Entering a ‘Third Space’ Through Collaborative Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology

Darren Culliney & Leandro Pessina

Dundalk Institute of Technology

Fieldwork is shaped by the positionality of researchers, and different positionalities allow for diverse theories and experiences to be understood by the researchers. This short essay draws on the experiences of two researchers informed by their complementary academic paradigms within ethnomusicology and tourism. The two coauthors embody different positionalities. Darren Culliney is a traditional Irish musician from County Longford in Ireland, who has grown up playing Irish traditional music and is now undertaking doctoral research focusing on the button accordion in the Ulster province of Ireland. Leandro Pessina is an Italian flute player with limited experience with Irish traditional music, now undertaking doctoral studies on music tourism in County Louth. In the summer of 2022, we attended two of the main music-related festivals in Ireland, Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Although the events are different in their aims and structures, they share common activities and attributes, which have been the main focus of our fieldwork that engages with the Irish traditional music scene more generally. We are, therefore, a native (Darren) and non-native (Leandro) fieldworker challenging each other’s assumptions about the experience of these two Irish traditional music events.

In this paper, we aim to offer different perspectives related to our disciplines (ethnomusicology and tourism), nationalities (Irish and Italian), and outsider/insider identities, while also reflecting on the role of our experiences performing and participating in music as a tool to engage with the fieldwork context, even if these skills originate from different backgrounds. Other fieldworkers investigating within their own home communities found that the factor of mutually shared ethnic identity proved to be an asset in many ways, and this collaboration between the native researcher and the informer symbolizes trust (Burnim 1985; Wong 2008). Rather than focusing on emic and etic perspectives, such as those presented in the seminal volume Shadows in the Field (Barz and Cooley 2008), we argue for an understanding similar to Edward Soja’s “third space,” whereby “multiple knowledges can be deliberately drawn in and recombined in order to create an-other hybrid alternative” (Soja 1996; cited in Forgasz et al. 2018, 39). Soja’s “third space” allows us to discover and understand a new territory of emotions between the two antipodes represented by the emic and etic perspectives and better reflects our experiences, which are not oppositional but blurred. The insider perspective offered us the opportunity to access the local community more easily, while the outsider perspective was perhaps able to detect elements of the realities observed that were not perceived as significant in the eyes of the inside observer (Nettl 1983; Burnim 1985; Przybylski 2021). 

Known popularly as Willie Week, Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy is a week-long summer school of traditional music and dance held annually in Miltown Malbay, County Clare. The school maintains a focus on teaching through workshops, with lessons on traditional instruments and dances. Afternoon and evening classes are devoted to lectures on Irish traditional music and recitals, and pub sessions, informal gatherings of musicians (Kaul 2009), take place throughout the town and surrounding villages. Research conducted by scholars Adam Kaul (2009), Verena Commins (2013; 2019) and Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (2016) highlights the importance of Willie Week within the world of Irish traditional music. Each of the three authors highlight how the popularity and reputation of the event reaffirm Clare's fame as a place for Irish traditional music.

Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is the main festival promoted by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ) and is the culmination of a series of solo and ensemble music, song, dance, and language competitions (Kearney 2013). The festival is held in a different place every two to three years and in 2022 it was hosted by the town of Mullingar, County Westmeath. It is a significant festival that attracts international participants—not only musicians, but also audiences interested in the carnival atmosphere that it creates (Fleming 2004, 234). The role of Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and CCÉ in promoting and safeguarding Irish music and their impacts on a cultural and territorial level is the focus of various academic studies (Henry 1989; Fleming 2004; Kearney 2013).

Aside from the different research agendas that we are pursuing, we had different experiences in the field. Our positionality and reflexivity, and prior research experiences of the case studies impacted our access to spaces, information about the events and the musical cultures that they bring into life. Darren was invited to musicking events that might have been missed by Leandro, although Leandro did not feel excluded from these activities. As Leandro remembers through his field journal from Miltown Malbay:

On Tuesday, I took a walk through the town. There were many sessions taking place and they were very crowded. When I met Darren, he informed me of an invitation he received to a session with experienced musicians in a place outside the town that I had not heard of previously.

This is in contrast with the experience of some other researchers in Irish traditional music, such as Helen O’Shea (2008), who reflected on questioning the relationship between local musicians and their occasional negative attitudes towards outsiders with different knowledge and backgrounds. The Irish traditional music scene is highly participatory (Turino 2008) and although both researchers participated in musicking and were welcomed into various spaces, Darren was more likely to encounter musicians with whom he was already acquainted, and therefore had more access to music spaces.

The fieldwork experience allowed the two researchers to reflect about their own activities. Leandro was interested in the experience of other non-natives as well as the impact such events have on local urban and cultural environments. He was delighted to experience highly accomplished performances. For both researchers, but perhaps more so for Darren, it was a challenge not to get lost in the moment as meeting people and playing tunes was a distraction from some academic aspects of the fieldwork. However, participating in music sessions also provided a different perspective from passive observation. Sharing the same ideology as Burnim (1985), the greatest challenge during Darren’s research then, was to successfully combine his roles of performer and researcher (1985, 444). For Darren, the return of Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann after a break due to COVID-19 restrictions brought back pleasant memories, particularly the atmosphere on the streets of Miltown Malbay and the various locations the Fleadh has been.

Undertaking fieldwork in parallel was valuable to both researchers. Darren recognized that working with Leandro at these festivals led to him discussing things he may otherwise have taken for granted, answering questions that he did not think of from his emic perspective. Leandro believed that, without Darren, it would have been impossible to gain the level of access he did access to the festivals’ music community. However, during their time in Miltown Malbay and Mullingar, Leandro experienced a sort of limbo, a sensation of feeling in between Irish people attending the events and those who were completely outsiders (e.g., international visitors). He was aware that he was not like a typical tourist, but of course he could not identify himself as a local, remaining by himself for most of the time and feeling in some way “excluded” from the situation around him, because he was unable to join completely. Leandro’s hybrid sense of belonging contrasted with the communitarian identity created within the music festivals (Duffy 2005, 677). However, given that these festivals are also partly catering for tourists coming from abroad, Leandro was better able to appreciate aspects of entertainment that for Darren were of secondary interest. The researchers brought each other into a ‘third space’ (Rick 1997; Forgasz et al. 2018) which blurs the emic/etic binary offered by Barz and Cooley (Barz and Cooley 2008). It provided a fruitful opportunity to understand one’s self during fieldwork.

Conclusions

Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann are two major events in the annual Irish traditional music calendar, offering attendees experiential access to a broad context of music performance and learning possibilities. While they have similarities, they also offer significant differences which allow a wide range of participants, from the skilled musician to the outsider, to engage with these key sites of Irish musical heritage.

Conducting research in parallel with opportunities to discuss and contrast our experiences was a valuable learning process. A collaborative approach to fieldwork in ethnomusicology is a recognized research tool for comprehending the reality observed, but this is usually understood as a collaboration between the ethnographer and the local informer (Lassiter 2001). What we demonstrate here is instead the importance of having a collaborative approach between two researchers, able to inform each other. There is value to both perspectives and together we gained a deeper understanding of the field. Each researcher could relate to different aspects of the events that are all integral to making them into the multifaceted performances and belongings that they foster. Our experiences highlight the potential for more collaborative fieldwork in ethnomusicology. By working together, we raise more questions and find more answers.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the assistance of our supervisors, Dr. Daithí Kearney (DkIT), Dr. Verena Commins (University of Galway), and Dr. Ioannis Tsioulakis (QUB) in the development of this article. We also received support from the Creative Arts Research Centre at DkIT.

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