Stephane Vincent B Aubinet

Postdoctoral Fellow - IMV stab

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Email s.v.b.aubinet@imv.uio.no

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Visiting address Sem Sælands vei 2 ZEB-bygningen 0371 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 1017 Blindern 0315 Oslo

Other affiliations Institutt for pedagogikk (Student)

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Academic interests

Sámi yoik
Lullabies
Anthropology

My current project is an anthropological reflection on lullabies, one of the most widespread musical genres in human cultures. It takes as a starting point the Sámi "dovdna" (individual yoik melodies attributed to infants) and three other European traditions, all of which border the lullaby genre without exactly corresponding to its standard definition. Through this large-scale, comparative, and interdisciplinary inquiry, nourished by literature reviews as well as ethnographic fieldwork in Sápmi, this project seeks to understand how humans lull children (and occasionally adults or animals) to sleep and how lullabies affect all actors involved: children, caretakers, and "invisible" forces. Along the way, the supposed "universality" of lullabies is discussed.

My first book, Why Sámi Sing (2023, Routledge), is based on my PhD thesis and explores the "yoik", a singing technique of the Indigenous Sámi people (Northern Europe), as a way of engaging with the environment. In Northern Norway, yoiks may be performed in everyday life, a cappella, and sometimes without lyrics, using a repetitive melody and vocables. The melody evokes a person, an animal, or a place, and brings that being to presence when sung. The book proposes a recursive approach to this craft, with particular attention to issues of knowledge, ontology, and non-human agencies.

Background

PhD in Humanities (University of Oslo)
BA in History of Art and Archaeology: Musicology (Université de Liège)
MA in History of Art and Archaeology: Musicology (Université catholique de Louvain)

Tags: Ethnomusicology, Nature/Culture, Music and Philosophy, Music and nature, Practice as research

Aubinet, Stephane Vincent B (2023). Berceuses et chants d’enfant arctiques : perspective circumpolaire. Textes & Contextes. ISSN 1961-991X. 18(1). Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Chez les peuples autochtones circumpolaires, en Eurasie comme en Amérique et au Groenland, des pratiques remarquablement similaires ont été documentées, consistant à attribuer aux nouveau-nés et aux enfants des chants individuels. Ceux-ci sont utilisés en tant que berceuses, c’est-à-dire afin d’accompagner l’endormissement, mais aussi pour consoler l’enfant, le motiver, le protéger, consolider son identité individuelle, susciter en lui joie, fierté ou embarras, sourires ou comportements infantiles, développer son attachement ou lui exprimer son amour et son attention. Cet article identifie un ensemble de similarités entre les traditions de peuples finno-ougriens, samoyèdes, paléoasiatiques et Inuit. L’hypothèse d’une diffusion par migrations à partir d’un foyer sibérien ou par échanges culturels continus entre populations circumpolaires est discutée. Cette étude souligne ainsi la propension des pratiques de l’intime à voyager et se maintenir avec une certaine permanence, en dépit des bouleversements sociaux et des expériences coloniales.
Aubinet, Stephane Vincent B (2022). Le chant Sámi dans le « folk metal » nordique : Permanences d’un imaginaire du Nord. DESHIMA, revue d'histoire globale des pays du Nord. ISSN 1957-5173. 16, p. 41–54.
Aubinet, Stephane Vincent B (2022). Bruken av ord og stavelser i samisk joik. In Karlsen, Ole & Markussen, Bjarne (Ed.), Sanglyrikk. Teori - Metode - Sjangrer. Scandinavian Academic Press. ISSN 978-82-304-0342-6. p. 313–335. Show summary
Lyrikken er den mest populære og utbredte av alle diktarter – vel å merke sanglyrikken, den som fremføres til musikk og formidles gjennom radio, grammofonplater, CD-er og strømmetjenester. Den omgir oss til daglig og er samtidig den eldste formen for lyrikk vi kjenner til. I det gamle Hellas ble diktene fremsagt til lyrespill. Til tross for dette har sanglyrikken vært mindre utforsket enn skriftlyrikken, og det har skortet på teoretiske og metodiske perspektiver. Det søker denne boka å råde bot på. Her diskuteres først de grunnleggende likheter og forskjeller mellom skrift- og sanglyrikk, mellom øye- og ørekunst. Videre drøftes metodiske innfallsvinkler til studiet av sanglyrikk, med tanke på samspillet mellom ord og musikk. Deretter gjør boka rede for en rekke kjente sanglyriske sjangrer: ballader, skillingsviser, salmer, joik, viser, blues, rock, indie-folk og rap. Boka er den første i sitt slag i Norge. Den er særlig rettet mot forskere og studenter i høyere utdanning, og lærere som vil arbeide med sanglyrikk i skoleverket. Men alle som interesserer seg for sanglyrikkens sjangrer, vil finne noe å glede seg over her.
Aubinet, Stephane Vincent B (2022). Meaning or presence? Ways of knowing of the Sámi yoik. American Anthropologist. ISSN 0002-7294. doi: 10.1111/aman.13742. Full text in Research Archive
Aubinet, Stéphane (2021). The Problem of Universals in Cross-Cultural Studies: Insights from Sámi Animal Melodies (Yoik). Psychology of Music. ISSN 0305-7356. 49(3). doi: 10.1177/03057356211024346. Full text in Research Archive
Aubinet, Stephane Vincent B & Malay, Olivier E. (2021). Transition and Resilience in Music: Insights from Folk Bals. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music. ISSN 0351-5796. 52(1), p. 147–164.
Aubinet, Stéphane (2020). Enchantment and Non-Human Voices in the Sámi Yoik. Cahiers de Littérature Orale. ISSN 2266-1816. 87, p. 195–215. doi: 10.4000/clo.8663. Full text in Research Archive
Aubinet, Stéphane (2017). Chanter les territoires Sámi dans un monde plus-qu’humain. L'Information géographique. ISSN 0020-0093. 81, p. 20–37. doi: 10.3917/lig.811.0020. Full text in Research Archive

