Decolonization for Ethnomusicology and Music Studies in Higher Education

Alternative to what? Alternative Strings, Colonialism, and Decolonizing the String Curriculum

“…Decolonization has very real potential to directly change the conditions in which our students learn and develop as musicians. Decolonization is defined by some as the process of rejecting Euro-centricity in favor of indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing in which individuals and systems subvert established norms (Bradley 2006; Chávez and Skelchy 2019). In this paper, I choose to frame decolonization as a verb to recognize that no single action can entirely transform a string classroom, as decolonization requires “political engagement and structural fracture” (Chávez and Skelchy, 118) that go beyond the theoretical.…”

“…But we are far from the first to experience the feeling of despair in the face of overwhelming injustice, and Freire (1970, 91–92) recognized the potential for immense injustice to, in fact, catalyze hope, not destroy it: “the dehumanization resulting from an unjust order is not a case for despair but for hope, leading to the incessant pursuit of the humanity denied by injustice.” We cannot and we will not abdicate our responsibility to engage meaningfully with colonization to avoid the labor of decolonizing our field (Kallio 2019, 3). The work begins with concrete choices, practical knowledge, and actualized theory (Chávez and Skelchy 2019).…”

“…Hence, any approach to "decolonization" we might take must grapple with this philosophical conflict: that decolonizing string education may be impossible. 1 This conflict is significant, and it is messy (Hess 2018), so much so that other music education scholars have also questioned the legitimacy of truly decolonizing their fields (Bradley 2012;Chávez and Skelchy 2019;Kallio 2019). Knowing just how deep the roots of injustice grow can lead us to question whether we are strong enough to dig them up.…”

Exploring Decolonization, Music, and Pedagogy

“…Whether aimed at required or elective elements, initiatives addressing curricular or disciplinary reform in music have increased in the academy in recent years. These have been motivated by a variety of concerns, including race and ethnicity (Ewell 2020;Guerrero et al 2007;Hisama 2016Hisama , 2018a, diversity (Epstein et al 2019;Ingraham et al 2017;Madrid 2017), and broader goals of modernization or updating the curriculum (Campbell et al 2014;Moore 2017;Hisama 2018b), along with decolonization directly (Levitz 2017;Chávez and Skelchy 2019;Stimeling and Tokar 2020;Walker 2020). 11 Each semi-autonomous subdiscipline of music has members who are addressing curricular reform and increasingly includes power, race, and colonialism.…”

Sonic Histories of Occupation

“…Will simply shifting the focus of sound studies towards the so-called Global South change the fact the term itself has been formulated through colonialism and coloniality? (Chávez and Skelchy 2019). As Steingo and Sykes (2019) observe in Remapping Sound Studies, if the presumption that the South and sound lie at the heart of modernity, avoiding the reproduction of colonial logic may rest on approach and methodology rather than a simple remapping.…”