عنوان

Performing as One:

Number

TL6r41g8bf

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Performing as One:

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Kaneko, Nana

Title Proper by Another Author

Translating Pedagogy, Rhythm, and Social Relations in Diasporic Japanese Minyo

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Wong, Deborah

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

UC Riverside

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2013

Body granting the degree

UC Riverside

Text preceding or following the note

2013

Text of Note

This thesis addresses music transmission and pedagogy in a diasporic, transnational setting. In 1966, Matsutoyo Sato Sensei, my Japanese minyo folk singing and shamisen teacher, left Japan and her position as next in line to inherit and run her teacher's iemoto (a formalized, hierarchical master student) school. Seeking a fresh start, she moved to California at the age of twenty-five, and decided to cultivate minyo abroad. Using a participant-observer ethnographic methodology, my research addressed how Matsutoyo Sensei's pedagogical methods are both maintained and changed in diaspora. I focus on three areas: (1) Matsutoyo Sensei's emphasis on nami (wave, as in the waves of the ocean), which is her metaphor for rhythmic intricacies, an internal pulse, and social relations, (2) the ways that Matsutoyo Sensei's charismatic authority informs her pedagogy, and (3) how Matsutoyo Sensei reconfigures Japanese musical aesthetics and social expectations. By tracing how Matsutoyo Sensei employs nami and the idiosyncrasies of her pedagogical methods, which are based in Japanese aesthetics and adjusted to American sensibilities, I illustrate how she instills oneness for the group and mutual respect, and demonstrate the contributing factors to her success as a music teacher in diaspora. Using Slobin's model of a "diasporic interculture" (1993), I argue that Matsutoyo Sensei's pedagogical work is situated at the intersection of transnational connections between Japan and the United States. Lastly, I argue for the importance of person-centered ethnographies by suggesting that they offer a close, particularized look at how culture is made, sustained, and transmitted.

Kaneko, Nana

Wong, Deborah

UC Riverside

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

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