What Music Can Do

With Denis Laborde, CNRS Research Director (Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin) & Director of Studies at EHESS (Chair of Anthropology of Music, Paris)

Certain forms of scientific knowledge develop a participatory approach that values capacities and stands in contrast to a needs-based approach, which assigns deficiencies. This perspective leads social anthropology toward an experimental science, which implies paying attention to interactions rather than to their outcomes.
The starting point here will be the making of a film by asylum seekers from the CADA in Bayonne (France, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) and autistic students from the Saint-Sébastien Film School.
The subsequent discussion will address the connections between arts, sciences, and societies, as well as the question of music’s power.

The Scientific Committee of the Master’s Program in Ethnomusicology is organizing, during the 2025–2026 academic year, a series of six lecture-meetings intended for students and open to the general public. For each session, a scholar or practitioner working in the field of ethnomusicology is invited to share their experience in a meeting consisting of a formal presentation of about thirty minutes, followed by a discussion prepared and led by the students.