Cultural Diversity, Ecodiversity, and Music Education

Vincent C Bates,Daniel J Shevock,Anita Prest

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-65617-1_12

Vincent C Bates, Daniel J Shevock + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65617-1_12

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Abstract

AbstractDiversity discourses in music education tend toward anthropocentrism, focusing on human cultures, identities, and institutions. In this chapter, we broaden conceptualizations of diversity in music education to include relationships between music, education, andecology: understood as interactions among organisms and the physical environment. Diversity in music education can be realized by attending to the ongoing interrelationships of local geography, ecology, and culture, all of which contribute dynamically to local music practices. We situate our analysis within specific Indigenous North American cultures (e.g., Western Apache, Nuu-chah-nulth, Stó:lō, and Syilx) and associated perspectives and philosophies to shed light on the multiple forms of reciprocity that undergird diversity. Indigenous knowledge, in combination with new materialism and political ecology discourses, can help us come back down to earth in ways of being and becoming that are ecologically sustainable, preserving the ecodiversity that exists and grows in place, forging egalitarian relationships and a sense of communal responsibility, fostering reverence for ancestors along with nonhuman lives and topographies, and cultivating musical practices that are one with our respective ecosystems.

Highlights

When people discuss diversity in music education, they are usually referring to differences among social groups and institutions, often with political aims of promoting equity and culturally sensitive teaching relative to race, gender, and sexuality
The separation of Pangea into continents led to increased species diversity (Jordan et al 2016), the proliferation of which continued as organisms evolved to fit well within particular places (Ehrlich and Wilson 1991)
We argue that respect for diversity relies on respect for localism on its own terms, or in other words, a grassroots “pluriverse” (Esteva and Prakash 2014)

Summary

Introduction

When people discuss diversity in music education, they are usually referring to differences among social groups and institutions, often with political aims of promoting equity and culturally sensitive teaching relative to race, gender, and sexuality. Sometimes other considerations such as dis/ability, class, and religion come into play, but even the most inclusive and intersectional analyses tend to be anthropocentric—centered on human experiences, needs, and desires, regardless of impacts on nonhuman beings and places. We recommend efforts in fostering ecodiversity in and through music education as means to environmental sustainability

Ecodiversity

Indigenous North American Philosophies

Music Education for Ecological Sustainability

Conclusion