March 21, 2022

UW Libraries in the Classroom: Looted? Ethnomusicology, Archives & Colonial Legacies

Inside the echoing walls of the Smith Room* within the Suzzallo and Allen Libraries, John Vallier, Ethnomusicology Curator for UW Libraries, presses “play”.  Students listen intently to the scratchy recording of a so-called “war chant”.

Vallier explains that it was recorded in 1906 near Mount Kilimanjaro by an officer in Germany’s colonial force. “The singers were uncredited Massai people. They received no compensation and no copy of the recording. The colonial officer is credited with making and owning the recording. He extracted and then deposited these people’s songs into a Berlin archive, where its sounds were mined for academic and financial gain.”

The course, offered through UW Honors, is called “Looted? Ethnomusicology, Archives & Colonial Legacies“. In addition to being Ethnomusicology Curator for UW Libraries, Vallier is also affiliate faculty in UW’s Ethnomusicology and Honors programs. As explained in his syllabus, the class “interrogates the field of ethnomusicology through the lens of its archives, those storehouses of sound recordings that helped establish the field.” 

“Even if you’ve never heard of ethnomusicology, in this class you’ll learn how repatriating music relates to history, law, art, politics and even science,”  says Grace, a current student. 

“This class is meant to be both critical and functional. In it we explore the colonial legacy of collecting in ethnomusicology. We critique that impulse to appropriate and represent the ‘other.'” Vallier says that such past practices have “dire ethical implications for the archives that are charged with stewarding these materials. How can we reconnect these recordings, songs, and stories with communities of origin? What does successful, and unsuccessful,  “musical repatriation” sound like?”

Throughout the course, students gain an understanding of the history of ethnomusicology and the power dynamics that influence collecting and archiving in the field.  Students come from across disciplines, and there is no prior course or experience required. 

“Even if you’ve never heard of ethnomusicology, in this class you’ll learn how repatriating music relates to history, law, art, politics and even science,”  says Grace, a current student.  

Vallier, along with guest lecturers from such institutions as the Library of Congress, Indiana University, and Harvard, share their “real world” attempts to repatriate and or otherwise attempt to address ethnomusicology’s colonial legacies. Guest speakers have included: 

• Laurel Sercombe, retired UW ethnomusicology archivist and longtime repatriation advocate, spoke to the colonial roots of ethnomusicology and its precursor discipline, comparative musicology. 
• Joe Kinzer, curator for Archives of Word Music, described his work connecting Boston-area Somali immigrants with Harvard’s extensive collection of 1920s recordings. 
• Kate Mullen, a PhD student from Indiana University, underscored the importance of community involvement with particular emphasis on the Manchester Digital Music Archives (MDMA). 
• Lorraine Sakata, professor emerita from UCLA, described her work to digitally return recordings from UW to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. 

Established in 1962, UW’s Ethnomusicology Program is one of the oldest programs of its kind in the country. The Archives, which was also established 60 years ago, stewards some 50,000 items including  sound, video, and film documenting international, national, and regional musics and related traditions. Vallier has been with UW Libraries since 2006. Prior to UW, he was archivist for the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive where he helped facilitate repatriation projects and co-taught with Professor Tony Seeger.  

“Established in 1962, UW’s Ethnomusicology Program is one of the oldest programs of its kind in the country. The Archives, which was also established 60 years ago, stewards some 50,000 items including  sound, video, and film documenting international, national, and regional musics and related traditions.”

While Vallier has taught for the Honors program before, this is first venture into a hybrid environment. “Teaching in a hybrid model, with students participating both in-person and online, has its challenges for sure,” says Vallier. “But I am so impressed with the students. Through so many challenges they have persevered with passion and a strong sense of justice about the topics we are discussing– I plan to carry their energy and ideas forward in my work.” Vallier will be teaching about Seattle music for Honors next year, as well as “Sounds of Cinema” for the Department of Cinema and Media Studies next quarter. When Vallier isn’t in the classroom, he is working on a range of projects to preserve and make accessible recordings from the Ethnomusicology Archives and Seattle Sounds Project. 

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*The Smith Room

The Smith Room in Suzzallo Library has, for many years, been used as a rental space for meetings and events.  It mirrors the classic gothic style of the iconic Reading Room and once housed the Libraries’ Special Collections.  Opposing the stained-glass windows and book-lined walls are four large murals painted in 1935 by Paul M. Gustin and John T. Jacobsen.  The murals are a product of their time and depict a myopic, colonial, and imperial view of the pacific northwest drenched in Manifest Destiny and Western European-centric white supremacy. The irony of these murals surrounding a class devoted to the study of indigenous culture, history and ownership was not lost on the class or instructor. As a class assignment, students were asked to observe the murals and review the Libraries’ current statement on the murals (see below) in the context of themes discussed in class, and offer suggestions for how to address the murals in a more permanent way. These suggestions were compiled and sent to the Libraries Dean for consideration. 

Libraries Statement posted in the Smith Room:

The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.

The depictions of relations between European explorers and settlers and Native Americans in the Smith Room’s Gustin-Jacobson murals celebrate what was seen in the 1930s as the triumph of western settlement and Manifest Destiny over the land and people who were here before. This view perpetuates a racist narrative and is not in line with modern scholarship or the values of the University of Washington or UW Libraries.

Critical review of such depictions is required, and UW Libraries is currently working with stakeholders across the University to provide more context and commentary specific to these materials with a plan for more permanent and formal acknowledgement in this space and in our online records.

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