Exploring citizenship and belonging with two college music students of marginalised identities

ABSTRACT

In this study, I explore the experiences of two college music students of colour who founded and led an organisation for underrepresented music students by employing a theoretical framework of citizenship (Osler and Starkey 2005). According to Osler and Starkey (2005), citizenship refers to the practices and statuses of membership within an institution as well as to the affective dimensions of belonging. Findings include the benefits of peer support and identity-based coursework for music students of colour and the negative effects of peers’ pernicious attitudes as well as other threats to safety influenced by the campus climate. Citizenship provided a framework for centreing underrepresented students’ feelings of belonging and problematising the relationship between an institution of higher education and its stakeholders. Finally, I explore the implications of student organisations like Elevate, the group founded by the participants, for supporting music students of underrepresented identities.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship
• belonging
• diversity
• social justice
• race
• music education
• music teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Matthew C. Fiorentino is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Arizona State University. His research focuses on diversity in student teaching, equity in music teacher education, social justice including issues related to race and sexual identity, and string chamber musicianship.

Notes

1 Predominantly White institutions include universities and colleges where more than 50% of the student population is White. These institutions may also be referred to as ‘historically White colleges and universities’.

2 The name of the participants, their university, and their student organization, Elevate, are all pseudonyms. Participants’ self-identifying language was used to describe their cultural and professional identities.

3 These fictive classes were not taught in the institution in this study, but would make intriguing places to decentre Whiteness and colonial discourses in music education.