Ethnomusicological fieldwork has significantly changed since the end of the the 20th century. Ethnomusicology is in a critical moment that requires new perspecitves on fieldwork - perspectives
that are not addressed in the standard guides to ethnomusicological or anthropological method. The focus in ethnomusicological writing and teaching has traditionally centered around analyses
and ethnographic representations of musical cultures, rather than on the personal world of understanding, experience, knowing, and doing fieldwork. Shadows in the Field deliberately shifts the
focus of ethnomusicology and of ethnography in general from representation (text) to experience (fieldwork). The "new fieldwork" moves beyond mere data collection and has become a defining
characteristic of ethnomusicology that engages the scholar in meaningful human contexts.
In this new edition of Shadows in the Field, renowned ethnomusicologists explore the roles they themselves act out while performing fieldwork and pose significant questions for the field: What
are the new directions in ethnomusicological fieldwork? Where does fieldwork of "the past" fit into these theories? And above all, what do we see when we acknowledge the shadows we cast in the
field?
The second edition of Shadows in the Field includes updates of all existing chapters, a new preface by Bruno Nettl, and seven new chapters addressing critical issues and concerns that have
become increasingly relevant since the first edition.
