Abstract

This article analyses methodological possibilities of ethnomusicology in the field of public health, starting from an experience that triangulated ethnomusicological theories with discourse analysis (DA). After an introduction to applied ethnomusicology, it is followed by a description of methodological aspects of the experience in question. Subsequently, the conduction of the ethnomusicological step and the triangulation process was described. Results show that the musical systems are situated in power structures, influencing the construction of subjectivities. Applied ethnomusicology emerges, therefore, as a possibility for analyzing the structures on which the music is rooted in. From a research on the relations between forró and the perception of young people’s perception about sexual violence, ethnomusicology presented itself as a theoretical possibility for the study of violent social performances and about the effects of music in identity building, besides providing elements for the confrontation of violence inside the cultural system itself. Its triangulation with DA contributes for an ethnographic-discursive research, as possibility of analysis of social practices.

Key words:
Music; Methodology; Public health

Introduction

The phenomenon of violence, in its different manifestations, is not ahistorical or devoid of subjectivity¹1 Wieviorka M. La violence: voix et regards. Paris: Éditions Balland; 2004.. Analysing violence against women implies understanding how these processes permeate societies and their mechanisms of naturalization and legitimization²2 Minayo MCDS. Violência: um problema para a saúde dos brasileiro. In: Souza ER, Minayo MCDS. Impacto da violência na saúde dos brasileiros. Brasília: Ministério da Saúde; 2005. p. 9-41., including its relationship with cultural discourses and performances³3 Scott JW. Gênero: uma categoria útil de análise histórica. Educ Real 1995; 20(2):71-99. and with different social technologies⁴4 Lauretis T. A tecnologia do gênero. In: Hollanda HB, organizadora. Tendências e impasses - o feminismo como crítica da cultura; 1994. p. 206-241., which act in the continuous process of cultural identity formation³3 Scott JW. Gênero: uma categoria útil de análise histórica. Educ Real 1995; 20(2):71-99. and gender performativity⁵5 Butler J. Problemas de gênero: feminismo e subversão da identidade. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Record; 2003.^,66 Butler J. Bodies that matter: on the discursive limits of sex. Londres: Routledge; 2011.. Thus, the need to analyse its relationship with the naturalization of violence against women emerges based on the premise that historicity is pivotal to the construction of identity processes⁷7 Hall S. Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices (v. 2). London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage/Open University; 1997..

Music acts as an artefact⁸8 Derrida J. The deconstruction of actuality: an interview with Jacques Derrida. Radic Philos 1994; 68:28-41. being “performatively interpreted by a range of hierarchising and selective procedures [...] subservient to various powers and interests, of which the ‘subjects’ and agents [...] are never sufficiently aware”⁷7 Hall S. Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices (v. 2). London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage/Open University; 1997.. Given studies that associate musical performances with elements that nurture gender violence⁹9 Cohen S, Scene MM. Rock music and the production of gender. In: Whiteley S. Sexing the groove: popular music and gender. Routledge: New York; 1997. p.17-36.

10 Faria CN. Puxando a sanfona e rasgando o nordeste: relações de gênero na música popular nordestina (1950-1990). Mneme - Revista de Humanidades 2002; 3(5).

11 Maia AF, Antunes DC. Música, indústria cultural e limitação da consciência. Rev Subjetividades 2016; 8(4):1143-1176.

12 Honório MD. Cachaceiro e raparigueiro, desmantelado e largadão! - uma contribuição aos estudos sobre homens e masculinidades na região nordeste do Brasil [tese]. São Paulo: Universidade Estadual Paulista; 2012.^-1313 Trotta F. Música popular, moral e sexualidade: reflexões sobre o forró contemporâneo. Rev Contracampo 2009; 20:132-146., the following question emerged: how does music contribute to the perpetuation and legitimization of violence against women?

