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Panelist, "White Stories, Black Histories, and Desegregating the Music Curriculum" (Philip Ewell)

A 45-minute lecture by Philip Ewell (Hunter College, CUNY), followed by a 45-minute discussion panel featuring myself, Dwight Andrews (Emory University), and Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk (Emory University). (links to event description and to register)

Abstract: In certain languages the words for “history” and “story” are the same, as in French (histoire) or Russian (история). There are of course differences. “History” usually implies an accurate account of past events, a summary of what happened over a period a time, while “story” usually refers to events that may or may not accurately reflect on the past, embellished as necessary by the “storyteller.” But in this distinction race is rarely mentioned. Anyone, irrespective of race, can write histories or tell stories, yet with remarkable consistency in the academic study of music in the U.S., our histories have been written by white persons, usually men, passing from generation to generation with little divergence from the main narratives of “great works” of the “western canon.” And when a nonwhite voice challenges the white narrative, efforts to stifle that voice are swift and sever, and all too often whiteness will accuse nonwhiteness of “storytelling,” a common critique of Critical Race Theory these days. In short, white persons write histories, while nonwhite persons tell stories. In this talk I’ll expand on music’s histories and stories, and explain why, in fact, the common American music curriculum is still quite segregated along racial lines, like much of the country writ large, mostly because of the distinction between history and story. I’ll then suggest that we don’t need to “decolonize” the music curriculum—that’s too vague—but, rather, that we need to desegregate it and foreground race in our discussions so that all racial musics, and musical races, have a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation.

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April 30

Colloquium, “‘Stay in Your Own Backyard’: Race, Purity, and the Cost of ‘Keeping it Barbershop’”

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March 1

Panelist, "Let's Start From the Beginning: Equity in Music Theory and History"