West’ and the ‘music of Africa’. All of African music is subsumed into a single homogeneous category, and at the same time, all of Western music is similarly reduced. And so, we find ethnomusicologists such as Robert Kauffman making gross generalizations not only about African music but also about Western music past and present, in an article entitled ‘ African Rhythm’ (Kauffman, p. 406, 414). Thus far, I have attempted to outline several features of ethnomusicological research with regard to African music, that enable the misguided perception of it as a homogeneous entity. The propensity for seeing the general in the particular, the often blind acceptance of canonic texts, the extent of self-referentiality within the discipline, the comparative nature of the discipline and the conflictual objectives of the ethnomusicologist are just some of the many interconnected aspects of the field that have enabled the decontextualization and localization of various African musical forms. The resulting perspectives of ‘African music’ often provide a more valuable insight into ‘Western’ thinking than valid interpretations of the musics of three thousand diverse ethnic groups. It is my belief that rather than being of scholarly use, these perspectives have often led to a distorted and incomplete understanding of the music of Africa. In recent years however, there has been growing interest in the exploration of the limitations of ethnomusicological knowledge and it is to this body of writing that I now turn in order to examine the possibilities for future progress within the discipline. Traditionally, it has been the practice of social scientists to deliberately distance themselves emotionally from their subject, in order to arrive at a more ‘objective’ understanding of it. Meanwhile, researchers also engage in a research technique known as participant-observation in which emotional responses are utilized in order to gain a better understanding of the subject (Chernoff, p. 8). The search for objectivity is problematic as all knowledge is partial in some way and because claims of objectivity shrouds the political and cultural circumstances of all knowledge (Said, pp. 9-15). On the other hand, the practice of participant-observation can lead to generalization and poses ethical and methodological dilemmas (Jary and Jary, p. 476). How then is the ethnomusicologist to proceed? Chernoff, resigned to the limitations of research methods, sought to overcome the difficulties by making the reader aware of the nature of his research and his involvement with his subject. In attempting to do anthropological research, to translate the “structures” and “processes” which appear in another culture into the textual structures of his own, a social researcher must evaluate his own experience with flexibility. Finding the proper level of abstraction to portray with fidelity both the relativity of his own viewpoint and the reality of the world he has witnessed necessarily involves an act of interpretation. (Chernoff, p.11). This stark frankness about the nature of ethnomusicological research, deliberately exposes the hermeneutical nature of all cultural analysis. In this way, Chernoff’s description of his experiences becomes a far more accurate portrayal of both ethnographic experience and collected knowledge accumulated in this way than the pedagogic, empirical texts of earlier writers. Stephen Blum, in an article entitled ‘European Musical Terminology and the Music of Africa’, outlines some of the restrictions placed on our understanding of African music by the imposition of European musical terminology on it. Blum recognizes that the error of comparative musicologists was the desire to restrict their explanations of musical systems to ‘musical’ and ‘extramusical’ principles (Blum, in Nettl and Bohlman, p. 27) and that in doing so, early ethnomusicologists failed to address the different cultural contexts in which those musics were operating. Blums’ article illustrates contemporary ethnomusicologists’ growing awareness of the difficulties caused by the imposition of ‘Western’ musical theory and practice on non-western musics. The article also demonstrates an awareness of the specific historical locations of early theories and an ability to locate those theories within the ideological framework of the early twentieth century. Blum’s understanding of the nature of ethnomusicological writing itself and the circumstances of its emergence in the early twentieth century, enable a realistic examination of that material and its limitations. Thus, if we can critically evaluate the existing body of knowledge about African music, we can better understand not only that which we claim to know about African musics but also that which simply cannot be communicated because of our external position. Clifford Geertz, in his ‘Interpretation of Cultures’, recognizes the particular function of the ethnographer as representative and interpreter, and clearly illustrates the inadequacy of what he calls ‘I-am-a-camera, “phenomenalistic” observation’ (Geertz, p. 6) in the interpretation of cultural behaviour. Geertz argues for the adoption of a ‘semiotic concept of culture’ (ibid, p. 14) and asserts that all anthropological analysis is nothing more than second order interpretation. Despite the problematic nature of anthropological research, its interpretive aspect and intrinsic incompleteness, it is Geertz’ belief that it is nevertheless possible to approach it from a scientific perspective. In terms of ethnomusicological research in particular, many of Geertz’ assertions hold true. Geertz’ exposition of the true nature of anthropological study, like that of Chernoff, enables a more effective evaluation of that material and an understanding of its actual ability to communicate reality. Having examined some of the research that is currently attempting to quantify and clarify anthropological literature, it seems that there is a conscious effort to do away with didactic, ‘ “phenomenalistic” observation’. There is a growing awareness of the limitations of anthropological literature and an appreciation of the obstacles facing the ethnographer in his research. At the same time, efforts are being made to expose the claims to authenticity made by existing literature and readers are encouraged to study ethnomusicological research in its interpretive capacity. This essay has sought to explore ‘…Western understanding of the Non-Western…’. I initially traced some of the key characteristics of traditional ethnomusicological literature with regard to African music in order to reach an understanding of how it was possible for such a holistic image of a continent to develop. I then went on to examine the attempts of three different theorists to understand the capabilities and future potential of ethnographic material. It seems clear that new attitudes are developing with regard to the ‘Non-Western’ and more promisingly, new attitudes with regard to our ability as ‘Westerners’ to successfully interpret, understand and communicate that existence. In the context of the argument that all ethnographic research is interpretive, I have sought to avoid directly commenting on African music and have instead focused on the body of literature surrounding it in the West. While it is clear that there is growing awareness of the limitations of traditional ethnographic literature, it nevertheless forms the backbone of ethnography even today. Thus, we continue to read articles on Hornbostel’s theory of African rhythm and find lists of characteristics that can be attributed to ‘African’ music. As long as we continue to blindly talk about African rhythm, and imagine ourselves to have gained any insight into the reality of African music, then the homogeneous entity remains alive. What then lies in store for the next generation ethnomusicologists? It appears that ethnography is at a time of great change and modification and it is exiting to bear witness to that transformation. I cannot say what lies ahead but if the theories of those above are indeed a reflection of changes in the dominant perceptions of ethnographic material, as I believe they are, then it seems that the tide is turning and a new age is dawning for ethnomusicology. Bibliography |
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