This question guided the study “Gender, sexuality and forró: a historical social study in the Northeastern context”¹⁴14 AVM. Gênero, sexualidade e forró: um estudo histórico social no contexto nordestino [tese]. Fortazela: Universidade de Fortaleza; 2015., which analysed the discourses of forró music from 1940 to the present. Immersion in thematic and musical theory led to the expansion of the methodological scope in subsequent research, bringing it closer to ethnomusicology.

Understanding the violent behaviour and mimetic performances of violence as part of a coherent system loaded with cultural significance, a strand of the so-called applied ethnomusicology seeks to understand the performative abilities of violence and the meanings that violent performances have to victims, perpetrators and witnesses¹⁵15 Rice T. Ethnomusicology in times of trouble. Yearb Tradit Music 2014; 46:191-209.. From that emerged a study anchored in the epistemological assumptions of applied ethnomusicology that sought to understand the relationship between the ritualistic performances of forró and youth perception about sexual violence¹⁶16 Brilhante AVM, Nations MK, Catrib AMF. "Taca cachaça que ela libera": violência de gênero nas letras e festas de forró no Nordeste do Brasil. Cad Saude Publica 2018; 34(3):e00009317..

Considering that ethnomusicology has important potential in the field of Public Health, we present an experience report on its use in the 7th Ibero-American Congress on Qualitative Research¹⁷17 Brilhante AVM, Catrib AMF, Feitosa ES, Feitosa EC. A etnomusicologia aplicada à pesquisas em saúde coletiva. CIAIQ 2018; 2:849-858.. In this context, the present article analyses the methodological possibilities of the use of ethnomusicology in the field of Public Health, starting from the experience of a study on violence against women held in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, which triangulated ethnomusicological theories with discourse analysis (DA).

Methodology

This article is based on the report of the experience of a study that used ethnomusicology as a theoretical framework, triangulating it with DA. The data of the study in question will not be replicated because they are already available in another publication. They will, however, be referenced to guide the discussion about the possibility of applying ethnomusicology to the field of Public Health.

To support the discussion, the theoretical framework, i.e., ethnomusicology, is presented next.

Ethnomusicology

Originating from the purely musical¹⁸18 Rhodes W. Toward a definition of ethnomusicology. Am Anthropol 1956; 58(3):457-463. Berlin school, ethnomusicology evolved into various variants¹⁹19 Krader B. Ethnomusicology. In: New Grove dictionairy of music and musicians. London, Washington, DC: Macmillan Publishers Limited; 1980. p.275-282.. Its anthropological prespective²⁰20 Merriam AP. The anthropology of music. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press; 1964.^,2121 Blacking J. How musical is man? Seattle: University of Washington Press; 2000. understands music as an expression of human sociocultural behaviour. This strand considers that music has no meaning in itself and that subjects add - to its meaning - conceptualized and referenced meanings that do not exist in verbal language²²22 Imberty M. Perspectives nouvelles de la sémantique musicale expérimentale. Musique en jeu 1975; 17:90-91.. The understanding of music as a revealing expression of the human being gave new impetus to ethnomusicological research²³23 Koskoff E. Ethnomusicology: writings on music and gender. Chicago: University of Illinois Press; 2014.. In this context, some ethnomusicologists sought, from Clifford Geertz, the necessary theorisation to transpose the analysis of musical experience²⁴24 Downey G. Listening to capoeira: phenomenology, embodiment, and the materiality of music. Ethnomusicology 2002; 46(3):487-509.. Similar to Geertz, ethnographers do not study the experience itself but the structures by which experiences occur²⁵25 Geertz C. Art as a cultural system. MLN 1976; 91(6):1473-1499.^,2626 Geertz C. Local knowledge: further essays in interpretive anthropology. Basic books; 2008.. Ethnomusicologists should deepen the structures on which music is based and its role in the continuous construction and support of this structure. Musical performances are situated and inserted within structures of power and influence, being in themselves political acts. Where they are performed, by whom and for whom, as well as the rituals that permeate and sustain them, reveal much about the cultural and social status in which they are inserted²⁷27 Trehub SE, Becker J, Morley I. Cross-cultural perspectives on music and musicality. Philos Trans R Soc B 2015; 370:20140096..

