To date, multiple U.S. states have passed legislation banning the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) and limiting teaching related to race, gender, CRT, and privilege under the umbrella term "divisive concepts." Against this backdrop, I argue that while CRT is not taught in schools, as a theory, it provides a crucial analytical and…

Across the globe, many countries are at a nexus of multiple crises. The COVID-19 pandemic, structural racism, the climate crisis, and a severe economic downturn have all converged. These crises have wreaked havoc on minoritized communities in particular. This moment requires imagination to write a different future -- to not return to the status…

As an enterprise, academic research is in the business of knowledge production--a practice through which researchers continually engage in speaking for or about others. This paper explores the colonial potential of research and ethnography in particular. I draw on Alcoff's framework (Alcoff, L. M. 1991. "The Problem of Speaking for…

Following the brutal murder of George Floyd by police office Derek Chauvin in summer 2020, interest in so-called "diversity" initiatives in schools of music across the U.S. and Canada has exploded. In this article, I put forward Derrick Bell's (1995) principle of interest convergence--a key tenet of critical race theory (CRT)-- in order…

Music educators and music education researchers often rely on the use of story when advocating for social change. We may use story to illustrate a need for resources, point to a systemic injustice, illustrate a need for policy change, or identify an exclusion. Allies often utilize stories of oppression to demonstrate the untenability of situations…

This work builds upon considerations of musicking that suggest processes of performing, creating, listening, and producing of music are sites for identity formation and meaning-making activities. In this project, I interviewed 20 activist-musicians about the following dimensions of identity and meaning-making in their work: (a) how they view the…

This article explores the informal and formal learning experiences of 20 activist-musicians. Multiple activist-musicians utilized the informal learning strategies Green identifies. More than half of the participants, however, bemoaned the lack of more formal music education. They noted that they valued informal musical learning practices and also…

Education discourse has recently turned toward resilience and grit. This article critiques the neoliberalism embedded in resilience education and the manner in which a resilience focus encourages docility, adaptation and vulnerability in youth in response to oppressive conditions rather than addressing oppression directly. As a site of resilience…

In the twenty-first century, many music education scholars seek to reconceptualize music education toward social justice. Critical pedagogy is at the forefront of this shift. However, as teachers aim toward equity through employing critical pedagogy, some undesired effects of using this teaching approach may arise. In this paper, I consider the…

In this paper, I advocate for the use of explicit language for discussions of race and call for music education to move out of terminal naivety (Vaugeois 2013) toward a heightened consciousness of political issues and racial oppressions. Employing critical race theory (CRT) as a theoretical framework, this paper examines race-related silences and…