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Aubinet, Stephane Vincent B (2023). Why Sámi Sing: Knowing through Melodies in Northern Norway. Routledge. ISBN 9781032328690. 183 p.

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Aubinet, Stéphane (2018). Sámi joik and the singing body as a more-than-human ecology.
Aubinet, Stéphane (2018). Musical notation and non-human voices in Sámi joik.
Aubinet, Stéphane (2018). Franchir l'horizon par la voix dans le joik Sámi (Laponie).
Aubinet, Stéphane & Malay, Olivier (2017). Democracy and transition in Belgian folk bals.
Aubinet, Stéphane (2017). Singing Sámi territories in a more-than-human world.
Aubinet, Stéphane (2017). Cohabiting With Wolves: Sámi joik and the Norwegian Environmental Policy.
Aubinet, Stéphane (2016). Chanter le territoire Sámi (Laponie).
Aubinet, Stéphane (2020). The Craft of Yoiking: Philosophical Variations on Sámi Chants. Nauka. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The yoik is a vocal technique practised by the Sámi of Northern Europe. It relies on circular melodies, chanted in everyday life and a cappella, with or without lyrics. Each melody evokes a particular being, usually a person, an animal species, or a place. ‘Yoiking them’ is a way of making them present, exploring an attachment, and unfolding memories. The yoik is considered by many of its practitioners as a gift received from the environment, a mysterious craft that they come to know through personal experience and experimentation. This thesis is based on conversations with yoikers, active in either the ‘traditional’ or ‘modern’ practices, and an apprenticeship in the craft of yoiking. It constitutes a series of essays, or ‘philosophical variations’, aimed at taking the yoik seriously and unfolding some of its philosophical affordances. As in the musical variations on popular melodies by classical composers, writing the yoik in variation means hosting it within another practice bearing its own constraints and possibilities. Practices of yoiking and writing are thus put in a dialogue at times converging, at times diverging, but always intended to be mutually stimulating. Various voices from social anthropology, ethnomusicology, psychology, theology, ethology, and the history of philosophy join the dialogue along the way. The variations are ‘philosophical’ in that each of them creates one concept: horizon, enchantment, creature, depth, echo, primordial. Each concept seeks to capture a layer of depth perceived in the yoik’s practice: (1) the risks of metamorphosis; (2) the chants of animals and the wind; (3) the creation of yoiks as outgrowths of the sensuous world; (4) the inner landscapes of humans; (5) the resurgence of past memories and of the dead; (6) the roots of human chants in a chthonic, original past; and (n) the power of repetition and interruption.

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Published Oct. 4, 2016 10:42 AM - Last modified June 13, 2023 11:24 AM

Research groups

Nordic Sounds: Critical Music Research Group