Research reports

Understanding the Magic of the Ethno Experience (2022)

Authors: Huib Schippers, Lee Higgins, Sarah-Jane Gibson

Over the past 30 years, an increasing number of young musicians from myriad cultures have been coming together in locations around the world for music residencies called Ethno gatherings. For all the diversity of cultures and places and participants, there are striking similarities in their lived experience. Many refer to it as 'magic', 'life changing', or 'transformational'.

From 2019 to 2022, Ethno Research has looked over the entire breadth of this project and identified 12 key elements that make Ethno into a potent formula for engaging intercultural musical encounters.

Download: Understanding the Magic of the Ethno Experience (PDF, 2.1 MB)

Exploring New Pathways (2022)

Author: Sarah-Jane Gibson

Building upon research conducted between 2019 and 2021, this research report explores the development of Ethno as it has expanded to regions far beyond its roots in Sweden.

The report investigates how the organisers of different Ethno gatherings negotiate running an Ethno within their local context. It also explores the experiences and perspectives of Ethno participants.

Research is drawn from the analysis of interviews and a focus group as well as online research.

Download: Exploring New Pathways (PDF, 0.5 MB)

Sharing Songs, Shaping Community (2022)

Author: Huib Schippers

This report investigates the oral peer to peer pedagogy of the first Ethno USA in Black Mountain, North Carolina (9 to 20 October, 2021).

It is based on participant observation of all song sharing sessions at Ethno USA, interviews with participants and artistic mentors, and insights from the local and international organizers.

Research participants are anonymised in this report, with the exception of the Ethno USA organising team.

Download: Sharing Songs, Shaping Community (PDF, 3 MB)

The Complexities of Intercultural Music Exchange (2021)

Authors: Allison de Groot, Jason Li, Keegan Manson-Curry, Laura Risk, Pedro Tironi, Roger Mantie

This report addresses 5 key research questions raised by the Ethno Research white paper, Framing Ethno World: Intercultural Music Exchange, Tradition, and Globalization (Mantie and Risk, 2020).

1. How do organizers and artistic mentors describe their participation in the shaping of culture through music at local, regional, and global levels?
   
   
2. How do organizers and artistic mentors introduce and/or facilitate discussions of cultural issues? To what extent do they feel obligated / responsible to do so? To what extent do they report doing so (and how)?
   
   
3. How do Ethno participants and Ethno World documents describe the impacts Ethno World has on surrounding communities?
   
   
4. In what ways and to what extent are Ethno participants actively engaged in traditional music?
   
   
5. What additional insights can be gleaned about Ethno participants through large-scale data mining and fine-grained discourse analyses of Ethnopia and other social media related to Ethno?

Download: The Complexities of Intercultural Music Exchange (PDF, 2.2 MB)

30 Years of Ethno (2021)

Authors: Helena Reis, Lee Higgins, Linus Ellström, Lisandra Roosioja, Ryan Humphrey, Sarah-Jane Gibson

Ethno Research's history project is about the impact Ethno has had on its participants both in and beyond the gatherings. Following accounts from those involved in the inception of Ethno and its subsequent growth and development, 3 questions guided the research:

1. What are the motivations, backgrounds, and lived experiences of attendees?
   
   
2. In what ways and to what extent has the Ethno experience changed the participants worldview, including once they have 'aged out' of the gatherings?
   
   
3. In what ways and to what extent did the Ethno experience influence life choices?

Download: 30 Years of Ethno (PDF, 4.3 MB)

Pedagogy and Professional Development (2021)

Authors: Ana Coric, Andrea Creech, Lisa Lorenzino, Maria Varvarigou

The aim of the pedagogy and professional development research was to document local, national and global understandings of Ethno pedagogy, and to describe and theorize its processes in action. This includes the ways it was perceived to play a role in the professional development of Ethno stakeholders. The following research questions were addressed:

1. What are discourses concerned with Ethno World’s stated and unstated pedagogical and professional development tenets?
   
   
2. How are these understood and enacted in its activities at local, national and global levels?
   How do the Ethno professional development structures develop, how are they reinforced and what are the implications of these structures for pedagogy?
   
   
3. What are the pedagogical principles and practices that are perceived as being transformational, within the context of Ethno gatherings?
   
   
4. What are the pedagogies that support amateur and professional music makers in developing multi-faceted musicianship and interdisciplinarity through Ethno gatherings?

Download: Pedagogy and Professional Development (PDF, 2.8 MB)

Ethno Organizers (2021)

Authors: Dave Camlin, Helena Reis

The organizers of Ethno gatherings are probably the most influential in terms of the kinds of experiences that other attendees – participants, other musicians and local stakeholders – have at the international musical events they organize.

This study explores the motivations of Ethno organizers, and how they address the various obligations and responsibilities they have towards their participants, fellow artists, local communities and JM International (JMI) as the host institution. A software research tool, Sensemaker, captured organizers' stories and the meaning that they attach to those stories through a process known as 'distributed ethnography', where respondents are actively involved in the interpretation of meaning (sense-making).

Download: Ethno Organizers (PDF, 1.1 MB)

COVID-19 and Climate Change (2021)

Author: Sarah-Jane Gibson

The sustainability report focuses on 2 areas: the sustainability of Ethno musical practice, and Ethno World's response to the climate crisis. The urgency of this work package was recognized when the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in severe restrictions on travel and group gatherings during 2020, impacting the offline delivery of the Ethno programme.

Ethno World responded to the COVID-19 restrictions quickly with the Hope Sessions, free online tune learning workshops led by Ethno artistic mentors. The Hope Sessions were followed by a variety of online events including podcasts, music collaborations and further workshops. This report investigates 3 online programmes as case studies: the Hope Sessions, the Exchange Sessions and Ethno Chile 'onlive'. The methodological approach was a hybrid ethnography, combining online and offline ethnographic research.

Download: COVID-19 and Climate Change (PDF, 0.5 MB)

Ethno on the Road (2020)

Author: Sarah-Jane Gibson

This report investigates Ethno on the Road (EoR), one of the reverberations that takes place within the ecosystem of Ethno Sweden. 

The report investigates 5 research questions considering the influence of Ethno in 3 areas: practice within the band, performance and outreach, and professional and personal development. This report is based on observations and analysis of 2 performances of EoR 2019. Data also includes a focus group interview with the Världens Band, follow up interviews with a music facilitator and members of EoR 2019 as well as fieldwork conducted in Ethno Sweden 2019.

Download: Ethno on the Road (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Framing Ethno World (2020)

Authors: Laura Risk, Roger Mantie

This white paper report is intended to serve as a conceptual framework to advance the research agenda for a comprehensive study of the Ethno program overseen by Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI).

The white paper has been generated on the basis of a literature review and critical analysis.

Download: Framing Ethno World (PDF, 1.6 MB)