Centre for Creative Ethnography Songwriting Workshop

(limited places, see application procedure below)

This 2-hour workshop, taking place on Thursday 5 March at QUB from 5-7pm (room to be confirmed) will focus on ethnographic songwriting and creative process. It will start off with a series of whole group creative exercises and then small group workshops to enhance the quality and impact of our work.  Participants are encouraged but not required to bring fieldnotes and other documents from their inquiry projects. The workshop is geared toward new and experienced ethnographers interested in expanding their expressive repertoires in communicating research data; it is also geared toward artists and community members with little anthropological background. No prior writing or musical abilities required. However, if you play a musical instrument, even if at a very basic level, you are strongly encouraged to bring it. 

Participants leave with a ‘song seed’ that they can expand into a song on their own, and concrete guidelines and prompts for how to engage in ethnographic study through song and storytelling. Limited to 10 participants.

The workshop is led by anthropologist and singer-songwriter, Kristina Jacobsen (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies/University of New Mexico), co-author of The Creative Ethnographer's Notebook (Routledge 2024) and Sing Me Back Home: Ethnographic Songwriting and Sardinian Language Politics (UTP 2024). 

What to bring:

A pen, a notebook, comfortable clothes, and a sense of curiosity and adventure. 

Application procedure

If you are interested in participating, please send an email with the subject line ‘Application for songwriting workshop’ BEFORE Wednesday 25 February 5pm to m/svasek@qub.ac.uk with the following information:

1. Your name and email address
2. Your degree pathway and year of study if you are a student
3. Your artistic engagement / profession if you are not a student
4. One sentence outlining your motivation to do the workshop
5. One sentence explaining what you wish to get out of the workshop
6. One sentence describing the fieldnotes / fieldwork / practices you plan to draw on during the workshop

Photo credit: Matteo Carta: Cagliari, Sardinia