Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Harmony on the Edge (Harmony on the Edge. Musical Encounters Between Early Modern Europe and South America)
Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-02-28
Harmony on the Edge explored the roles of music and sound in the ways European travellers and colonisers perceived, conceptualised, and classified Indigenous populations in South America during the early modern period. Drawing on a rich corpus of textual and visual sources, the project examined how European observers engaged with Indigenous musical practices and sensibilities; the sounds of both cultural and natural landscapes—whether described as harmonious or as noise; the bodies of musicians; and the representation, circulation, and collection of musical instruments. These European engagements with music and sound in the Americas were driven by specific epistemic and socio-political agendas that reflected, and were shaped by, contemporary concerns within Europe. A central conclusion of the project is that music served as a privileged medium for investigating human nature, human diversity, and the boundaries between human and animal species within the context of cross-cultural encounters. In this sense, music played a foundational role in the emergence of the human sciences during the Enlightenment. Practices such as collecting, describing, and representing musical instruments were central to analysing perceived degrees of ‘savagery’ and ‘civilisation,’ and to formulating historical narratives about South American Indigenous peoples. A key tension that underpinned these inquiries was whether music should be understood as a primitive and universal language, or as a product of modern civilisation and culturally specific identities. Ultimately, musical encounters became sites of cultural negotiation, appropriation, and resistance.
This project was structured into three phases: a secondment in Paris, an outgoing phase in Chile, and an incoming phase in France. Throughout its duration, I worked closely with my supervisor Silvia Sebastiani (EHESS), while Rafael Gaune (PUC) provided guidance during the outgoing phase.
During the secondment in Paris, my work was divided between conducting research at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) and participating in seminars at the MNHN’s affiliated Centre Alexandre-Koyré. During the outgoing phase in Chile, I was integrated into Dr. Rafael Gaune’s research project El silencio de la misión, which evolved into a dynamic series of seminars, collective readings, and the co-organisation of a workshop. I also contributed to the preparation of a forthcoming volume of collected essays resulting from the project. In parallel, I collaborated on museum catalogues for the Museo de Arte Precolombino and the Museo Histórico Nacional, where I explored themes related to colonial music and sound through the analysis of textile iconography. My time in Chile also enabled me to establish connections with music and heritage scholars in Santiago and Valparaíso, which culminated in the organisation of an interdisciplinary conference on musical heritage at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.
The incoming phase at the Centre de Recherches Historiques (CRH) in Paris was especially enriching for both advanced training and knowledge exchange. I took part in a weekly seminar and two monthly seminars at CRH, alongside events at EHESS and other institutions. I built a strong professional network and joined several active research groups. Outside academia, I collaborated with musicians from the Orchestre de Paris and curators at the Musée de la Musique de Paris, contributing to their exhibition catalogue.
I also led two major initiatives: the international conference Music and Knowledge Making in the Eighteenth Century, and the documentary Sarasate et les Oiseaux du Chili. For the latter, I established a partnership between EHESS and the Philharmonie de Paris / Cité de la Musique, co-producers of the film. These initiatives—one scholarly, the other public-facing—required extensive coordination and were successfully delivered. I also submitted a proposal for a special journal issue based on the conference. This phase was especially productive for writing and finalising my monograph manuscript, Harmonic Enlightenment. Music, Science and Social Order.
The main outcomes of the project are the following:
1. Academic publications: one article, one book chapter and a co-edited book; forthcoming: one monograph, one journal special issue, two book chapters and two articles.
2. Outputs for wider audiences: a video documentary, three articles in museum catalogues.
3. Organisation of events: an international conference in France, an intersectoral conference in Chile, a workshop in Chile, two conference panels.
During the secondment in Paris, my work was divided between conducting research at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) and participating in seminars at the MNHN’s affiliated Centre Alexandre-Koyré. During the outgoing phase in Chile, I was integrated into Dr. Rafael Gaune’s research project El silencio de la misión, which evolved into a dynamic series of seminars, collective readings, and the co-organisation of a workshop. I also contributed to the preparation of a forthcoming volume of collected essays resulting from the project. In parallel, I collaborated on museum catalogues for the Museo de Arte Precolombino and the Museo Histórico Nacional, where I explored themes related to colonial music and sound through the analysis of textile iconography. My time in Chile also enabled me to establish connections with music and heritage scholars in Santiago and Valparaíso, which culminated in the organisation of an interdisciplinary conference on musical heritage at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.
The incoming phase at the Centre de Recherches Historiques (CRH) in Paris was especially enriching for both advanced training and knowledge exchange. I took part in a weekly seminar and two monthly seminars at CRH, alongside events at EHESS and other institutions. I built a strong professional network and joined several active research groups. Outside academia, I collaborated with musicians from the Orchestre de Paris and curators at the Musée de la Musique de Paris, contributing to their exhibition catalogue.
