Musics

Journal/Book: Int Soc Sci J. 1997; 49: 108 Cowley Rd, Oxford, Oxon, England OX4 1JF. Blackwell Publ Ltd. 585.

Abstract: Music has been an important domain of anthropological research for over a century, particularly in its relation to other categories of performance, including ritual and ceremonial. This article explores the reasons for this apparently universal cultural phenomenon and its significance in the field. Reviewing the turning points in the cross-disciplinary development of the anthropology of music, the author discusses both the intellectual and institutional challenges of balancing anthropological and musicological concerns. The analysis also focuses on the involvement of music in what appear to be separate domains of social action. The article examines the place of music in the movement from an anthropology of performance to a performance anthropology. Moving beyond a programme for a more comprehensive anthropology of expressive and communicative form, the article elaborates on the potential value of a thoroughly musical anthropology.

Note: Article Coplan D, Univ Witwatersrand, Dept Social Anthropol, PM3, ZA-2050 Witwatersrand, SOUTH AFRICA

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