Michael Frishkopf, Professor of Music at the University of Alberta, is an ethnomusicologist, performer, and composer. A graduate of Yale College (BS Mathematics, 1984), Tufts University (MA Ethnomusicology, 1989), and the University of California, Los Angeles (Ph.D. Music, 1999), Dr. Frishkopf’s ethnomusicological research interests include music of the Arab world
This chapter outlines a model for engaged ethnomusicology fostering human development, locally an... more This chapter outlines a model for engaged ethnomusicology fostering human development, locally and globally, through sustainable music-centered community collaborations. Human development is a process of upholding human value in the world—rights, freedoms, social justice. Human development is impeded by dehumanization—the human treated as a nonhuman through an impersonal world system (and ironically shaping much “development” work today). The model builds on Habermas’s duality of system and lifeworld, but argues that the maintenance of the lifeworld—locus of human value—depends not only on rational “communicative action” (as per Habermas), but equally on affective social connectivity, constructed primarily through a profoundly social “soundworld,” where sonic feedback loops of thought-feeling produce “resonance.” The chapter describes projects that use participatory action research to forge collaborative, community-engaged networks, blurring differences between “researcher” and “researched,” drawing participants into a shared, resonant soundworld, across boundaries of ethnicity, religion, nation, and class. Projects based in Liberia, Ghana, and Egypt address post-conflict trauma, public health issues, maternal and neonatal health, cultural continuity and civil society. The chapter suggests that resonant networks of participatory action research in ethnomusicology have the potential not only to transform local communities—whether rich or poor—but also to transform the networks themselves, toward global human development.
Abstract: This article presents an applied ethnomusicological approach to public health promotion... more Abstract: This article presents an applied ethnomusicological approach to public health promotion, showing how mediated popular music can support better sanitation behavior, by outlining a pilot project conducted in post-conflict Liberia. This approach centers on a method for effective, sustainable, empowering, and ethical collaboration and a theory for positive behavioral change. The method is Participatory Action Research (PAR), a powerful model for applied, collaborative ethnomusicology. The PAR model radically revises the relationship between “researcher” and “researched,” combining committed, egalitarian participation, transformative action, and applied research aimed at positive, sustainable social change, in a continuous spiral of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The theory is the social psychological notion of “reasoned action” (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975), as applied to public health by Hubley (1984; 1988; 1993) to underscore the combined roles of beliefs, values, and subject norms to influence behavioral intentions toward health. I augment this theory, highlighting music’s affective potential for shaping belief, value, and subject norms. Taken together, theory and method support what I call “human development,” defined as progress toward collaboratively-set humanly-oriented objectives, via grassroots, egalitarian, empowering collaborations. The pilot project is enacted by a far-flung PAR network, including nationals of Liberia, the USA, and Canada, connecting creative music/video production, ethnomusicology, public health, and development. Project outputs include a music video and a documentary video, linked through common sounds, images, and purpose. Each is “double-sided,” seeking to change behavior in both the developing and developed worlds. The article assesses project limitations and charts strategies to address them in the future.
... Taha, Badi` Khayri, Ma'mun al-Shinawi, Fathi Qura, Husayn al-Sayyid, Abd al-Su`ud al-Iby... more ... Taha, Badi` Khayri, Ma'mun al-Shinawi, Fathi Qura, Husayn al-Sayyid, Abd al-Su`ud al-Ibyari, and Abd al-Aziz Salam (1999 ). ... composed for Umm Kulthum; Muhammad 'Abd al-Wahhab composed for himself; Mahmud al-Sharif composed for `Abd al-Muttilib, Ahlam, Shadia, and ...
This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD... more This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD), fostering human development through sustainable music-centred community collaborations. Human developmenta human process of upholding human value by reinforcing the I-thou essence of human connection-is impeded by dehumanization resulting from the mediation of personal relationships through an impersonal world system. Theoretically, the M4GHD model builds upon the Habermasian duality of system and lifeworld. But maintenance of the lifeworld-locus of human value-depends not only on rational "communicative action" (as per Habermas), but equally on affective social connectivity, constructed through the soundworld, where feedback loops of thoughtfeeling produce socio-sonic resonance. The method is Participatory Action Research (PAR), forging collaborative community-engaged networks, drawing outsider and insider participants into a shared, resonant soundworld, thereby transforming awareness and practice. After outlining problem, theory, and method, this article offers several examples illustrating how resonant networks of PAR in ethnomusicology have the potential to transform community and network towards global human development, and development of the global human.
This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD... more This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD), fostering human development through sustainable music-centred community collaborations. Human developmenta human process of upholding human value by reinforcing the I-thou essence of human connection-is impeded by dehumanization resulting from the mediation of personal relationships through an impersonal world system. Theoretically, the M4GHD model builds upon the Habermasian duality of system and lifeworld. But maintenance of the lifeworld-locus of human value-depends not only on rational "communicative action" (as per Habermas), but equally on affective social connectivity, constructed through the soundworld, where feedback loops of thoughtfeeling produce socio-sonic resonance. The method is Participatory Action Research (PAR), forging collaborative community-engaged networks, drawing outsider and insider participants into a shared, resonant soundworld, thereby transforming awareness and practice. After outlining problem, theory, and method, this article offers several examples illustrating how resonant networks of PAR in ethnomusicology have the potential to transform community and network towards global human development, and development of the global human.
... Farid's famously difficult ta'iyya, Nazm al-Suluk [... more ... Farid's famously difficult ta'iyya, Nazm al-Suluk ["The Poem of the Way"] (Ibn al-Farid); one of the most outstanding exam-ples is ... In this way, emotion builds within the cybernetic system, ultimately producing a systemic state known as nashwa ruhiyya (spiritual rapture) or tarab (a ...