Studies by researchers such as Timoti and Rice provided important elements for the construction of the theoretical relationship between music and identity²⁸28 Rice T. Disciplining ethnomusicology: a call for a new approach. Ethnomusicology 2010; 54(2):318-325.

29 Timoti R. Reflections on music and identity in ethnomusicology. Musicology 2007; 7:17-38.

30 Rice T. President's soundbyte: what are we thinking? SEM Newsl 2005; 39(4):1-3.^-3131 Sugarman JC. The nightingale and the partridge: singing and gender among Prespa Albanians. Ethnomusicology 1989; 33(2):191-215.. Rice organizes the theorisation of this strand of ethnomusicology into two perpendicular axes. One axis focuses on the community: (1) geographically focused studies on nations, regions, cities, towns or villages; (2) ethnic, racial and minority groups; (3) the musical life of institutions such as schools, prisons and clubs; and (4) the social life of musical genres. The second axis includes the themes specific to musical theory: music and politics; the teaching and learning of music; concepts about music; gender and music; among others²⁸28 Rice T. Disciplining ethnomusicology: a call for a new approach. Ethnomusicology 2010; 54(2):318-325.. Understanding the role of music in identity building brought ethnomusicology closer to other branches of the social sciences, such as cultural studies and Marxist theory³²32 Wong D. Ethnomusicology and difference. Ethnomusicology 2006; 50(2):259-279.. In this context, Rice describes six themes that the author grouped under the moniker of ethnomusicology in times of difficulty: (1) music, war and conflict; (2) music, forced migration and minority studies; (3) music, disease and healing; (4) music in particular tragedies; (5) music, violence and poverty; and (6) music, climate change and the environment¹⁵15 Rice T. Ethnomusicology in times of trouble. Yearb Tradit Music 2014; 46:191-209..

The approximation to critical approaches of difference (feminist theory, minority discourse etc.) well established in ethnic studies, feminist studies, studies of popular culture and literary studies³²32 Wong D. Ethnomusicology and difference. Ethnomusicology 2006; 50(2):259-279. culminated in new epistemological possibilities for ethnomusicology. The Brazilian researcher Samuel Araújo and his colleagues at the Laboratory of Ethnomusicology of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro based their research on the ideas of Paulo Freire to conduct a study on violence in Rio de Janeiro. They started from the understanding of funk as a territory, both from a functional and symbolic perspective and from its relationship with modes of existence (and resistance) of the residents of the Maré community, a poor neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to the analysis of the musical discourses and their contextualization, the study by Araújo questioned the importance of dialogical ethnographies of sound practices to curb violence from the socio-scientific viewpoint³³33 Araújo S. Conflict and violence as theoretical tools in present-day ethnomusicology: notes on a dialogic ethnography of sound practices in Rio de Janeiro. Ethnomusicology 2006; 50(2):287-313.. His research fits the perspective of researchers who understand music as a field of action for a subject³⁴34 Sugarman JC. Building and teaching theory in ethnomusicology: A response to Rice. Ethnomusicology 2010; 54(2):341-344., organized in ritual language and symbolized by historicity and by the social relations of power²⁷27 Trehub SE, Becker J, Morley I. Cross-cultural perspectives on music and musicality. Philos Trans R Soc B 2015; 370:20140096..

The confluence between ethnomusicology and studies on social performance³⁵35 Cusick SG. Feminist theory, music theory, and the mind/body problem. Perspect New Music 1994; 32(1):8-28. reveals the scenario for a feminist ethnomusicology²³23 Koskoff E. Ethnomusicology: writings on music and gender. Chicago: University of Illinois Press; 2014., for which music plays an important role in the construction of subjectivities and in the introjection of gender roles³⁶36 Järviluoma H, Moisala P, Vilkko A. Gender and qualitative methods. London: Sage; 2003.

