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      In the groove and in the moment: epistemology and ethics in ethnography with Sudanese musician revolutionaries

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      Qualitative Research
      SAGE Publications

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          Abstract

          This study discusses the methodological component of a research project with Sudanese musicians and their associated activist groups. The methodology included song-writing and, as such, is an example of collaborative creative research practice. Proponents of collaborative creative practice argue that the combination of aesthetic methods with ethnographic and participatory research methods brings both epistemological and ethical dividends. This paper considers whether these alleged epistemological and ethical advantages bore out in this research project. While confirming some benefits, my study also shows evidence of underlying tensions between aesthetic ‘micro-methods’ and ethnographic and participatory traditions of knowledge production. In relation to the alleged epistemological dividends, I argue that autoethnographic embedding in collaborative creative practice is alone insufficient. It requires a theoretical framework which theorises the relationship between one player’s musical experience and another’s. Only with this, can the sensory experiences of the researcher be used to inform analysis of participant observations and interviews. The autoethnographic experiences of the researcher are not findings in themselves. In relation to the ethical dividends, unlike other arts-based research, I found that the aesthetic micro-methods in this study did not naturally lend themselves to participant empowerment. The pursuit of aesthetic goals has its own division of labour which can lead to the deprioritisation of self-expression and co-learning which constitute the primary aims of classical participatory research. Overall, collaborative creative practice did enhance this research project but there are important caveats. To reflect these, I aruge that creative collaboration should not be considered as a simple sub-set of either ethnographic or participatory research but as a method in its own right.

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          Most cited references48

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          Doing Sensory Ethnography

          Sarah Pink (2009)
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            Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound

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              The SAGE Encyclopedia of Action Research

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                (View ORCID Profile)
                Journal
                Qualitative Research
                Qualitative Research
                SAGE Publications
                1468-7941
                1741-3109
                June 2023
                October 08 2021
                June 2023
                : 23
                : 3
                : 746-763
                Affiliations
                [1 ]International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague, Netherlands
                Article
                10.1177/14687941211047720
                37105ba3-7963-4df5-8976-bfc4ce2c98c3
                © 2023

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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