Reading the Romancero: A journey from the score to the sound with a non-professional choir

This case study focuses on the processes involved in co-constructing an interpretation of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Romancero Gitano with a non-professional choir. Rehearsals began in April 2018 and culminated with a performance in June 2018. In order to develop an understanding of the individual and collective processes involved, data were generated through autoethnography and journaling. These texts tracked our regular weekly rehearsals, any extra individual practice, and the performance experience. Seven journals were subsequently compiled and analyzed together with my autoethnography. The findings show that the bulk of the writings focused on technical questions like correctly executing the information contained in the score, with significantly fewer references to other aspects of musical interpretation, such as timbre, or personal reflections regarding our perception of the music and our journey in learning and performing the work. Furthermore, the texts reveal a hierarchical structure within the choir, especially related to perceived levels of musical literacy and/or institutionalized knowledge. In this article, I discuss the various experiences relating to the process of co-constructing a musical interpretation, together with the potential of journaling to develop reflexive, conscious, and inclusive processes of collective musical development within the context of a non-professional choir.

Contesting and reshaping learning spaces: Students’ activism in South Africa

Universities in South Africa are a microcosm of society and thus offer grounds for criticism. In 2015, the Rhodes Must Fall student movement emerged, which demanded decolonization. This movement became one of the most important social movements in post-apartheid South Africa. While the student movement was formed to protest against the university, students created a space for transformative learning within the frame of the university. This article examines the ambivalence of the university: on the one hand, as a target of criticism and as a space for experimentation and reflection on society and societal change; and, on the other hand, as a space for emerging collective processes of transformative learning which created alternative knowledge, for instance in respect of decolonization and thus also discrimination, racism and marginalization.

Aristotle’s Mean in Politics and Religion

In this paper, we investigate the political and religious projection of Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean. According to Aristotle and his virtue ethics theory, humans succeed the mean when they acknowledge in what they are physically inclined to. If someone knows towards where she is deviating, either in terms of exaggeration or understatement, then she can, at some point, achieve the mean as the end goal of ethical virtue. But what if these moral evaluations refer to collective processes, such as politics, culture and religion? In this case, the notion of “intermediate” could be paralleled with the notion of ‘optimized’. A way of locating the optimized point on the political or cultural public sphere is to acknowledge in what people are politically or culturally inclined to. This seems to be guided by their cultural traditions, political history and aims. In politics and modern democracies, the doctrine may be applied in virtues, such as justice. Excess in the administration of justice causes "witch hunts" and deficiency lawlessness. Respectively, in today’s religious-oriented societies - countries that could be ranked according to their religiosity – where there is little tolerance in their permissible cultural patterns, the application of Aristotle’s mean reveals interesting findings. More specifically, in the case of the virtue of honor, the excess may lead to honor crimes and deficiency to contempt.

Theorizing ethical questioning for applied theatre practice

This article examines ethical questioning as an inquiry process germane to making ethical choices in applied theatre research. Focusing on reflexivity through reflection before, in and on action, I consider ethical questioning as a framework to amplify resistance, promote participation and strengthen decolonization in the research process. I situate ethical questioning within critical pedagogy for applied theatre practice and construct an ethical questioning framework that rests on both individualism and collective processes. I conclude by briefly examining some processes in my doctoral research and reflecting on the implications of ethical questioning on applied theatre and the call to turn from a morality debate about ethics to a political act rooted in the awareness of oneself in relation to the other.

“He’s Still There”: How Facebook Facilitates Continuing Bonds With the Deceased

This study explored the processes involved when the bereaved use Facebook to continue bonds with the deceased. Grounded theory was used to analyze Facebook pages and interviews with bereaved Facebook users. Individual attempts at connection, such as posting about the deceased person, were bolstered by others witnessing and replying to the posts. Collective reminiscence occurred through the sharing of memories about the deceased, which sometimes led to learning new things about them. These individual and collective processes helped to maintain and transform a connection with the deceased person, who for some participants was “still there” on Facebook.

Modelo de estrategias en intervención para producir la inteligencia colectiva en los productores campesinos del departamento de Cundinamarca

El propósito de este artículo es desarrollar una propuesta de intervención para mejorar la inteligencia colectiva en los campesinos pertenecientes a la Asociación de Productores Campesinos Agropecuarios. La base del documento será la revisión de temas como la inteligencia colectiva y la economía del comportamiento, y cómo estos enfoques pueden aportar diferentes elementos para mejorar la productividad en el grupo de productores. Lo que se busca es, para la inteligencia colectiva, comprender cuáles son esos factores que impactan las relaciones que se establecen entre los individuos, las interacciones necesarias para generar comportamientos colectivos; según informes, existe un escaso nivel cultural en los campesinos de conocimiento de procesos colectivos. AbstractThe purpose of this article is the development of an intervention proposal to enhance the collective intelligence of farmers who are members of the Farmer’s Agricultural Producer Association (Asociación de Productores Campesinos Agropecuarios). This document will serve as a basis for the review of collective intelligence as well as economical behavior and how these approaches may provide different elements leading to an increase in production of this group of farmers. Regarding collective intelligence, we seek to understand which factors impact interpersonal relationships, the interaction necessary for building collective behavior; according to reports, there exists low levels of cultural knowledge in collective processes by farmers.

Repolitizar la vida, defender los cuerpos-territorios y colectivizar las acciones desde los feminismos indígenas

The collective actions of indigenous women for territorial defense against extractivisms, have made the bodies-territories, knowledges and emotions visible, which implies a political position that responds to diverse ontologies and epistemologies around being and feeling with and in the territory. Bodies-territories that imply relationships embedded and embodied in collective processes among humans and non-humans and relationships of reciprocity and mutual spiritual affectation and networks. They are collectivities in «acuerpamiento» that arise from indigenous feminisms and act against environmental and territorial injustices, and against violence such as femicides, ecocides and epistemicides. Indigenous feminisms contribute to the conceptual and methodological rethinking in social sciences of the political, the spatial and the collective, based on their fluidity and relationality, which seek to transform capitalism based on the defense of life.

Representativeness in Geographical Indications: A Comparison between the State-Driven and Producer-Driven Systems in Vietnam and France

This paper explores the issues of representativeness and participation in the collective processes involved in the elaboration of the geographical indications (GI) specifications and the governance of the GI initiatives. The objective is to understand the relationship among collective dynamics, representativeness of relevant stakeholders, and the legal frameworks for the protection of GIs. Using a qualitative methodology based on an analysis of six case studies in France and Vietnam, we show the role of the law in shaping the different ways of understanding and implementing the concept of representativeness in the French producer-led and the Vietnamese state-driven approaches to GI protection. In France, the GI specifications result from negotiations among all legitimate stakeholders, which may prove long, complex, and lead to standards that can continue to be challenged after the GI registration. We also argue that the rules for the representation of all GI users in the decision-making processes do not necessarily lead to fairness. In Vietnam, local stakeholders usually have a consultative role under the authority of the State, resulting in their little understanding and low use of the GI. Their empowerment is further hindered by the involvement of state authorities in the management of the producers’ associations. We conclude by discussing in-between solutions to promote the producers’ representation and participation.