Humanizing the Political: Field Experiences and Current Events Converge

• In Event: 61.055 - Music Education in the Contexts of Race, Religion, Culture, and Current Events

Abstract

This study examined the impact of a cultural immersion field experience on pre-service music teachers’ beliefs, assumptions, and understandings of cultural politics in schools and communities. The field experience took place in Dearborn, MI, a community with large Arab, Muslim, immigrant, and refugee populations during the election and early days of Donald Trump’s U.S. presidency. Findings suggest that participants’ perceptions of and assumptions about Arabs, Muslims, immigrants, and refugees changed as a result of their experience, and led to a deepened understanding of the impact of cultural politics in schools and communities.

Author

• Andrea VanDeusen, East Carolina University