Caterina Pasqualino first conducted various studies on minorities of the Mediterranean basin (which resulted in a book, Da Milocca a Milena. Un villaggio siciliano vent’anni dopo, Edizioni Scientifiche italiane, 1989, Napoli). She then began work on Gypsies, leading to her second book, Dire le chant. Les Gitans flamencos d’Andalousie (CNRS édition MSH, Paris, 1998). In this monograph, the first available on Gypsies in Andalusia, Caterina Pasqualino particularly innovated with her anthropological approach of Andalusian flamenco, a musical genre usually seen in folkloristic or musicological terms. CP is also a documentary film maker and her recent research has led her to reflect on the notion of performance in relation to voice and movement as identity and political issues.
Until recently, anthropology did not consider affects as a valuable object of study under the pretense that they represented either a negligible part or too subjective a part in a group’s social organisation. But, using video equipment and studying filmic material reveal the body as the medium of otherwise inexpressible manifestations that can be envisaged as a central site from which to study a society.
Some cultures lay greater emphasis than others on the practice of singing. The command of breathing, which constitutes a key to flamenco art, especially lies at the heart of conscious and unconscious preoccupations among Andalusian Gypsies. This calls for a set of investigations. Developing the voice establishes a relationship between interiority and exteriority linked to a conception of intimacy, relative to (notions of?) the body and to the territory on which the community lives. At a more general level, this raises the question whether a theory of breathing is at all possible. Elements for its elaboration are sought not only among groups who have developed a culture of breathing around song or speech, but also among sportsmen (especially divers diving without breathing apparatus), actors, people suffering from asthma, and followers of cultural or philosophical practices that give particular attention to breathing (e.g. yoga).
This seminar is aimed at comparing ritual performances in so-called traditional cultures with artistic performances in contemporary art. Looking for common grounds must yield the first steps towards elaboration of an anthropology of the intimate.
Flamenco gitan, CNRS éditions de poche , Paris (Dire le chant. Les Gitans flamencos d’Andalousie, CNRS édition ,1998), 2008.
Etudes Tsiganes, numéro spécial « Religions revisitées», n° 20, 2005.
«The Gypsies, Poor but Happy: A Cinematic Myth,» Third Text, 2008.
«Le ralenti comme instrument de connaissance. Filmer les chants gitans», in Yves Defranc et Luc Charles-Dominique, Ethnomusicologie et anthropologie musicale historique de l’espace français, Paris : L’Harmattan, 2008.
«Filming emotion: The Place of Video in Anthropology» , Visual Anthropology Review, spécial issue on European Anthropology, coéditeurs Peter di Biella et Colette Piault, vol. 23, n. 1, 2007, pp. 84-91.
«Voix perçante, voix étranglée. Signification de deux techniques vocales chez les Gitans d’Andalousie », in L. Charles-Dominique et J. Cler (dirs.)Vocalité dans les pays d’Europe méridionale et dans le Bassin méditerranéen, Actes du colloque de La Napoule, 2-3 mars 2000, Saint- Jouin de Milly, Editions Modal, 2002, pp. 43-50.
« Dire il canto: espressioni devozionali e relazioni di potere in Andalusia », communication au Seminario permanente di intercultura : dieci occasioni di studio, riflessione e confronto. Sincretismi e specificità locali nella musica di culture minoritarie, Florence, Università degli studi, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, 13 avril 2005.
«La souffrance comme identité. Les saetas des Gitans d’Andalousie », communication au colloque international Tsiganes et Méditerranée : les institutions comme espaces de rencontre, Aix-en-Provence, Institut d’ethnologie méditerranéenne et comparative, Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l’homme, 21-23 mai 2002.
«La souffrance dans la performance : le duende des Gitans d’Andalousie », communication au colloque Les sentiments doux-amers dans les chants et la littérature populaire, Bruxelles, 6-7-8 avril 2001.