Power Dynamics and Ethnography
As a touch point among the various relations mentioned in previous sections, this book is both a research study and political act, as it weaves itself into the ongoing conversations about power that permeate every level of Ugandan society and the world at large. My many years of performing Kiganda court songs, participating in their various performance contexts, discussing them with court composers and performers, and listening to stories and commentaries about them all contributed to my realization that power relations was a recurring theme across the repertoire. This realization prompted me to revisit the court songs I had documented between 2003 and 2015 and to explore what their current interpretations might reveal about power in present-day Uganda. As an overall framework for the manuscript, I remained sensitive to how power relations dictated my interactions with all participants in the research that informed this book. As an ethnomusicologist, analyst, and interpreter, I was responsible for faithfully and ethically conveying my research collaborators’ ideas. Despite our shared positions as Baganda and citizens of Uganda, these participants were more informed about political life in Uganda than I was because I live outside the country indefinitely and only return to conduct research or visit family. Therefore, they were responsible for guiding me in the research process.
Power dynamics also shaped the circumstances surrounding my participation in some of the performances of the songs discussed in this book. For instance, in the same moments that I was acting in my role as a researcher by seeking to understand the nuances of the songs through participating in their presentation, I was also in a subordinate position to the experienced court music experts I worked with. In my practice under these artists, who generously shared these essential repertoires, I became their student and protégé. Then, even as I became a student, I also became plugged into the relations of power that characterize the role of court musicians. This arrangement was similar to that of my interaction and collaboration with my own students (see chapter 1). My voice joined many others’ voices in contributing to the nation’s political and social discourses. In this way, this book’s discussion of power relations is an integrated narrative of my analysis and that of my research collaborators. I am not simply an observer but a node in a series of densely layered networks of power. This layering emphasizes the complexity of my own sociopolitical position and sheds light on this book as a living, active contribution to these networks of power.