This chapter outlines a model for engaged ethnomusicology fostering human development, locally an... more This chapter outlines a model for engaged ethnomusicology fostering human development, locally and globally, through sustainable music-centered community collaborations. Human development is a process of upholding human value in the world—rights, freedoms, social justice. Human development is impeded by dehumanization—the human treated as a nonhuman through an impersonal world system (and ironically shaping much “development” work today). The model builds on Habermas’s duality of system and lifeworld, but argues that the maintenance of the lifeworld—locus of human value—depends not only on rational “communicative action” (as per Habermas), but equally on affective social connectivity, constructed primarily through a profoundly social “soundworld,” where sonic feedback loops of thought-feeling produce “resonance.” The chapter describes projects that use participatory action research to forge collaborative, community-engaged networks, blurring differences between “researcher” and “researched,” drawing participants into a shared, resonant soundworld, across boundaries of ethnicity, religion, nation, and class. Projects based in Liberia, Ghana, and Egypt address post-conflict trauma, public health issues, maternal and neonatal health, cultural continuity and civil society. The chapter suggests that resonant networks of participatory action research in ethnomusicology have the potential not only to transform local communities—whether rich or poor—but also to transform the networks themselves, toward global human development.
Abstract: This article presents an applied ethnomusicological approach to public health promotion... more Abstract: This article presents an applied ethnomusicological approach to public health promotion, showing how mediated popular music can support better sanitation behavior, by outlining a pilot project conducted in post-conflict Liberia. This approach centers on a method for effective, sustainable, empowering, and ethical collaboration and a theory for positive behavioral change. The method is Participatory Action Research (PAR), a powerful model for applied, collaborative ethnomusicology. The PAR model radically revises the relationship between “researcher” and “researched,” combining committed, egalitarian participation, transformative action, and applied research aimed at positive, sustainable social change, in a continuous spiral of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The theory is the social psychological notion of “reasoned action” (Fishbein and Ajzen 1975), as applied to public health by Hubley (1984; 1988; 1993) to underscore the combined roles of beliefs, values, and subject norms to influence behavioral intentions toward health. I augment this theory, highlighting music’s affective potential for shaping belief, value, and subject norms. Taken together, theory and method support what I call “human development,” defined as progress toward collaboratively-set humanly-oriented objectives, via grassroots, egalitarian, empowering collaborations. The pilot project is enacted by a far-flung PAR network, including nationals of Liberia, the USA, and Canada, connecting creative music/video production, ethnomusicology, public health, and development. Project outputs include a music video and a documentary video, linked through common sounds, images, and purpose. Each is “double-sided,” seeking to change behavior in both the developing and developed worlds. The article assesses project limitations and charts strategies to address them in the future.
... Taha, Badi` Khayri, Ma'mun al-Shinawi, Fathi Qura, Husayn al-Sayyid, Abd al-Su`ud al-Iby... more ... Taha, Badi` Khayri, Ma'mun al-Shinawi, Fathi Qura, Husayn al-Sayyid, Abd al-Su`ud al-Ibyari, and Abd al-Aziz Salam (1999 ). ... composed for Umm Kulthum; Muhammad 'Abd al-Wahhab composed for himself; Mahmud al-Sharif composed for `Abd al-Muttilib, Ahlam, Shadia, and ...
This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD... more This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD), fostering human development through sustainable music-centred community collaborations. Human developmenta human process of upholding human value by reinforcing the I-thou essence of human connection-is impeded by dehumanization resulting from the mediation of personal relationships through an impersonal world system. Theoretically, the M4GHD model builds upon the Habermasian duality of system and lifeworld. But maintenance of the lifeworld-locus of human value-depends not only on rational "communicative action" (as per Habermas), but equally on affective social connectivity, constructed through the soundworld, where feedback loops of thoughtfeeling produce socio-sonic resonance. The method is Participatory Action Research (PAR), forging collaborative community-engaged networks, drawing outsider and insider participants into a shared, resonant soundworld, thereby transforming awareness and practice. After outlining problem, theory, and method, this article offers several examples illustrating how resonant networks of PAR in ethnomusicology have the potential to transform community and network towards global human development, and development of the global human.
This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD... more This article outlines an engaged ethnomusicology called Music for Global Human Development (M4GHD), fostering human development through sustainable music-centred community collaborations. Human developmenta human process of upholding human value by reinforcing the I-thou essence of human connection-is impeded by dehumanization resulting from the mediation of personal relationships through an impersonal world system. Theoretically, the M4GHD model builds upon the Habermasian duality of system and lifeworld. But maintenance of the lifeworld-locus of human value-depends not only on rational "communicative action" (as per Habermas), but equally on affective social connectivity, constructed through the soundworld, where feedback loops of thoughtfeeling produce socio-sonic resonance. The method is Participatory Action Research (PAR), forging collaborative community-engaged networks, drawing outsider and insider participants into a shared, resonant soundworld, thereby transforming awareness and practice. After outlining problem, theory, and method, this article offers several examples illustrating how resonant networks of PAR in ethnomusicology have the potential to transform community and network towards global human development, and development of the global human.
... Farid's famously difficult ta'iyya, Nazm al-Suluk [... more ... Farid's famously difficult ta'iyya, Nazm al-Suluk ["The Poem of the Way"] (Ibn al-Farid); one of the most outstanding exam-ples is ... In this way, emotion builds within the cybernetic system, ultimately producing a systemic state known as nashwa ruhiyya (spiritual rapture) or tarab (a ...
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