frenchpony (frenchpony) wrote,
frenchpony
frenchpony
  • Music: The contented whir of printers in the computer lab

I Am A Naughty Ethnomusicologist

Having just finished a bibliography for a term paper for the I.N.P.O.D.'s class, I'm feeling vaguely naughty. The class is designed primarily for a general music audience, who have probably not gone through Ethnobibliography. So the I.N.P.O.D. has put together a checklist of bibliography and database sources that we have to go through and check off when putting our term paper bibliography together. It's geographically designed -- look for the New Grove article on "your country," look in area bibliographies, check out the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music by country, that sort of thing. Problem is, I'm doing my paper on a particular Jewish community. Jews, being a transnational group (like the Romany), don't show up in geographically oriented sources. You don't look up Jews by country -- an book on Indian music probably won't mention the Jews of India. On the other hand, if you bypass the area bibliographies and go straight to the Jewish bibliographies, you find not only the Jews of India, but the specific Jewish community in India that this term paper will cover. So I have over thirty sources in my bibliography and a lot of big fat goose eggs on my checklist. One day, I will wean the I.N.P.O.D. of this geography kick she's on.

In the meantime, we're learning about the music of south central Uganda today. We have this handout that gives basic information:
Country: Uganda
Ethnic Group: Baganda (Muganda, singular)
Language: Luganda
Place: Buganda

Very important information, says the I.N.P.O.D. Tells you something about the culture and the language structure, specifically that prefixes are important. This is all true. But I will be very naughty and admit that it also makes me giggle.
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