Acceso usuarios
F or the past twenty years, studies of music have used more and more frequently the notion of identity. Yet the meanings given to “ identity ” in these studies, and the functions ascribed to it, have not always been precisely defined. This paper tries to clarify the relationship between music and identity configurations. Based on studies dealing with the theory of identity and with musical iden- tities, it suggests that the social significations of music – identitarian significations included – must be understood as resulting from the intertwining of production, reception and the musical object itself. Music is not a language, but a symbolical system whose interpretants are infinite, it can consequently generate many diverse interpreta- tions, which vary according to situations and stakes, and it needs to be specifically fashioned to be put to political uses.
