Crafting Fieldwork and Insider/Outsider Collaborations: Musical Ethnography in Sardinia

Abstract This article examines fieldwork methodologies and musical ethnography using our respective experiences doing fieldwork on music in Sardinia, Italy. Taking inspiration from the collaborative processes that characterize Sardinian music of oral tradition, we show how our understanding of Sardinian musics and knowledge practices is enriched through our collaborative work, as insiders (Lutzu) and outsiders (Jacobsen) to Sardinia. Building on our training in cultural anthropology in the United States (Jacobsen) and ethnomusicology in Italy (Lutzu), we suggest that, just as musicians “craft” their performance practices, so too do ethnographers craft their situated knowledge practices and scholarly work. We call this approach “crafting.”