Kansalliset tieteet, etnomusikologia ja liikkuvan maailman problematiikka

Authors

• Tarja Rautiainen-Keskustalo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.79220

Abstract

The article studies the process of domesticating ethnomusicology as a research field in Finland in the 1970s. Domestication refers to a process in which international trends are not just adopted, but they are modified according to local needs. The article focuses on the lifework of Erkki Ala-Könni, the founder of the Folklife Archives at the University of Tampere. The article scrutinises how Ala-Könni innovated a discipline called Folk tradition, especially folk music, which was a combination of ethnomusicology, musicology, and folklore studies. In this article, the author analyses how the new discipline articulated approaches from two different directions – both from the study of folklore and from the current societal discussions. The author argues that a characteristic feature of this process of domestication was methodological nationalism: the preservation and cultivation of tradition were in a primary focus, although the diversity and variability of tradition were also highlighted. Nowadays the traits of methodological nationalism are important to recognise as the question about ethnicity has become political. This has meant a crisis for ethnomusicological research, which has to rethink its premises. The position paper titled Kansallisten tieteiden kehittämisohjelma (Programme to develop national sciences) is used as research material together with other archival sources to highlight the activities of Erkki Ala-Könni.