Ethnomusicological Theory

“Ethnomusicological theory,” despite its name and despite the fact that it in some ways permeates our field, has yet to take firm root in our disciplinary imagination. Indeed, the phrase appears to be used rarely, in comparison to references to an unmodified “theory” in or for ethnomusicology. Minimally, ethnomusicology today engages with three types of theory: social theory, music theory, and discipline-specific ethnomusicological theory. Unmodified references to theory have tended to obfuscate the nature of ethnomusicological theory and have left ethnomusicologists a bit unsure, and perhaps even insecure, about the relevance and place of theory, however understood, in their work.