A pesquisa em Etnomusicologia e a problemática da identidade

Abstract

In the domain of Social Sciences several authors have frequently written about the difficulties in applying the concept of identity. For some of them it is very clear that nobody has sufficient authority to define the other's identity. However, during ethnomusicological fieldwork, the researcher is frequently faced with the need to define the identity of the group of persons that are cooperating with him. In a fieldwork situation, the relationship established between the ethnomusicologist, the context of research and the concept of identity carry with them various problems which are illustrated in this text through an experience in the urban context, within a group of Goan migrants. In this sense, the following aspects are proposed for discussion: levels of proximity, the 'informer' as a scientific interlocutor of the ethnomusicologist, expectations between the field and the ethnomusicologist (in both ways), processes of distance after research. This article tries to be a reflexive exercise on the following questions: How and why do people allow us to develop field research about them? And what kind of changes will take place in the identity of both researcher and context of research after fieldwork?