Set on the Italian island of Sardinia, Sing Me Back Home explores language and culture through songwriting as an ethnographic method. Based on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork writing songs with Sardinian musicians, artisans, shepherds, poets, and language activists, Kristina Jacobsen asks: How are Sardinian lives and language ideologies narrated against the backdrop of American music?

The book shows how Sardinian musicians sing their own history between the lines. It reveals how Sardinian songs become a site of transduction where, through the process of songwriting, recording, and performance, the energy from one genre of music and lingua-culture is harnessed to signal another one much closer to home.

Sing Me Back Home is accompanied by original songs written and recorded in the field, with links to songs in each chapter. It includes songwriting prompts and lyrics, a glossary of key terms, and photographs from the field. Drawing on work from critical collaborative research, auto-ethnography, public anthropology, arts-based research, and ethnographic poetry, this sensory ethnography offers new ways for us to hear culture through stories and songs.

This multi-sensory ethnography invites readers and listeners to discover the Italian island of Sardinia through storytelling, music, and song.

What the Critics are Saying:

“Sing Me Back Home demonstrates the strength and efficiency of ethnographic songwriting as a research tool. Jacobsen offers a rich and original interpretation of Sardinia’s contemporary linguistic dynamics and music culture.”

Ignazio Macchiarella, University of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy)

“Through this rich and detailed account, Jacobsen presents an ethically meaningful model for how researchers might conduct fieldwork through the collaborative co-creation of artistic works. A fascinating and essential read for creative ethnographers and the fields of anthropology and ethnomusicology.”

Kael Reid, York University

“Jacobsen delivers a brilliant ethnography. Through her sensuous descriptions of Sardinian social life, she offers us a new way to explore the hidden dimensions of language, song, and culture. This soulful work is destined to become an anthropological classic.”

Paul Stoller, West Chester University