By Oscar Odena. A visiting researcher hosted in 2015, Andrea Rodríguez-Sánchez, has co-authored a methodological article with Odena (Robert Owen Centre) and Cabedo-Mas (University Jaume I, Spain) on the uses of sound postcards for researching the experiences of displaced people. The article draws on a pilot with ten participants and outlines the development of a methodology for researching the Colombian state-funded social music programme ‘Music for Reconciliation’. Findings show the contributions of sound postcards as part of life histories for capturing the experiences of displaced people in a country recovering from war. Their evocative capacity enriched the interviewees’ narrative, illustrating diverse sonorous landscapes throughout their lives that evidenced the changes generated by both the violence and programme participation. The authors propose that sound postcards ought to be considered as a way of enriching traditional qualitative methods, in search of new types of sensory data that enable participants to better elicit and reflect on their experiences. They could be used by researchers and practitioners based in the arts, humanities, health and social sciences with an interest in the uses of music and music education for other-than-musical purposes. The methodology was developed during a 3-month visit by Andrea to the University of Glasgow’s Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change. Subsequently she collected the data in Colombia, including the photo of young players illustrating this post, assisted by the International Peace Research Association Foundation. The article was published in the British Journal of Music Education, Volume 35(2), pages 177-190, and can be accessed as the accepted version on the university repository at http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/152053/ or as the published version on the journal’s Cambridge University Press website at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051717000298
[image by A. Rodríguez-Sánchez]