Certain classes at Elizabethtown College are famous for real-world learning experiences in spirit of the College’s “Educate for Service” motto. In Dr. Kevin Shorner-Johnson’s World Musics class, this is certainly the case. “Many of us at Etown are working to design experiences that change us and that we remember for the rest of our lives,” Shorner-Johnson said. “We are seeking to move beyond sit-and-get lectures as a part of the Etown experience.” Students taking this class are required to complete a research project on the role of music in a culture, specifically Karen people.
“Karen is a term used to describe an ethnic group that has traditionally resided within the country of Burma/Myanmar,” Shorner-Johnson said. “Due to complicated ethnic struggles within this country, those who are in power have persecuted this culture. There are many violent stories of Karen homes being burned and people being executed, tortured, raped or forced to work simply because of their ethnic heritage.”
Because of this group’s persecution, the surrounding area has been affected as well. “Central Pa. has been a point of relocation for many Karen refugees who were granted entrance to the United States,” Shorner-Johnson said. “I began this project because I’m fascinated by such a beautiful culture, and I also feel a calling to lift up the voices of those who are often ignored. Because it is a project in world musics, we are interested in the role of music in creating and maintaining an identity among refugees from Southeast Asia.”
The goal of this project is to contact several people within the Etown area who identify themselves as Karen and interview them. The students conduct, transcribe, code and analyze these interviews. Through these methods, Shorner-Johnson hopes that both he and his students will have a research document that helps to better understand the Karen culture and the role of music among the people of that culture.
As well as having a better understanding of another culture, Shorner-Johnson hopes that his students take away his love for qualitative research. “I love the process of listening to people, hearing their stories and honoring these stories through disciplined inquiry,” he said. “Even more than this, I love the process of discovering research and listening to stories with students.”
Shorner-Johnson’s current project is similar to another project of his from last May. “In this class, we researched the role of music within a particular evangelical Hispanic church in Harrisburg,” he said. “It was fascinating to learn about the role of music in worship and the role of music in bringing together a group of people who were from different kinds of nationalities. In this experience, I found out just how much I love exploring qualitative research with Etown students. It was so much fun to experience and share a sense of discovery as we learned about the stories of diverse individuals.”
“I created the Karen research project because I wanted to create a similar experience for Etown students during the academic school year,” Shorner-Johnson said. “The first research project was led by only two Etown students — I’m interested to see if the project is also successful when it has as many as 10 students working on the project at the same time. I also have an investment in finding out if this works, because I created a piece of online software, qualQuery, that is designed to support undergraduate experiences in qualitative research. I’m interested to find out if this piece of software works with a larger group of students.”
Because of projects like these, Shorner-Johnson has gained a better world view. “This is an incredible project and already the stories that we have collected have been amazing and have changed my perspective and awareness of what I take for granted,” Shorner-Johnson said. “I’m in awe of people who have survived so many hardships and yet are some of the most beautiful individuals that I have met. I have so much respect for their values of family and the way that members within the Karen culture care for each other. I believe that we have a lot to learn from this amazing culture.”