37 Daukeyeva S. Gender in Kazakh dombyra performance. Ethnomusicology Forum 2016; 25(3):283-305.

38 Murchison G. Mary Lou Williams's girl stars and the politics of negotiation: jazz, gender, and Jim Crow. In: Sullivan JM, editor. Women's bands in America - performing music and Gender. London: Rowman & Littlefield; 2016. p. 169-228.^-3939 Mello MIC. Os cantos femininos Wauja no Alto Xingu. In: Matos CN, Travassos E, Medeiros FT. Palavra cantada - ensaios sobre poesia, música e voz. Rio Janeiro: 7 Letras; 2008. p. 238-248.. In addition to sound, musical performance acts in the process of socialization, both expressing and shaping social order and gender relations²³23 Koskoff E. Ethnomusicology: writings on music and gender. Chicago: University of Illinois Press; 2014.. Thus, studies of musical behaviours act as indicators of gender-based power relations, supporting sustainable coping strategies. They transpose the geographical space of their execution, insofar as they analyse universal practices of legitimization of violence, tied to its principles of body management and life management.

Results

The results are organized into three stages. The first addresses the methodological aspects of the experiment in question, which will be thoroughly described, including references to previous studies, the reasons that led to the use of ethnomusicology and its triangulation with DA. In the second and third stages, an ethnomusicological study and the process of triangulation will be described, respectively.

Methodological aspects of the experiment

The forró (genre of music that originated in Northeast Brazil) is not only musical style but is in fact an important phenomenon in the creation of the idiosyncratic image of a single and timeless Northeast that, although it never existed⁴⁰40 Fernandes A. Forró: música e dança de raiz. In: V Congresso Latino-Americano da Associação Internacional para o Estudo da Música Popular. Rio de Janeiro: Anais; 2004.

41 Silva EL. Forró no asfalto: mercado e identidade sociocultural. São Paulo: Annablume/Fapesp; 2003.^-4242 Santos JF. Luiz Gonzaga, a música como expressão do Nordeste. São Paulo: Ibrasa; 2004., has been introjected, including by Brazilians from the Northeast region⁴³43 Albuquerque Júnior DM. A invenção do Nordeste e outras artes. São Paulo: Cortez Editora; 2009., giving forró a status of a Northeastern cultural symbol. In this context, forró and its relationship with social gender roles have become our object of study.

A previous DA of forró songs provided important information about the discursive and ideological formations that permeate the lyrics. However, this study emerged from the need to analyse the relationship between forró, bodies and subjectivities in their real context of interaction. Thus, for eight months, between March and November 2014, researchers and technical staff were deeply immersed in the daily life of the Fortaleza neighbourhood, which has the worst rates of violence against women⁴⁴44 Observem. Filtro de pesquisa sobre a violência contra a mulher em Fortaleza [Internet]. 2016 [acessado 2016 out 20]. Disponível em: https://woese.com/profile/observem
https://woese.com/profile/observem... . The neighbourhood in question exhibits several vulnerabilities: it has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.403⁴⁴44 Observem. Filtro de pesquisa sobre a violência contra a mulher em Fortaleza [Internet]. 2016 [acessado 2016 out 20]. Disponível em: https://woese.com/profile/observem
https://woese.com/profile/observem... , is located in the most populous region of Fortaleza (with 585,347 inhabitants), which is also the poorest, with an average household income of 3.07 times the minimum wage, and has the second highest rate of illiteracy (17.83%). It is no coincidence that the neighbourhood belongs to Integrated Security Area (AIS, for its abbreviation in Portuguese) 2, the territory with the highest homicide rate in Fortaleza⁴⁵45 Ceará. Secretaria de Segurança Pública e Defesa Social. Indicadores criminais 2017 [documento na Internet]. 2017. [acessado 2019 ago 15]. Disponível em: https://www.sspds.ce.gov.br/estatisticas-2-2/
https://www.sspds.ce.gov.br/estatisticas... . Considering that Fortaleza is located in the Northeast - the Brazilian region with the highest numbers of femicides⁴⁶46 Moura R. Mapa da criminalidade e da violência em Fortaleza - Perfil da SERV; 2011. [acessado 2021 jun 21]. Disponível em: https://www.yumpu.com/pt/document/read/27455959/mapa-da-criminalidade-e-da-violencia-em-fortaleza-uece
https://www.yumpu.com/pt/document/read/2... - the neighbourhood in question revealed itself to be an appropriate scenario for the proposed study.

