Eco-Lit
The interdisciplinary project "Eco-critical Literacy in Music- and Literature-related Practices of Cultural Education" (Eco-Lit) asks how cultural education can make a contribution in the face of ecological challenges and the associated social transformations. The project is based on the assumption that relevant educational processes can take place in aesthetic practices. Important points of reference for this can be found in the field of ecomusicology, literary eco-criticism and the theory and practice of aesthetic education. The aims of the project are (a) the empirically based development of an educational-theoretical model of eco-critical literacy, which describes a specifically aesthetic approach to understanding ecological contexts, thus enabling a changed view of self and world and a transcultural perspective on climate justice. It is also (b) about exploring the conditions under which cultural education can contribute to the development of eco-critical literacy. Specifically, the project (c) aims at the sustainable development and further development of concrete projects and programmes for cultural education. To achieve the goals, research is being conducted in parallel in two sub-projects. Sub-project 1 uses an ethnographic approach to investigate post-digital aesthetic practices of addressing ecological crises at the intersection of art and activism. Sub-project 2 researches and develops practice projects in which eco-critical literacy can be promoted. The data collection in both sub-projects is based on participant observation, interviews in the field and cyber-ethnographic methods. The data analysis is based on grounded theory methodology.
Project duration: January 1st, 2024 to December 31st, 2026
dialoguing@rts
dialoguing@arts (Advancing Cultural Literacy for Social Inclusion through Dialogical Arts Education) is a Horizon Europe Project.
The aim of the project is to strengthen social cohesion by imparting (inter)cultural competence in artistic practice and cultural education initiatives. It is about participatory forms of music education, dance education and theater education in post-migrant society, in dialogue with artists, municipalities, schools and extracurricular partners. Universities and independent cultural institutions from Norway, Finland, Belgium, Serbia, Italy and Germany work together in the international consortium.
Project duration: January 1st, 2024 to June 30th, 2027
Completed:
LEA - Learning processes and aesthetic experience in app music practices
Team: Prof. Dr. Christian Rolle (Universität zu Köln), Linus Eusterbrock (Universität zu Köln), Matthias Krebs (UdK Berlin), Prof. Dr. Marc Godau (Universität Potsdam), Matthias Haenisch (Universität Erfurt)
funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Verbundprojekt: MuBiTec – Musikalische Bildung mit mobilen Digitaltechnologien
other related research projects: AppKOM und LINKED
duration of project: 01/2018 - 11/2020
LEA is still searching for research participants!
The research project LEA - Learning Processes and Aesthetic Experiences in App Music Practice is a longitudinal study. Over a period of three years, it explores learning processes as well as the aesthetic experience and evaluation in musical practices involving digital smart technologies.
Over the course of a year, each research participant is informally accompanied during their musical practices involving smart phones or tablets.
Additionally, interviews, videography and participant observation will be applied in the research process. Data analysis will be carried out on the basis of qualitative methods deriving from Grounded Theory.
LEA is one of three studies realized within the framework of the research unit "MuBiTec – Musical Education with Mobile Digital Technologies". The research units' primary goal is to identify the particular education potential in the application of mobile technologies to musical practices. The three studies examine the social and technological development processes of a mobile digital culture. They furthermore investigate the role and relevance of aesthetic aspects in education opportunities, as well as which specific competences are facilitated. The studies take place both within the school context of cultural education and in extracurricular frameworks.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Christian Rolle. Mail: crolle[at]uni-koeln.de
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The following DFG funded project was carried out in 2016 by the Institute of European Music Ethnology, represented by Klaus Näumann, and the Institute of Caribbean Studies & The Reggae Studies Unit, University of the West Indies, Jamaica, by Donna P. Hope:
Two Case Studies: Mento and Reggae
The main focus of this comparative study are two repertoires:
1. Mento music, today a little known genre of Jamaican music
2. Reggae music popularized in the 1970s in Germany and elsewhere
The goal of the study is to investigate the specific musical developments of two musical styles:
1. Mento music as the first popular music in Jamaica, considered one of the roots of Jamaican reggae. Today this music style plays a marginal role and is practiced only in a few rural areas and in the context of touristic activities.
2. Reggae music as developed and globally popularized in the late 1960s. Following its worldwide spread, it became a reference model for imitative practices whose idiom was adapted to the respective life worlds.
The particularity of this project lies in the bipartite topic as well as in the cooperation of two researchers acculturated in different cultural contexts (Jamaica and Germany).
The project focuses on the following questions:
1. Why has the development of these two musical styles taken entirely different directions? Are these developments based on musical features, in their performance practices or in specific non-musical influences (such as the influence of the Rastafari religion in relation to reggae music or the notion of the "archaic authenticism" in relation to mento music)?
2. How are these styles (music, text, performance practice) adapted in contemporary contexts: a) mento music in the context of the Jamaican tourist industry, b) Reggae music in the German context?
These questions will be examined through primarily through ethnomusicological fieldwork, incorporating participant observation methods and qualitative semi-structured interviews with musicians and bands. The results will provide general insight into how musical idioms are formed, developed and how they disappear or adapt to specific socio-cultural settings.