The Art of Protest: Utilizing Theater and Music in the fight for Social Justice

 (In the Qualitative vs. Quantitative research design battle, it’s the Qualitative for the win)

by Janice Mautner Markham, December 31, 2022

Since the beginning of time immemorial1, creative expression has been used to reflect life in its joys and failings. At its most powerful the arts can be used not only to reflect and explore societal ills, but to find ways to mobilize for positive social change. My area of study is to explore the history of protest music and theater, focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries, and discover common threads of expression that can lead to a deeper understanding of the genre. The larger purpose is to take this knowledge and incorporate the findings into my own social justice-themed arts disciplines to create a more just world. To serve this exploration I am not only looking at content, but the research design methods used and what they say about this topic; additionally, I've looked at how the methodologies have furthered the study, or perhaps hindered it.  

     Qualitative research is known as study that generates “textual data” (non-numerical). Quantitative research, on the contrary, produces “numerical data” or information that can be converted into numbers2 , it could certainly be argued that qualitative design suits the topic of arts and activism, and it is the qualitative method that is largely used in this topic. Qualitative research explores how meaning is constructed in individual lives and relationships between people, and within social groups and cultures3.  In most circumstances, if artists are involved, the quantitative anything goes out the door. There seems to be an involuntary abhorrence to attaching numbers and graphs to that which is of a creative genesis. Our work as artists is normally the opposite of measuring and counting, of scientific theory; we are about emotion, melody and story. Our challenge here is how to maintain the validity and expanse of our study without always depending on the quantitative methodologies that might be expected.  I have included research examples that explore primarily qualitative design, but quantitative as well, with the theory posed that the subject of arts and activism is best suited to the qualitative brand of research. However, the great reckoning in this field of study, at least as a performing artist such as myself, is that we are constantly being tested in terms of our worth and validity, especially in the United States. There is a great frustration living in this reality, especially as the query “do we know the arts are really necessary?” does not exist in this way in other countries. In virtually every other region of the world artists are viewed as the necessary creative truth-tellers of society. The result of the state-supported dynamic is the arts have government financial support as well as audiences that represent the entire demographic of society. Because of a skepticism of sorts surrounding the need for arts funding in the United States, there is a push to quantify worth, and therefore, a need for quantitative research design. However, the question I lean into is:  What is the most effective and impactful mode of research? I argue strongly for the qualitative brand, but with the understanding that quantifying is often a necessary evil.

          I begin with a strong example of qualitative research design that effectively addresses the topic of protest music, in particular, music impacting Post-Apartheid South Africa with “Singing Politics: Freedom Songs and Collective Protest in Post-Apartheid South Africa”4. We begin here with problem-based research, with explicit questions being asked: 

What made songs so indispensable for the expression of these protesters? How and why have such political performances remained prominent years into the aftermath of South Africa’s democratic transition, the supposed culmination of anti-apartheid struggles?

We don’t have numbers, graphs or charts and we would need to cull through the numerous citations to uncover anything of a quantitative ilk. However, this scholarship is full of nuanced and comprehensive study. With Jolaosho, we uncover the crucial impact of protest music in South Africa by examining the use of anti-apartheid freedom songs alongside the emergence of new art forms in the various modes of community engagement and activism. Almost two years of focused study in Johannesburg, South Africa, uncovered concrete themes in the use of song and protest; freedom songs are looked at in terms of their antiphony, or chanting-like quality which can be stirring, meditative and enlightening.  The use of repetition inherent in many South African music forms lend itself to the need to speak out, to communicate a message connected with a cause. Connected with the repetition, this musical “vamping” is rhythm itself. This article looks at the difference between simply giving a speech and the emotional impact of underscoring with rhythm, a rhythm that can be like bullets from a gun or the beating of a heart. Music organizes protest gatherings, allows for democratic leadership, and fosters collective participation. These practices yield an elasticity in the songs that makes them adaptable to changing political circumstances. Just like a pop song can have a “hook”, a particular phrase that is memorable, and even emotionally stirring, a protest song can have the same with extra impact because of the political force and determination behind it. This article is truly a perfect marriage of the art and socio-political ramifications. And, the very nature of qualitative research design (behavioral observations, interviews and discussions) lends itself to delving into this topic. 