Ethnomusicological observations were made in the daily life of the neighbourhood, focusing on the relationship between people and the music that people play in the neighbourhood. In addition, ethnographic observations were performed at forró dances, observing the physical structure, sound, social performances, dynamics of the parties and the relationships between men and women in real situations. The thorough and detailed descriptions in a field diary provided a broad overview of the relationship between music and social gender roles. This knowledge was crucial for planning the subsequent stage.

In the second phase of the research, two focus groups were conducted in 2015 with 14 boys aged 14 to 18 years old who were enrolled in two elementary and secondary schools in the state. After preliminary explanations, three previously selected forró songs were played. After each song, the meaning of its contents were debated. The discussions were recorded and transcribed in full and analysed according to the principles of DA⁴⁷47 Orlandi EP. Análise do discurso: princípios e procedimentos. Campinas: Pontes; 2009.. The findings of that study have been published¹⁶16 Brilhante AVM, Nations MK, Catrib AMF. "Taca cachaça que ela libera": violência de gênero nas letras e festas de forró no Nordeste do Brasil. Cad Saude Publica 2018; 34(3):e00009317., and we do not intend to repeat them here. The present article focuses on the methodological aspects that guided the aforementioned study, seeking to discuss the application of ethnomusicology in a study in the field of Public Health.

Immersion in the musical world scenario - the violence experienced in the chords and beats

The approach to the musical reality of the neighbourhood presented numerous challenges. The first derives from the very concept of ethnomusicological research. This is generally understood as the study of a musical culture alien to the researcher’s experience, seeking to identify the internal codes of the observed cultures. Despite the participation of an experienced anthropologist in this study, immersion in musical culture required the researchers to observe and record the musical aspects and to delve into the theoretical aspects of the field of musicology. Another challenge was access to the field, which required authorization from the faction groups that run the region.

Thus, the authors experienced immersion in the scenario. The ethnomusicological observation of an ethnographic nature demands a humble approach to the cultural codes that orchestrate local sounds, performances and movements. This process requires multiple data collection instruments, including non-participant and participant observation, detailed descriptions in a field diary and audio-visual records of daily life in the neighbourhood. In addition to the structure and the sociocultural habits and interactions that are organized in it, the researchers were attentive to the musical culture of the neighbourhood and its relationship with individual and group performances. Thus, dense sound immersion was the goal. We observed and recorded the various musical styles that vibrated throughout the daily routine of the neighbourhood, in addition to the individual and social performances built around these songs. Sounds from home radios that pierced through the walls of houses and speaker cars (carros de som - cars with loudspeakers mounted on top), music in commercial establishments, cell phone ring tones - all music was observed and recorded. In the midst of funk and country music, forró stood out. The conversations with the residents involved questions about daily life in the neighbourhood and about the influence of music on the cultural identity of the residents. Given that violence against women is the object of the study, the relationships between genders - including social performances and the influence of music on them - were central to the observations.

