Beyond nationalism: ethnomusicological trajectories in Brazil

Abstract

In many peripheral nations, such as Brazil, music research was instigated by nationalist sentiments, which generated research traditions directed toward the collection of folklore and descriptive Ethnography. This contrasts with the research concerns along the Anglo-American axis, where musical Ethnographies are used to illustrate theoretical perspectives of universal validity. However, many major contributions to Ethnomusicolog y involve studies in which the theoretical propositions emerge out of the Ethnographic material. If this is so, peripheral nations are now in a particularly advantageous position to redefine the standards of the discipline, given their access both to the field and the latest academic debates. This paper examines how Brazilian Ethnomusicolog y is currently striving to transcend its nationalist heritage without compromising its commitment to the nation. The piece begins with an over view of the development of musicological research in Brazil since the late nineteenth century, looking at how the nationalist orientation was stablished and how it led to the construction of a canonical narrative defining “authentic†Brazilian music. It then looks at how the canonical narrative is being challenged, leading to the stablishment of a dynamic and mature research community.