             The concept of a post-positivist point of view does come into play a bit in regard to this research, if we understand that theory to be: not everything is completely knowable (Krauss, 2005)5. Instead, we have an exploration of the creation of protest music and its potential impact on society, again, without a numbers game. This research design takes down the positivist approach that there must be mathematical verification to show reality and validity. The qualitative type of discussion-based study is quite talmudic6 in nature, as questions lead to more questions and answers lead to more questions. For example, we see that musicians and activists have joined forces to mobilize in creative and effective ways. There is a look at the music itself and we ask: What is its ultimate purpose? Is it to entertain, to politicize, or rev the masses, to inflame and ignite? And if the goals are realized, what does this music become? These are questions that continue to be explored. If, as Margaret Dorsey suggests, we “situate our glance earlier and allow it to linger longer” than the timeframe of events explicitly marked as political7, new insights emerge into music’s role in mediating individual and collective activism through protesters’ emotions and embodiment.

In Bence Nanay’s “On Clive Bell’s ‘Art and War’”8 there is an exploration of Bell’s lesser known work9, including his thesis that there needs to be a separation between art and politics and there is no such thing as actual patriotic art. The basis of this argument is that art has continually been used and misused for malintent, especially for political purposes, and that is not the purpose of art. This brings us back one step to ask, “What is art, and how should it be used?” Nanay focuses on this ideal of Bell’s that if art is truly of value, it should transcend politics or nationality - in fact, none of these aspects should be inherent in the work: political party, stance, and even country of origin. In other words, art should be universal, and it should be enjoyed, and should be dissociated from any aspect of the aesthetic or communication that would have any type of political sway. This work also asks us to consider Bell’s “slippery slope” of infusing politics and art: If art is a mere means to a political end, art ceases to be art and becomes simply propaganda. And, if art becomes propaganda, the universality and enjoyment is not present, according to this interpretation. I would argue that both Bell’s theories, and Nanay’s astute take only exist in the realm of discussion and theorizing, in the same way one would take apart a poem to discover its true meaning – again, qualitative. If one were to attempt to extract political and social justice themes from art, music, dance, any of the artistic genres, that is removing a large percentage of work from the arts landscape, not to mention a frequent motivation for creation. And here we have the quintessential power of qualitative thought - these conversations and examinations simply cannot be put into some type of mathematical equation. These topics are ripe for discussion, and Nanay wraps the article by positing that if art was steeped in values “like tolerance and broadened sense of community” art could be a positive force in the world. 

To continue in this vein in my defense of qualitative research design, I welcome you to the world of Fuse, a weekly radio program produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) from 2005-2008. This is looked at in “Listener Discretion Advised: The Power and Politics of Intercultural Encounters on Music Radio”.10 In this work, we understand that the aim of the show “Fuse” was to give voice to marginalized and under-represented artists and genres by having them join forces. 

“I’ve been told to warn you that the upcoming episode of Fuse has coarse language and listener discretion is advised. Can you have listener discretion? Anyway, get ready to fuse now with Cadence Weapon and Final Fantasy.

These words, spoken over a fleeting moment of radio silence, prefaced the April 14, 2007, episode of Fuse, a weekly concert program produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) between 2005 and 2008.” 

So, the question begs to be answered - if this experiment is realized and brought to light, what can we gain artistically, intellectually, socially and politically?  The experimentation of cross-cultural collaboration is not new, but at times the follow-up is lacking. Out the gate, there is already an inorganic start in that we don’t have an artist meeting on a club dance floor or a house party. Attention is given to the work of ethnomusicologist Ian Goldstein and his “multimusical sensibility”, which involves communication and a familiarity with fellow musicians, the active decisions made in performative situations, and their prejudices and attitudes toward the work and each other.  The fascinating part of this research - if we pull apart the methodology - is that there was not a problem to be reckoned with at the outset. Instead, the questions began to reveal themselves as the qualitative research was unfurled. 