The observation of daily life was accompanied by immersion in the neighbourhood’s night life and its relationship with forró. For that, the researchers immersed themselves in the six forró clubs that enliven the landscape. Observations were performed on several nights during weekends for six months. The observations focused first on the physical structure, common to all clubs. The walls surrounding the terrains, the holes in the wall that act as ticket offices, the narrow entrances and exits, the organization of the stage, basically, the whole structure was rigorously described. In this scenario, ritualistically reproduced performances, with temporal sequences, hierarchies, rules, interdicts and obligations⁴⁸48 Goffman E. A ritualização da feminilidade. Os momentos e os seus homens. Lisboa: Relógio D'água; 1999. p. 154-189., were organized both on stage and in the dance hall. The observation of clothing, music, dance, body movements, ways of approach and changes in these aspects with the temporal sequence allowed us to understand the ritualistic organization of forró for those individuals and their relationship with the introjection of hierarchically structured social gender roles.

Triangulating ethnomusicology and DA

After ethnomusicological immersion, focus groups were conducted with adolescents. The knowledge acquired with the first stage of the research and the historical-social study of forró music was crucial for the organization and implementation of the subsequent stage. Twelve songs were chosen in a previous study¹⁴14 AVM. Gênero, sexualidade e forró: um estudo histórico social no contexto nordestino [tese]. Fortazela: Universidade de Fortaleza; 2015., based on the presence of elements associated with sexual violence. During immersion in daily life in the neighbourhood, based on the observation of everyday sounds and parties and on the mediatic reproduction in the neighbourhood’s most popular media, this group was reduced to three¹⁶16 Brilhante AVM, Nations MK, Catrib AMF. "Taca cachaça que ela libera": violência de gênero nas letras e festas de forró no Nordeste do Brasil. Cad Saude Publica 2018; 34(3):e00009317..

In addition to planning the data collection, triangulation with ethnomusicology increased the scope of the data analysis. The forró ritual - as most musical systems - involves music, dance and behaviour. DA requires contextualization. In this context, in a study that aims to analyse the discourses of young people about forró songs that refer to sexual violence, the ethnomusicological observation allows an understanding of the functioning of social practices related to music and the role of music in building identity.

Discussion

Given the epistemological diversity that makes up ethnomusicology, its application seeks a way to theorise about the field and to act on it⁴⁹49 Harrison K. Epistemologies of applied ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology 2012; 56(3):505-529.. Mimetic behaviours of violence are part of a system fraught with cultural significance. Not surprisingly, the results of the present study showed concordance between forró and other cultural artefacts. The theoretical understanding of the effects of musical performance on identities and subjectivities therefore provides elements for facing violence and for other public health problems to occur within and through this same cultural system¹⁵15 Rice T. Ethnomusicology in times of trouble. Yearb Tradit Music 2014; 46:191-209.^,5050 Van Buren KJ. Applied ethnomusicology and HIV and AIDS: responsibility, ability, and action. Ethnomusicology 2010; 54(2):202-223.. It is noteworthy, however, that applied ethnomusicology transposes the theorisation of music as a sound evocative of other elements of the context, demanding analyses of the processes by which sound is perceived²⁴24 Downey G. Listening to capoeira: phenomenology, embodiment, and the materiality of music. Ethnomusicology 2002; 46(3):487-509..

The various musical systems are usually semantically complex. The term forró, for example, is not restricted to music and is also used to describe the dance, the festivals and the spaces where it takes place. These elements together culminate in ritualistic performances that act as intensifiers of internalized social practices in a continuous transgenerational interaction²⁷27 Trehub SE, Becker J, Morley I. Cross-cultural perspectives on music and musicality. Philos Trans R Soc B 2015; 370:20140096.. Just as they are socially and culturally situated, the musical systems also become ethically saturated. Our deeper values are implicit in the ritual structuring of more complex systems²⁷27 Trehub SE, Becker J, Morley I. Cross-cultural perspectives on music and musicality. Philos Trans R Soc B 2015; 370:20140096.. Musical systems, however, do not function only as repositories of cultural values. They act in the construction of subjectivities and in the introjection of gender roles³¹31 Sugarman JC. The nightingale and the partridge: singing and gender among Prespa Albanians. Ethnomusicology 1989; 33(2):191-215.^,3636 Järviluoma H, Moisala P, Vilkko A. Gender and qualitative methods. London: Sage; 2003.

