“Where are you from?” - Navigating Oppression, Power, and Privilege in Music Therapy Spaces: A Critical Autoethnography on Intersectional Identities

Abstract

<p><strong>This research explored a Filipino student music therapist’s experience exploring their intersectional identities while on placement in aged-residential care settings. The use of a critical autoethnography enabled the student to examine their experience deeply, and through thematic analysis of session notes, reflexive and reflective journals, and supervision discussions, four themes emerged: 1) Locating the self, 2) Enhancing connection in and around therapeutic interactions, 3) Dissonance in and around therapeutic interactions, and 4) Restorative practices. The findings highlight the ways in which the intersectional identities of both the student music therapist and residents/ music therapy participants interact. Depending on the situation, the music therapist experiences subjugation through microaggressions directed at their minority identity(ies), however, the residents experience subjugation when they encounter the unchecked biases or privilege’s held by the music therapist. These findings relate to broader ideas of accountability, self-compassion, and intersectionality. Accountability enables reflection on how our role as music therapists affords us power, and that we should strive to develop awareness of our unchecked biases and privileges. Self-compassion provides music therapists with minority identities a framework to address their subjugation without decontextualizing or invalidating the lived experiences of music therapy participants. Intersectionality allows the music therapist to hold onto the complexities that arise across therapeutic interactions and acknowledge that not all differences require resolution. Engaging critically and reflexively with our intersectional identities is crucial as they inform our experience as music therapists, and therefore, how our participants experience music therapy.</strong></p>