Manipulating Racist Folk Songs: Problematizing the Practices of Erasing and Re-placing.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	Manipulating Racist Folk Songs: Problematizing the Practices of Erasing and Re-placing.
Authors:	Cicco, Ian¹
Source:	Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education. Feb2024, Vol. 23 Issue 1, p58-79. 22p.
Subject Terms:	*Music teachers, Anti-racism, Folk songs
Abstract:	The purpose of this philosophical inquiry is to problematize the assumptions underlying elementary music teachers' choice to both erase folk songs from their curricula and to replace lyrics with racist associations. Erasing is defined as a process in which music educators remove certain folk songs with racist origins entirely from their repertories, whereas replacing is defined as a process in which music educators adapt texts of certain folk songs with racist origins and thereby change the musical stories of those songs. I argue that both choices are insufficient for teaching students about the historical legacy of contemporary racism. Next, I propose erasing-as-dismantling and radically replacing as two sequential processes in lieu of the simplistic choices to erase and replace. Subsequently, I conceive of thoughtfully erasing to radically replace as a practice during which white teachers decenter whiteness and center the lived experiences of the Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian/Pacific Islander (BBIA) community [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education is the property of Mayday Group and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	The purpose of this philosophical inquiry is to problematize the assumptions underlying elementary music teachers' choice to both erase folk songs from their curricula and to replace lyrics with racist associations. Erasing is defined as a process in which music educators remove certain folk songs with racist origins entirely from their repertories, whereas replacing is defined as a process in which music educators adapt texts of certain folk songs with racist origins and thereby change the musical stories of those songs. I argue that both choices are insufficient for teaching students about the historical legacy of contemporary racism. Next, I propose erasing-as-dismantling and radically replacing as two sequential processes in lieu of the simplistic choices to erase and replace. Subsequently, I conceive of thoughtfully erasing to radically replace as a practice during which white teachers decenter whiteness and center the lived experiences of the Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian/Pacific Islander (BBIA) community [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	15454517
DOI:	10.22176/act23.1.58