“Fuse” ended up as a conventional setting with unconventional entities to motivate creativity and pass judgements and come out with information that can do what? Inspire future collaborations? Show that cross cultural and cross genre mash-ups are worthwhile for community growth and healing? These were the questions that seemed to arise without a definitive answer. This type of research design emulates the nature of music and theater improvisation - it is about exploration, utilizing whatever means of communication stimulates conversation and identity expression. Each genre has its unique sets of limitations and ability to challenge and engage the listener/audience, and the power is the process, so we don’t even say the ends justify the means, it’s just the means justifies the means. This, once again, is the thumbing the nose at quantitative research design, perhaps to the extreme. 

           Juliet Hess takes a different approach in creating a framework for dissecting arts and social justice through the mode of storytelling in “Putting a Face on It”: The Trouble with Storytelling for Social Justice in Music Education”11. Although the work is highly qualitative, with a subjectivity in experiential passages, an almost glossary-like feel gives a structure and strong guideposts to the research narrative. It was important to me to include this article here, as although I wouldn’t consider it quantitative in the dictionary definition sense, it did drift into a fascinating quantifiable realm in terms of words and what they mean. If we are going to be letter of the law about this, the study could still be viewed as “qualitative” as we are not looking at mathematical equations, and numbers or graphs. But we are given a new language to follow, words with new scientific meaning. We have terms such as “counterstorytelling” instead of “storytelling”, as well as new definitions for “knowability”, “separation” and “fetishization”. 

“We (people of colour) are always being asked to tell our stories for your (white people’s) edification, which you cannot hear because of the benefit you derive from hearing them.” - Sherene Razack, Looking White People in the Eye12

This area of study would be fascinating to build on, particularly with the intentionality of marginalized individuals being able to tell stories in their own way. To follow this ongoing motif, this mode of research would lead down a path of additional qualitative investigation. 

Moving into another realm of research design, we can look at “The impact of a community‐based music intervention on the health and well‐being of young people: A realist Evaluation” This article explores how music intervention improves the health and well-being of young people. Realist evaluations are utilized to parse through methodology, pedagogy, creativity and a variety of teaching tools to see what has been effective and impactful. 

            “In order to gain perspectives on the range of contextual characteristics, mechanisms and outcomes, we collected quantitative and qualitative data in the form of pre- and post-questionnaires, as well as conducting interviews with beneficiaries and stakeholders.”13  

Unsurprisingly, the research indicated that music had a powerful and positive impact on the self-esteem, well-being and engagement of at-risk youth, however, what I would like to focus on is the nature of the research methodology in its quantitative aspects. The program utilized as the case study for this article, Heavy Sound, was an ideal platform for research, as it was participant led (which many youth programs are not) and the follow-up data research was comprehensive. The quantitative research involved survey follow-ups and hard data, with the qualitative follow-up being interview style with students as well as facilitators. An agonizing gasp would be sure to sound off from arts educators as the qualitative aspects of this research was analyzed and “decoded” with data analysis software. This type of research was clearly striving to get validating hard data from a project in which so much of the data collection would be considered qualitative. It was also evident that although this work was intensively comprehensive, the overuse of in-line citations did not aid in the comprehension or follow-up. These research design missteps have been useful to me, as I have seen what I would like to avoid when I am plotting out my own research. But, back to the numbers game here. This research harkened back to a particular quote from KKV14: 

Quantitative researchers should provide standard errors along with their numerical measurements; qualitative researchers should offer uncertainty estimates in the form of carefully worded judgments about their observations. The difference between quantitative and qualitative measurement is in the style of representation of essentially the same ideas.

