Music and Minorities Research Center (MMRC)

Ursula Hemetek is one of the most influential participants in international debates on ethnomusicological issues. Her reputation largely stems from the role she played in the development of a new subdiscipline within her field: minority research. Her work on new approaches, methods and theories for the study of marginalised groups and their music has had a major impact on the entire field of ethnomusicology. These debates were taken to an international level through the establishment of an international study group. In 2017, Ms Hemetek was appointed Secretary General of the International Council for Traditional Music, the largest international association in this field, underlining her role as a trailblazer in ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology deals with music in social contexts as well as with its use by and significance to communities and individuals. This field of research encompasses all of our worlds musics North Indian art music just as much as the music of the Burgenland Croats. The most important method with which ethnomusicology works is research done in the field, which forms the basis for empirically derived findings. Such fieldwork, which is either documentary or explorative in nature, involves the creation of audio and video documents. Both interpretations are essential and complementary parts of a comprehensive examination of cultures in general and musical cultures in particular. Thus, the most important (cooperation) partners of the researchers are the people whom they document. Music is powerful. It can be used for the purposes of identification and representation, but it can also be instrumentalised. Thus, it is an important socio-political factor, both for the dominant society as well as for marginalised groups. Ursula Hemetek therefore decided to study the music of marginalised groups, and particularly in Austria. During her research on Romani music, which began in 1988, she was witness to the prejudice and discrimination her research partners faced. The Austrian public at the time knew practically nothing about the Romani and were very prejudiced against them. Therefore, it was important for Ursula Hemetek to create different opportunities for her research results to have a significant impact on social policy, like public cultural presentations, concert performances by Romani musicians, symposia, publications, and public relations work. This principle made it possible to help shape socio- political discourses because it gave the main protagonists the power to speak or express themselves through music. The ability to intervene in these discourses requires an exact knowledge of the discussions taking place in the country in which the research is conducted. This knowledge, in turn, makes it possible to react through research. The groups that Ursula Hemetek studied were groups where a reaction was needed to burning problems. The depiction of urban space as a musical field shaped by immigration is one key approach to these problems. Possible topics include Turkish immigrants serving as a screen for Islamophobia, as well as the refugee movements of the last few years. International networking is a standard tool in this type of research. Since all these approaches deal with very different musical cultures, an essential aspect of this research is close collaboration with not only the research partners documented but also ethnomusicological experts on the individual cultures. Knowledge of the different languages involved is equally important, as is knowledge of the musical cultures. For Ursula Hemetek, ethnomusicology is a participatory science and a field that comes with social responsibility. She therefore plans to use the Wittgenstein Award funding to found an international research centre for ethnomusicological minority research at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. The centre will be committed to the principle of sustainability which in research means the promotion of young researchers, among other things. Establishing the centre at a university is also meant to ensure the sustainability of its activities. Researchers from different parts of the world and at different stages of their careers will be able to pursue research projects and work in their specific areas of interest at the centre, joining forces to further develop minority research in ethnomusicology and to find ways to apply their insights through social policy actions. They will thus be able to use the power of music to develop a more equitable society.

The 2018 Wittgenstein Award helped establish a thriving research center: the Music and Minorities Research Center (MMRC) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. The MMRC explores the role music plays in relationships between dominant and marginalized social groups. Its definition of a minority is based not on numbers but on power relations. Its research spans local, national, and global levels, considering socio-political conditions and historical perspectives. Because the mechanisms of marginalization and the meanings of "minority" differ greatly worldwide, the center's socio-political engagement, one of its cornerstones, is guided by the circumstances of each context. Since the center opened in November 2019, the funding has supported numerous research projects. Some illuminate international specifics ("Ethnic and Social Minorities in China"), others address pressing contemporary problems ("Music in the Experience of Forced Migration from Syria to the European Borderland"), and others examine local expressions of music and inequality ("Klingender Gemeindebau," "Ružake gila - Ruža's Songs," "Challenging the Theater of Memory: Yiddish Song beyond Kitsch and Stereotype"). These projects drew on a broad range of methods from the social sciences, humanities, and artistic research. From the outset, a central goal was to support early-career researchers. To this end, the MMRC built an infrastructure that serves as a research venue and provides seed funding and advice on securing third-party grants. This strategy enabled further externally funded projects that greatly expanded its research field, with projects in Ghana, India, and Namibia, on deaf choirs, and on the ex-Yugoslav music scene in Vienna. The MMRC's events foster exchange within the research community and dialogue with the wider public. At the annual MMRC Lecture, scholars from different disciplines engage with artistic contributions, opening new perspectives on a shared theme. It draws great interest both on site and online. The MMRC's symposia are also well established. The dialogue-driven symposia "The Power of Music" (2022) and "Between Research and Activism" (2026) brought together local activists and international researchers, creating a space for productive exchange on socially and politically engaged scholarship. Research findings were disseminated at international conferences and in various publication forums. The online journal Music & Minorities, founded in 2021, is a diamond open-access journal, the first devoted to music and minority studies. Its special collections, appearing at irregular intervals, are closely tied to MMRC projects, pooling international expertise and setting priorities in scholarly debate. The MMRC has also developed notable expertise in digital exhibitions, two already published ("Ružake gila" and "Objects and the Archive"). Today, the MMRC is a research center with international reach and strong local roots, providing vital scholarly and socio-political impetus. It actively seeks exchange with institutional partners and with committed initiatives and advocacy groups from relevant communities.