Music and Identity in Diaspora: novel perspectives on female Vietnamese immigrants in Scandinavia

The project explores the role of music in identity formation among Vietnamese immigrants, with a particular focus on the role of music in confirming or subverting traditional gender roles.

The method combines performative ethnography and participant observation with Vietnamese musicians, with documentary film making and stimulated recall.

In year one, a video installation addressing gender roles in the performance of traditional Vietnamese music, commissioned by the Museum of World Cultures in Gothenburg, is screened in events organized by Vietnamese immigrant societies in Norway and Sweden.

These screenings are followed by stimulated recall interviews with audience members, focussing on perspectives of music, identity formation, and gender. In year two this material is further gathered, analyzed, and edited into a documentary film. In year two, the film is screened in the same communities, and new interviews are carried out with the informants.

Two peer-reviewed papers discuss each step in the process.

The expected results are:1) a more robust understanding of how music contributes to shaping identity in immigrant communities.2) identification of patterns in gendered behaviour in immigrant communities across generations.3) strategies for how music can contribute to the development of greater equality in immigrant communities, through experimental music practices.