Challenges and potentialities of a “native researcher”: ethnographic perspectives in a music festival

Abstract

This article presents theoretical discussions and practical applications of ethnographic experiences raised in the author’s doctoral thesis on the Psicodália festival. While engaged in fieldwork – and moving between the roles of audience, organizer, and researcher – several reflections and questions regarding the position of a “native researcher” emerged, which pointed out the challenges and potentialities around such categorization in the ethnographic space-time. In alignment with those perspectives, the researcher’s subjectivities, identities, and sense of belonging to the festival gained substantial relevance in his academic writing, which at moments bordered on aspects of autoethnography and autoanthropology. It is possible to infer that such ambivalent positioning led to more opportunities to access information and insiders, while it also posed ethical and moral dilemmas. In this paper, the reference period for the ethnography spanned from 2012 to 2017, which encompassed the author’s fieldwork in the event. Although the festival is mainly a musical event, it also can be characterized as multimedia in character, as it hosts theater pieces, performances, short film and documentary exhibitions, workshops, handcrafting and recreation areas. Several renowned artists have already performed in the festival, such as: Os Mutantes, Tom Zé, Elza Soares, Moraes Moreira, Baby do Brasil, Alceu Valença, Yamandu Costa, Hermeto Pascoal, Nação Zumbi, Steppenwolf, Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), among other independent bands and musical groups of diverse genres including progressive and psychedelic rock, rock’n’roll, blues, jazz, reggae, folk and local music.