1. Many people reading this blog post have some measure of privilege, whether from being middle class, or because of race (white), gender (male), (hetero)sexuality, and ability. This is obviously not any individual's "fault"! But when talking about inclusion, do acknowledge these factors, because one has personally benefited from being part of certain social groups (e.g. in social assimilation and professional recognition)—this is often termed “privilege,” and because these factors are the axes by which oppression is visited by society on BIPOCs, women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. I’m sure the last thing anyone intends to do is to create more pressures on marginalized peoples. Do complement any sort of discussion with critique of the factors that led to the centering of white, male, heterosexual, and able-bodied composers, often helped by white, male, heterosexual, and able-bodied writers throughout history. I call the acknowledging of one’s privilege, which inadvertently affects marginalized others without privilege, “self-accounting.” BIPOCs, women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities did not create the white, male, heterosexual, ableist canon.
2. In relation to point 1, do adopt a constructive approach and share strategies and resources. If one happens to have resources for musical inclusion with regards to e.g. ability, do share them with whomever you are having a conversation with; e.g. I received advice once to use built-in heading options in Word/Google Doc in my course syllabi, to help with readability and accessibility. Do be honest about where one is at in one's own journey of inclusion, and help others along the way. Avoid performative allyship that comprises posting comments to demonstrate one's inclusive orientation, but without offering anything else that is constructive.
3. Don't expect perfection from students or others. In pedagogy, students do go through a journey that takes several courses to complete (race, gender, sexuality ability; multiple geographies). E.g. There may be courses in black music histories (with women and queer composers), women composers (with BIPOC composers), LGBTQ+ composers (with BIPOC composers), and lesser known Western composers. I do expect students to be more and more attuned to inclusion, but there isn't one course that will help students to be 100% inclusive, and if it exists, it's may be because somebody tried to cram all the inclusive work into one course, while leaving other courses untouched. This is called tokenism.
4. Do learn about the issues involved, whether race, gender, sexuality, or ability. If one is unfamiliar with the issues involved, do assume the stance of a learner, and ask questions. People of marginalized groups may not always have the time to respond, but sometimes they will, depending on whether they have the capacity to do so. If marginalized people do not respond to your questions, don’t take it personally. This may simply be because marginalized people have busy lives; this is in part because dominant groups often want to learn from marginalized people, who find themselves conducting a lot of public communication. Do learn about global, black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latin American music histories. Do take the initiative to find the answers and develop an understanding of global history, periodization, composers, performers, transculturation etc.
5. Following from the point above, do develop a more layered understanding of marginalities. There is a real problem of “narrative scarcity,” a term from Asian American studies which refers to the extreme lack of representation. Let’s use the case study of concert music. If one were to specify queer black composers, 90% of people will think of Julius Eastman, because there is a scarcity of queer black composers, given the double oppressions of racism and homophobia. Or, if one were to specify Chinese women composers, 90% of people will think of Chen Yi, because there is a scarcity of Chinese women composers, given the double oppressions of racism and sexism.
6. One often expects the composers that one knows to be mentioned. However, this kind of expectation leads to canonization; already a huge segment of published work in English on global avant-garde composers are on Chou Wenchung. There are hundreds of countries, and hundreds of composers within each of these countries. Inclusion and diversity are anti-canonic principles.
7. Do consider whether one has been invited to take part in a conversation. If marginalized people want some help in amplifying a message, this will be made clear by explicit invitation or just social conventions.
Hope this helps!