I understand where this is coming from, even from researchers that seem to slant towards a quantitative methodology. However, I don’t necessarily agree that qualitative and quantitative researchers are simply two wings of the same bird. In my experience thus far, quantitative researchers are going for the statistical analysis for particular ends, not necessarily for problem-based research. They are trying to prove a point in the same way that you add up two numbers to get a sum. In arts and creative pursuits, especially when you throw social justice elements as a backbone, this reasoning is a challenge in a very different way than if you were getting totals of a homeless count, or how many refugees are living in certain areas of the United States. We now return to how impact is analyzed, and if we are out to say (for example) how music education tackles issues of racism and/or gender norms, these are incredibly challenging topics to quantify. Therefore, the research and analysis need to take on a different type of approach, and the quantitative research design is simply not always successful, no matter how many new-fangled assessment platforms are created. 

Sources:

1.     Goldsmith, J. (2014) Since Time Immemorial: The Origins and Meaning of a Phrase, Britscript

2.     Fransworth, B. (2019) Qualitative vs Quantitative Research – What Is the difference?, iMotions

3. McLeod, J. (2013). Qualitative research: Methods and contribution. In M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (5th ed., pp. 49–84). Wiley. 

4.  Jolaosho, O. (2019) Singing Politics: Freedom Songs and Collective Protest in  Post-                 Apartheid South Africa, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press African studies review, 2019-06, Vol.62 (2), p.6-29

5.  Krauss, S. E. (2005). Research paradigms and meaning making: A primer. The Qualitative Report, 10(4), 758-770. 

6.     Talmud: “What is the Talmud”, My Jewish Learning, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/talmud-101/

7.     Dorsey, M. (2004) The Role of Music in Materializing Politics

  University of Houston-Victoria, American Anthropological Association

8.     Nanay, B., On Clive Bell’s “Art and War”, Ethics 125 (2):530-532, (2015)

9.     Bell, C. Art and War - (1915) International Journal of Ethics 26 (1):1-10

10.  Draisey-Collishaw, R. (2021) Listener Discretion Advised: The Power and Politics of Intercultural  Encounters on Music Radio, University of Michigan - Music & Politics Volume 15, Issue 1, Winter 2021

11. Hess, J. (2021) Putting a Face on It”: The Trouble with Storytelling for Social Justice in   Music Education,Philosophy of Music      Education Review 29 (1):67 (2021)

12. Razack, S. (1998) Looking White People in the Eye: Gender, Race, and Culture in Courtrooms and Classrooms, University of Toronto Press

13. Caló, F. ; Steiner, A.; Millar, S.; Teasdale, S. (2020) The impact of a community‐based music intervention on the health and well‐being of young people: A realist evaluation, England: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc Health & social care in the community, 2020-05, Vol.28 (3), p.988-997

14. King, G.,  Keohane, R., Verba, S. (1994): Designing Social Inquiry. Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, p. 3. Princeton     University Press

     Additional recommended studies:

Brady, H. E., & Collier, D. (2010). “Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools”, Shared Standards. Lanham; Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Friedman, J. (2013) The Routledge History of Social Protest in Popular Music," edited by Jonathan C. Friedman, Taylor and Francis

 Springborg, C. (2020) Designing Dance into Qualitative Research, Palgrave Studies in Business, Arts and    Humanities Book Series

Wang, Q., Coemans, S., Siegesmund, R., & Hannes, K. (2017). Arts-based Methods in Socially Engaged Research Practice: A Classification Framework. Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal, 2(2), 5–39. 

Ledger, A., Edwards, J. (2011). Arts-based research practices in music therapy research: Existing and potential developments. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38, 312–317. doi:10.1016/j.aip.2011.09.001

Cahnmann-Taylor, M. (2007). Arts-based research: Histories and new directions. In Cahnmann-Taylor, M., Siegesmund, R. (Eds.), Arts-based research in education: Foundations for practice (pp. 3–15). London, England: Routledge. 

Gray, C., Malins, J. (2004) Vizualizing Research: A Guide to the Research Process in Art and                Design, Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Limited