Critical Review #8

Questions for Kiri:
You mentioned that you had an emotional connection with Sacred Harp tradition during the “memorial lesson”. Were there any other interesting personal connections to your Sacred Harp fieldwork that you may have omitted simply because they did not fit the “flow” of your ethnography?

How does an observer with an “essentializing ear” hear an acquired Southern accent (or a loss of a Southern accent in the case of a Southerner)? Does the observer view this adaptation the same way as the practitioner of the tradition?

Discussion Question:
Technology is an effective means for progression of a tradition, but does it come at a cost (i.e. loss of authenticity)? Additionally, if a tradition is adopted by a new group of people and the original pioneers of that tradition die out, does ownership of the tradition transfer over to the new group or is it permanently associated with the pioneer?