I also led two major initiatives: the international conference Music and Knowledge Making in the Eighteenth Century, and the documentary Sarasate et les Oiseaux du Chili. For the latter, I established a partnership between EHESS and the Philharmonie de Paris / Cité de la Musique, co-producers of the film. These initiatives—one scholarly, the other public-facing—required extensive coordination and were successfully delivered. I also submitted a proposal for a special journal issue based on the conference. This phase was especially productive for writing and finalising my monograph manuscript, Harmonic Enlightenment. Music, Science and Social Order.
The main outcomes of the project are the following:
1. Academic publications: one article, one book chapter and a co-edited book; forthcoming: one monograph, one journal special issue, two book chapters and two articles.
2. Outputs for wider audiences: a video documentary, three articles in museum catalogues.
3. Organisation of events: an international conference in France, an intersectoral conference in Chile, a workshop in Chile, two conference panels.
The project's research outcomes addressed all the project's research objectives. Many of the research outputs published or prepared during this period emerged directly from the interdisciplinary relationships and collaborations I established over the past three years. Notably:
—Co-edited the volume Instrumentos modernos. Objetos, Usos y Transformaciones (Siglos XVI–XVIII) with Chilean colleagues.
—My involvement in Rafael Gaune’s project led to the article Sonidos de América y conocimiento acústico en Roma (siglo XVII), forthcoming in a volume edited by Dr. Gaune.
—The article Ancient Harmony for a New Order: Mesmerism, Music, and Timaeus of Locri stemmed from a conference panel led by David Armando at La Sapienza, Rome.
—Contributed three articles to museum catalogues—two in Chile and one in France—highlighting the project's interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions.
—Proposed a special journal issue featuring eleven papers from the international conference I organised, now under peer review.
—Directed a video documentary co-produced by the Philharmonie de Paris and EHESS, coordinating a big team.
My research findings have been disseminated through a wide range of academic and public channels. I delivered 22 academic presentations at conferences and seminars, along with three public talks for wider audiences, two talks for academic service, and one radio interview. Additionally, I organised two major conferences:
—The two-day international conference Music and Knowledge Making in the Eighteenth Century, hosted at the Centre de Recherches Historiques (EHESS), featured 12 renowned international scholars who are leading experts in their fields.
—The Jornadas de Patrimonio Musical, held at the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, was an interdisciplinary and intersectoral conference.
Beyond these academic forums, the project’s public-facing outputs include a video documentary which is permanently and freely accessible via the official websites of EHESS and the Philharmonie de Paris. Additionally, my contributions to museum catalogues and exhibitions have served to communicate the project’s findings to broader, non-specialist audiences.
The potential socio-economic impacts and societal implications of the project are the following:
—Preservation, documentation, and dissemination of musical heritage
—Fostering sustainable partnerships between academic institutions and cultural organisations
—Advancing Interdisciplinary and decolonial research
—Creating educational content and audiovisual teaching tools which might be integrated into school or university curricula
—Fostering acknowledgement of previously marginalised voices through recovering and interpreting indigenous and Afro-descendant musical practices through colonial sources.
—Co-edited the volume Instrumentos modernos. Objetos, Usos y Transformaciones (Siglos XVI–XVIII) with Chilean colleagues.
—My involvement in Rafael Gaune’s project led to the article Sonidos de América y conocimiento acústico en Roma (siglo XVII), forthcoming in a volume edited by Dr. Gaune.
—The article Ancient Harmony for a New Order: Mesmerism, Music, and Timaeus of Locri stemmed from a conference panel led by David Armando at La Sapienza, Rome.
—Contributed three articles to museum catalogues—two in Chile and one in France—highlighting the project's interdisciplinary and intersectoral dimensions.
—Proposed a special journal issue featuring eleven papers from the international conference I organised, now under peer review.
—Directed a video documentary co-produced by the Philharmonie de Paris and EHESS, coordinating a big team.
My research findings have been disseminated through a wide range of academic and public channels. I delivered 22 academic presentations at conferences and seminars, along with three public talks for wider audiences, two talks for academic service, and one radio interview. Additionally, I organised two major conferences:
—The two-day international conference Music and Knowledge Making in the Eighteenth Century, hosted at the Centre de Recherches Historiques (EHESS), featured 12 renowned international scholars who are leading experts in their fields.
—The Jornadas de Patrimonio Musical, held at the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, was an interdisciplinary and intersectoral conference.
Beyond these academic forums, the project’s public-facing outputs include a video documentary which is permanently and freely accessible via the official websites of EHESS and the Philharmonie de Paris. Additionally, my contributions to museum catalogues and exhibitions have served to communicate the project’s findings to broader, non-specialist audiences.
The potential socio-economic impacts and societal implications of the project are the following:
—Preservation, documentation, and dissemination of musical heritage
—Fostering sustainable partnerships between academic institutions and cultural organisations
—Advancing Interdisciplinary and decolonial research
—Creating educational content and audiovisual teaching tools which might be integrated into school or university curricula
—Fostering acknowledgement of previously marginalised voices through recovering and interpreting indigenous and Afro-descendant musical practices through colonial sources.