Tool of Analysis in the Field of Ethnomusicology: ‘Identity’ Concept

The concept of identity which has become a reference item for the field of social sciences since the 80’s started to be included frequently in ethnomusicology studies with sociology and social anthropology’s being interested in the concept as well. This article aims at narrating the positioning process of identity concept within the discipline of ethnomusicology and elaborating on how the concept works as an analysis tool for the field via various resources from the ethnomusicology literature. At this point, the first argument in the article is how identity and ego concepts are used in the works produced with psychological and social anthropological perspective. Another basic argument which is the need of dedifferentiation and differentiation used for the formation of identity is handled as the second step. The other issues elaborated in the article are various topics of discussion held about the concept in the field of social sciences such as identity transformation or representation within the contexts of essentialist and constructivist approaches. A general conclusion driven from the article is that constructivist approach is dominant in the research topics elaborated in ethnomusicology literature and in almost all of these studies music has a ‘supportive’ role in constructing the social identity