Oct 28, 2017 | 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM | Loft 2

Justin Jalea, MA

Seeking resonance: Revitalizing social justice discourse through the inclusivity of music-making

Music and musicians are often found at the forefront of social change. Given music’s ability to create visceral aesthetic experiences whose outcomes produce effects such as increased empathy, this should not be surprising. However, music and the arts more broadly tend to be overlooked or dismissed as effective agents of change. Succumbing to this trend would be to the detriment of the social justice enterprises that ultimately seek to create equitable environments and create conditions that enable human flourishing – aims that are easily fostered through music.

Music is known to build collective identity, unify individuals and direct them toward a common cause, spark individual and cultural expression, and give a voice to the marginalized or oppressed. Moreover, music has been used to resolve conflict and as a teaching tool to convey democratic values of diversity and inclusivity –goals that are shared by proponents of social justice. Indeed, music offers both content and method for promoting a more just and equitable society.

This presentation will explore the contribution that music, as a form of non-violent, inclusive communication, can make, in achieving social justice aims. By its nature music-making is a collaborative process that establishes a fundamental norm of equality among its participants and has the potential to convey this sentiment to others through performance, pedagogy, or both.

I will draw on my experiences as Coordinator of Social Justice Initiatives for the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, a youth chorus dedicated to overcoming the segregation endemic in New York schools, as well as my work in human rights where I foster collaborations between music organizations and NGOs that seek to rectify systemic injustices. My work with such groups seeks to infuse the core principles of music-making into traditional rights practices.

Mr. Erik Mortensen, MA

The Danger of Vigilantes of Social Justice

This talk will be built out of my dissertation research on the vigilante as a mythic figure in American culture, and its role in the creation of a more violent culture in America. The vigilante is often held up as a heroic figure within American narratives. It is the narrative of vigilante figure that are both historical and fictional that will be explored in this talk. While not all people will view all vigilantes as heroes, every position on the political spectrum has a vigilante figure they can point to as a hero, and this is a dangerous element of American culture. When a vigilante is viewed as a figure seeking justice this presents the possibility of reading historical and fictional figures as vigilante heroes through their use of violence to obtain their goal of justice. There are not just vigilantes of law and order, but vigilantes of social and economic justice as well. This establishes how figures that are labelled as terrorists or criminals by some are venerated as vigilante heroes by others. The various forms of ethnically formed crime gangs and mobs are viewed as criminals by the law, but romanticized and seen as folk heroes by members of their minority community in America. The Klu Klux Klan, The Minute Men, The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, and the American Indian Movement are able to be viewed as criminals or vigilante heroes depending on the perspectives of the individual crafting the narrative about these figures – including if it is a narrative created by the group themselves. This romanticizing of the vigilante figure has also been aided by the legal show of support in the past to vigilante action and within fictional narratives, as well as the vigilante actions of law officials throughout history.

David Harris, BA

Through the Storm, Through the Night...We Gon' Be Alright: A Survey of African-American Protest Music

This paper examines the historical link between African-American social and resistance movements and the music that developed out of those particular periods of American history. Music and resistance are at the heart of the African-American experience, and by extension, Black social movements. By examining these ties across four unique “protest eras,” this paper draw attention to the long-reaching connection between the music and the motion/action of African-American resistance. The time periods studied begin with the era of slavery and continuing through the long Civil Rights Movement (roughly 1930s to mid-1960s) and the Black Power era (mid-1960s to 1990), culminating with the #BlackLivesMatter era (2010s to the present). Through these eras, this paper will highlight the role and development of social resistance within the African-American community and present a sample of the era’s most defining and revolutionary sounds. Through this research, the contemporary social movements will be seen as in tune with rather than in contrast with their historical predecessors.