YCAR External Research Associate
Research Keywords:
Ethnomusicology; martial arts studies; kung fu; lion dance; percussion music; martial sound; ritual; Chinatown; Chinese Canadians; Cantonese diaspora; embodiment; ethnography; phenomenology
Research Region(s):
Hong Kong
Research Diaspora(s):
Chinese Diaspora
Writ large, Colin P. McGuire's research centres on the intersections of music and martial arts. By investigating choreomusical connections between sound and movement, McGuire seeks to reveal people’s embodied being-in-the-world. Between 2008 and 2016, he conducted participant observation and performance ethnography fieldwork on Chinese kung fu, the lion dance ritual, and percussion music at Toronto, Canada’s Hong Luck Kung Fu Club (est. 1961). McGuire has also used archival and online research methods to study the most famous song in Hong Kong kung fu movie history as a Cantonese transnational anthem. Through phenomenological investigations of lived experience, identity construction, and evolving traditions, he contributes to broader discussions of embodiment and diaspora. McGuire's work has received support from both the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Irish Research Council (IRC).