37 Daukeyeva S. Gender in Kazakh dombyra performance. Ethnomusicology Forum 2016; 25(3):283-305.

38 Murchison G. Mary Lou Williams's girl stars and the politics of negotiation: jazz, gender, and Jim Crow. In: Sullivan JM, editor. Women's bands in America - performing music and Gender. London: Rowman & Littlefield; 2016. p. 169-228.^-3939 Mello MIC. Os cantos femininos Wauja no Alto Xingu. In: Matos CN, Travassos E, Medeiros FT. Palavra cantada - ensaios sobre poesia, música e voz. Rio Janeiro: 7 Letras; 2008. p. 238-248.. Ethnomusicological studies can therefore point to indicators of gender-based power relations, supporting sustainable coping strategies within the culture itself.

In areas of conflict, it is common for rival groups to use cultural systems to silence, antagonize, exacerbate differences, terrorize and even torture enemies¹⁵15 Rice T. Ethnomusicology in times of trouble. Yearb Tradit Music 2014; 46:191-209.. On the other hand, musical practices are also used as strategies of transformation and resistance. A study conducted in 2013 in Sri Lanka, for example, addresses the emergence of songs against or outside the communal languages promoted by the two armies that were fighting a civil war in the country. That study explored these songs as possibilities of resistance and of building new national cultures that favour the psychological and cultural freedom of the population⁵¹51 Sykes J. Culture as freedom: musical "liberation" in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. Ethnomusicology 2013; 57(3): 485-517.. A study conducted in a poor community marked by violence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, brought ethnomusicology closer to the ideas of Paulo Freire of building horizontal social connections between researchers and the population³³33 Araújo S. Conflict and violence as theoretical tools in present-day ethnomusicology: notes on a dialogic ethnography of sound practices in Rio de Janeiro. Ethnomusicology 2006; 50(2):287-313.. Inspired by the study by Araújo, the young participants were invited to develop an extension project that aimed not only to discuss the songs but also to deconstruct and reconstruct them, for facing cultural violence.

These recent epistemological possibilities of ethnomusicology build a scenario favourable to its triangulation with other critical theories, as is the case for most approaches based on DA. According to Orlandi, the senses are not produced by the subject but rather in another place, anterior and external to him/her because “language is materialized in ideology, and ideology is manifested in the language”⁵²52 Orlandi EP. As formas do silêncio: no movimento dos sentidos. Campinas: Editora Unicamp; 1997.. Understanding the functioning of social practices and their relationships with discourse therefore demands contextualization, benefiting from an immersive experience in the field. In this sense, Magalhães, Martins and Resende propose an ethnographic-discursive study, according to which DA approaches studies of an ethnographic nature, in a relationship of complementarity, for analysing social practices⁵³53 Magalhães I, Martins AR, Resende VM. Análise de discurso crítica: um método de pesquisa qualitativa. Brasília: Editora UnB; 2017.. In this case, a study that analyses discourses on musical systems and their relationship with public health problems (in the present case, sexual violence) finds the triangulation with ethnomusicology to be a fruitful practice.

Conclusion

Ethnomusicology, in its applied and critical strands, presents itself as an epistemological possibility within the field of Public Health. The study reported here allowed theorising the role of forró as a complex musical system in the internalization of violent gender relationships. In addition, it constructed a scenario for the development of transformative practices of coping with violence located within forró’s cultural system. Ethnomusicology emerges, in this context, as a possibility for understanding and transforming the social world in which asymmetric gender relations are produced.

References

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