University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Song hunters in Svaneti: Musical tourism and other intercultural encounters in highland Georgia

Knight, Matthew E.

Content Files
KNIGHT-DISSERTATION-2019.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/105202

Description

Title
Song hunters in Svaneti: Musical tourism and other intercultural encounters in highland Georgia
Author(s)
Knight, Matthew E.
Issue Date
2019-04-17
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Buchanan, Donna A.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Buchanan, Donna A.
Committee Member(s)
  • Greenberg, Jessica
  • Silvers, Michael
  • Solis, Gabriel
Department of Study
Music
Discipline
Musicology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2019-08-23T20:47:28Z
Keyword(s)
  • Ethnomusicology
  • Republic of Georgia
  • Svaneti
  • Svans
  • Caucasus
  • Postsocialism
  • Neoliberalism
  • Intercultural Encounter
  • Cultural Institutions
  • Political Economy
  • Hospitality
  • Gift
  • Moral Economy
  • Feasting
  • Georgian Polyphony
  • Georgian Folk Music
  • Folk Polyphony
  • Choral Music
  • Music Tourism
  • Cultural Tourism
  • Ecotourism
Abstract
This dissertation analyzes the continuities and disjunctures between pre-socialist, socialist, and neoliberal Georgia, as exemplified in intersubjective, intracultural, and intercultural encounters between singers and musicians. It approaches these dynamics through an in-depth ethnographic examination of the Georgian highland region known as Svaneti, particularly examining the life of a key interlocutor: the Svan singer, instrumentalist, music teacher, folk ensemble director, and “songmaster” Islam Pilpani (1934–2017). In less than two decades, heavily mythicized Svaneti has gone from an isolated and dangerous rural backwater to a hot tourist destination that some fear is approaching the point of diminishing returns. Svan people, infamous for adhering to an exacting moral code of mountain hospitality and blood feud, have experienced startling changes to their way of life in this time period. The most entrepreneurial have capitalized on foreign fascination with Svaneti’s stunning natural landscapes and exotic, supposedly medieval culture. A key aspect of the latter is Svanetian music, which attracts foreign singers due to its archaism, connections to pagan ritual, and harmonies interpreted as strikingly dissonant. Intercultural encounters bear both risks and opportunities. As song tourists have expanded their own horizons and created new opportunities for Svan musicians, local musicking has shifted to accommodate and sometimes prioritize the needs of foreigners or lowland cultural administrators. By examining the relationships that develop between Svanetian musicians and people from other parts of the world, I uncover the power dynamics, agendas, and potentialities at play when localized musical customs become fetishized as commodities and artifacts of national cultural heritage.
Graduation Semester
2019-05
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105202
Copyright and License Information
copyright 2019 Matthew E. Knight

Owning Collections

Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses [Graduate College] - Music