Letting Go of Data in Aboriginal Australia: Ethnography on “Rubber Time"

Authors

Sara Stevens Zur, Queens CollegeFollow

Abstract

While attempting to investigate modes of musical transmission among the Yol ŋ u People in Northeast Arnhem Land Australia, questions regarding the meaning of the word “research” led to the decisive abandonment of data collection. Specifically, the processes of observation, recording, and other typical Western means of genera ting data seemed to be in direct opposition to the way knowledge was traditionally shared. The author critically examines her multiple attempts at conducting this research, and discusses why eventually giving up on the research led to a more profound understanding.

Keywords

Indigenous Australian, Aboriginal, Ethnography, Music, Defining “research, ” and Knowledge Sharing

Publication Date

12-1-2007

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2007.1614

Recommended APA Citation

Zur, S. S. (2007). Letting Go of Data in Aboriginal Australia: Ethnography on “Rubber Time". The Qualitative Report, 12(4), 583-593. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2007.1614