Contribution short abstract:

With the aim of reducing the ethnographic asymmetry, I shape my PhD inquiry on music and migration in a participatory way, taking the musicians’ emotions, perceptions and preoccupations into account. My future research should be co-constructed by all participants to meet their interests.

Contribution long abstract:

My doctoral thesis takes place in the field of anthropology of music and migration and focuses on the orchestra Orpheus XXI which is aimed at musicians who experienced exile. Since 2019, I have carried out an ethnographic fieldwork in France and Germany and met the musicians where they rehearse and live. I use the method of go-along (Kusenbach, 2003) and do biographical interviews (Fischer-Rosenthal & Rosenthal, 1997). I take into account the musicians’ perceptions and emotions (Juslin & Sloboda, 2010) to understand what is at stake in their careers and lives. Spradley explained how ethnographic relations of inquiry are asymmetric, and all the more so interviews (1979). With the aim of reducing the weight of this power relation, I try to shape my inquiry in a participatory way by building a relationship of trust and eye-to-eye dialogue with the musicians, going several times back to them during the ethnography and the process of writing to discuss what I wrote. Conversation (Haraway, 1988) becomes a heuristic tool. Active listening (Hockey & Forsey, 2012) is also an opportunity to build a relationship of trust, while at the same time fulfilling an ethical duty.

In the future, I would like to go further and implement a more participatory research design, by involving the actors in the definition of the research so that it meets their interests. All the participants would co-construct the inquiry. Participating is understood here in the three ways that philosopher Zask describes: taking part, contributing and benefiting (2011).