‘White-centricity’ of folk music investigated in £1.5m academic study

I thought we were trying not to disrupt indigenous cultures these days.

So some cultures are fair game for appropriation but others aren’t?

I don’t care either way but at least be consistent with the messaging.

I take it anyone disagree with this will be “importing right wing American culture war tropes”?

Another one we can throw on the pile.

I wonder when the ‘black-centricity’ of rap music going to be investigated? Or would that be racist?

I may come at this from a slightly different perspective because I am in the realm of academia. I’m slightly tired of these rage baiting posts about the academic system. Millions of pounds are given in grants, scholarships, and projects to research some quite esoteric fields. Not all of these projects are successful. Not all of these projects are necessarily supported by everyone. All of these projects are absolutely needed however. Science isn’t a linear trajectory that we know a priori what is and is not successful.

Taking a step back and reading the article, this particular project falls foul of using certain key words that really infuriate a particular sub-section of British society. If you actually read what the projects aims are: 1) to research the landscape of a particular sub-genre of music and understand why certain types of people engage in that social community compared to others, and 2) attempt to produce suggestions to promote greater social cohesion. These projects aims appear to be quite well thought out, and you would hope anyone living in an open minded multicultural society would embrace the idea of investigating cultural sorting.

The issues with this piece are twofold. The first, which I will call an ‘actual’ issue is a methodological critique. Their use of ‘ask a friend’ or to use the scientific name for it, ‘snowball’ sampling is a problematic sampling technique that is normally only used when no other option is available. Now, my expertise is not in the realm of sociology of music so maybe this is the case, generally however, snowball sampling is used for sample populations that are in very vulnerable situations where trust is of the utmost requirement.

With that being said, I’ll move on to the second issue, which I think is best labelled a ‘culture war’ issue. I think the vast majority of people who get angry at this project will see the term ‘decolonisation’ and see red. The concept of decolonisation is a valid one – if used correctly. It seems that a lot of people treat the term how many thought of the term ‘feminism’ a decade or so ago. To decolonise doesn’t mean that white people are bad or wrong in the same way that feminism doesn’t mean that men are bad or wrong. To try to provide a more robust critique, for this project to be viable I would like to see a very robust justification of the use of a ‘decolonial’ lens in this analysis. At first thought I can not see why it would be used, but as I said, I am not an expert in this field, and with adequate justification from the authors that would persuade me.

As a small aside, it is a frustrating point that needs to be made that academic jargon does not always mean the same thing that layperson use of the same terms does. We see this all the time with the academic definition of racism and the common use of the term. It is especially difficult in the realm of social science because there is a huge overlap between terms that mean different things between academics and laypeople that simply doesn’t exist in say physics or biology.

Overall, I think it is a really depressing landscape we have where scientific progress is discarded as soon as it appears to not ideologically line up with our political proclivities. So long as the project has: 1) an adequate justification, 2) ethical approval, 3) follows scientific practices, then there is not much of an argument against this sort of research.

So another ‘white person bad’ borefest at play here

To be honest this has the potential to be an interesting study. Folk music is *very* white as a genre, as to some extent is acoustic singer / songwriter stuff, which obviously is influenced by folk music to some degree (or, at least, influenced by MacColl, Lloyd and Seeger’s interpretation of folk music via the folk revival).

Whether it should be publicly funded is a different issue, but the Telegraph has been looking for things like this constantly to stoke their “anti-woke” agenda.

Just to provide a slightly saner comment than some of these others so far – Looking online the only thing I can see mentioned is the Access Folk project – [https://accessfolk.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/about](https://accessfolk.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/about)

Firstly this grant was awarded nearly 2 years ago so a bit strange for The Telegraph to pick up on it now. Secondly, entirely unsurprisingly, they seem to be quite seriously misrepresenting what is written up to be a general effort to bring more people into English folk music and ensure the traditions survive going into the future. More culture war bollocks, don’t fall for it folks.

E – The relevant academic – [https://www.fayhield.com/about.html](https://www.fayhield.com/about.html)

‘’music department at university does some research into music’’….well glad to see they’re doing their job

I swear all the telegraph does these days is make articles about some irrelevant “study” that will be forgotten in six months, to get people mad

What’s the point of this story? Can universities not study whatever the fuck they like?

Look at who’s published this article and note the slant that that rag has put on it. Judging by some of the comments, they’ve been successful in causing ‘outrage’.

Read the article and you’ll find it is a group doing a study to find out why folk-music currently appeals to those they believe it does. I think there’s an implication that maybe it could appeal to a wider audience *which would be no bad thing*. There’s no criticism of ‘whiteness’ or indigenous culture in the study.

Mind you, if “asking a friend” is one of their methods, the study is likely to be more than a little flawed. The sum mentioned isn’t huge either. This asking of friends is probably all they’ll be able to afford.

Bargain Offer : I’d happily do a study into why Folk Music is unremittingly awful for half the price.

So long as I don’t have to listen to any of it, obviously.

Can’t we just listen to it and enjoy it without the ‘Thought Police’ telling us, yet again what we have to think/do/say????

Looking at how bad the election is going why is the Torygraph still bothering with culture wars?

Jesus, what an article. At least they let someone involved have the final paragraph:

“Fay Hield, professor of music at the University of Sheffield, said: “The term decolonisation is often misinterpreted. Our research highlights the different under-recognised communities who have helped to establish cultural life in England. Folk music is a constantly evolving genre, which has taken influences from a diverse range of people over centuries. It is part of the UK’s cultural heritage and should be celebrated. Our aim is to break down the barriers for people to get involved in folk music. Opening up the genre to different audiences will help to sustain the nation’s folk music for decades to come.”

This sounds like an extremely loaded article, would like to see a more neutral article

Tired of this luddite bullshit. These culture-wars attacks on academia are fucking sinister. And the commentators joining in the pitchfork waving should be ashamed of themselves.

Mods, can we have a ban on these obvious rage-baits posts? People who enjoy that kind of anti-intellectualism have more than enough forums for their tiresome anger such as Facebook or the Daily Mail comments section