YOUSOUND Zine 1: Seeing between the lines

YouSound is a social science research project that studies symphonic music education organizations centred on the inclusion of minor migrants and refugees in Europe.

We have chosen two organizations in different countries to serve as case studies: the Dream Orchestra in Sweden, and El Sistema Greece. In 2022 and 2023, we are visiting both countries, applying ethnographic methods to better grasp the complexity of interactions between multicultural human beings in these music education contexts.

YouSound is a team of researchers from Portugal. This specific research project demanded something more than the “solo ethnographer” in the field. We wanted a cross between “ways of seeing” (Berger 1972) combining the skills of the ethnographer who uses a set of qualitative methods to interpret everyday life in a given context; and those of the graphic ethnographer, whose eyes may perceive social reality from a different and complementary angle (Cabau, Almeida, Mapril 2018). Moreover, we approach fieldwork by using art-based research methods (Leavy 2015, Lenette 2019, Pink 2015), specifically music and illustration, which also serve as complementary tools of expression for the social actors involved in the programs (teachers, students, parents etc.…).

YouSound Zines will be published on the fieldwork undertaken in Sweden and in Greece with two editions issued for each. Adding to standard outputs (articles, books, communications), the Zines will be sharing some of the graphic illustrations made by Beatriz Machado in each country. We also want to give back and engage with the minor d students, the parents, the teachers, and the directors who kindly shared their musical world. Thank you for the welcome! Just as for poetry reading, the observation of drawings resulting from graphic ethnography requires that we stay open and alive to seeing between the lines.