"Not Really Music I Was Interested In": The Musical Lives of Four African American Youths

• In Event: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Music Education

Abstract

This multiple case study of the musical lives of four African American youths considers how they navigate the racialized nature of different music learning contexts. My analysis draws from tenets of critical race theory (CRT) to explicate how whiteness as property functions at structural and curricular levels in terms of the right to use and enjoyment and the absolute right to exclude. The data indicate that school music learning contexts in many ways did not reflect the participants’ home music learning contexts regarding the genres of music with which they engaged or the pedagogies they employed for music learning. The implications suggest that music educators resist colorblind approaches to music learning and critically evaluate access discourses within the field.

Author

• Jess Mullen, The Pennsylvania State University