I am writing my dissertation in cultural anthropology
and ethnomusicology on musical practice (violin practice in
particular) and ethnic emergence in an indigenous community of
highland Ecuador. I discuss how young musicians are eager to
forge a new-style ethnic identity by selectively choosing certain
musical practices of the past while attributing negative morality
to other past practices, saying that, for example, the way the
old folks hold the violin is bad habit. I am working out
ethnographically and theoretically how an ethnic sensibility can
be articulated anew with each generation, accomodating to
changing times while youths reinvent certain key symbols that
allow them a felt connection with their past.
Nan Volinsky
Department of Anthropology
109 Davenport Hall
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois 61801