Storiesl of Differentiation and Association

Narrative Identity and the JolaEkonting

Bibliographic Data

ID5149010
AuthorsScott V Linford (corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume48
Pages94-114
Publication date2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueYearbook for Traditional Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0740-1558 • E-ISSN: 2304-3857
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5921/yeartradmusi.48.2016.0094
OpenAlexW2977467651
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited26

Traditional musical instruments make useful symbols of identity because they are often unique to a particular social group and therefore serve as markers of distinction from other groups. This is true of theekonting(see figure 1), a three-stringed plucked lute that is played almost exclusively by people of the Jola ethnic group in Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. One player of theekonting(pl.sikonting)describes the instrument much like an identification badge: "No matter where you go, if you see someone playing theekonting, you will know that person is a Jola." Ethnomusicological literature abounds with similar cases, where there is said to be a one-to-one relationship between a musical instrument and the social identity of the performer. However, constructivist models of social identity, emphasizing multiplicity, changeability, and relationality, complicate this apparently straightforward relationship, even if ethnomusicologists too often treat the subject of identity in contradictory ways (Rice 2007). In this paper, I approach theekontingthrough sociologist Margaret Somers's (1994, 1992) paradigm of narrative identity, which emphasizes the relational and ontological qualities of narrative production. I argue that theekontingserves not as a signifier of ana priorisocial identity, but instead as a site for the narrative production of Jola ethnicity. This narrative production both differentiates Jolas from-and associates them with-other regional, national, and transnational identity narratives. After an explanation of this paradigm and a contextualization of the cultural stakes, I demonstrate this argument through two vignettes describing different directions of narrative production around theekonting

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Literature · Musical · Narrative · Social group · Social identity theory · Social science · Sociology · Diverse Musicological Studies · Gender Studies · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy

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