Music, Dance, Co-Presence, and Ethnographic Contingency at Indigenous Lisu Weddings in Southwest China

Abstract

Previous studies of Indigenous weddings in Southwest China have focused on attempts to uncover the surviving “authentic” ethnic traditions, analysing weddings as fixed text and ceremonial structure discoverable through ethnographic observation and collection. By contrast, with a focus on music and dance, this study explores the dynamic, multi-day, cross-contextual, and improvisational nature of live performance in such events through an ethnography of Lisu weddings. I reflect on my shifting position as observer, participant-observer, witness, observant-participant, and playful participant. These shifts stimulated contrasting insights (and oversights), suggesting how the inherent limits and opportunities of ethnographic participant-observation shape our understanding of fieldwork.