Sing Me Back Home: Ethnographic Songwriting and Sardinian Language Politics

Sing Me Back Home explores language and culture through songwriting in Sardinia, using original songs and prompts to reveal how Sardinian lives and language ideologies are narrated against the backdrop of American music.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 290 pages
Publication date: 24 September 2024
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Set on the enchanting Italian island of Sardinia, Sing Me Back Home is a captivating ethnographic journey that explores the intersection of language and culture through the art of songwriting. Drawing on thirteen months of immersive fieldwork, Kristina Jacobsen collaborates with Sardinian musicians, artisans, shepherds, poets, and language activists to create a rich tapestry of Sardinian lives and language ideologies. Through the process of songwriting, recording, and performance, Jacobsen uncovers how Sardinian songs become a powerful medium for transduction, conveying the energy of one musical genre and lingua-culture to another that is much closer to home.

The book delves into the intricate ways in which Sardinian musicians weave their own history into the lyrics of their songs. It reveals how these songs become a site of cultural exchange, where the musical and linguistic elements of one genre are harnessed to convey the essence of another. Sing Me Back Home is accompanied by original songs written and recorded in the field, with links to songs in each chapter. It includes songwriting prompts and lyrics, a glossary of key terms, and photographs from the field.

Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary approaches, including critical collaborative research, auto-ethnography, public anthropology, arts-based research, and ethnographic poetry, this sensory ethnography offers fresh perspectives on how we can experience and understand culture through stories and songs. It invites readers to immerse themselves in the vibrant tapestry of Sardinian life and language, and to explore the ways in which music and language can transcend boundaries and connect us across cultures.

Weight: 432g
Dimension: 228 x 153 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781487553869