Systemic Racism and Whiteness in Music Education, with Dr. Juliet Hess and co-host Ethan Hein

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Music Education doctoral candidate Ethan Hein recommends “Equity and Music Education: Euphemisms, Terminal Naivety, and Whiteness” by Juliet Hess, published in Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 2017. Ethan and Finn interview Dr. Juliet Hess about this study and whiteness in music education, and addressing systemic racism from within our areas of academia.

Time Stamps

• [0:00:10] Intro with Ethan Hein
• [0:08:29] Interview: Dr. Juliet Hess, Background and Case Studies
• [0:18:50] Interview: Multiculturalism and Music
• [0:29:31] Interview: Whiteness in the Conservatory
• [0:36:19] Interview: Context and Implications
• [0:44:06] Interview: Future work
• [0:51:50] Closing with Ethan Hein

Show notes

• Recommended article:
  • Hess, J. (2017). Equity and Music Education: Euphemisms, Terminal Naivety, and Whiteness. Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 16(3). (HTML, PDF)
• Interviewee: Dr. Juliet Hess, Assistant Professor of Music Education at Michigan State University 
• Co-host: Ethan Hein, Doctoral Candidate in Music Education at New York University (website, twitter)
• Sources cited in the discussion:
  • Kendrick Lamar’s Alright (youtube)
  • Chris Thile’s performance on Prairie Home companion is no longer available
  • Emma Stevens – Blackbird by The Beatles sung in Mi’kmaq (youtube)
    • Correction: this performance is from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, not Newfoundland where there has been controversy around seal hunting. Both provinces are within the ancestral territory of Mi’kmaq People.
  • Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 2006. Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States. 2nd edition. Toronto, ON: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (Publisher page)
  • Juliet Hess (2018) Interrupting the symphony: unpacking the importance placed on classical concert experiences, Music Education Research, 20:1, 11-21, DOI: 10.1080/14613808.2016.1202224 (HTML)
  • Juliet Hess’ new book: 
    • Hess, Juliet. (2019) Music Education for Social Change: Constructing an Activist Music Education,  Routledge (Publisher page)

Credits

The So Strangely Podcast is produced by Finn Upham, 2019. The closing music includes a sample of Diana Deutsch’s Speech-Song Illusion sound demo 1.