A Philosophical Extension of Critical Multiculturalism: Ethically Engaging With Indigenous Musics

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Issues in Music Education (Table 6)

Abstract

Music education philosophers wrestle with the complexities of engaging students with multicultural music (e.g., Abramo, 2007; Hess, 2012; Morton, 2001). Critical multiculturalism “concerns itself with issues of justice and social change and their relation to the pedagogical” (Kincheloe & Steinberg, 1997, p. 27) and highlights subjugated knowledge that challenge mainstream power narratives. In this philosophical inquiry, I extend Kincheloe and Steinberg’s (1997) conception of critical multiculturalism to include 1) acknowledging students’ emotional responses to music classes taught through a critical multicultural lens, and 2) treating Indigenous Musics as a gift in the Indigenous sense as described by Potawatomi scholar Kimmerer (2013) rather than as a consumerist commodity.

Author

• Morganne K. Aaberg, Indiana University