Cultural Awareness Through Music Study: Fostering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education Vocal Music Curriculum

Abstract

The educational research study explored ways to bring history into musical art fostering a deeper attentiveness to diversity, equity, and inclusivity in higher education music studies in North America. It explored the historic narrative of the Indigenous Beothuk people of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada through music. The study focused on the opera Shanawdithit by Canadian composer Dean Burry, and Indigenous Canadian librettist, Yvette Nolan as an example of how music curriculum can be reconsidered and reimagined. The anthropological and archeological history of the Indigenous Beothuk people - as was taught in Canadian history was filtered through a Western European lens. The musical work reconceptualized the story of Shanawdithit - considered the last of the Beothuk people in Newfoundland and was told from an Indigenous perspective. As well, other notable works by Canadian Indigenous will be presented in this study. As both Canada and the United States explore Indigenous reconciliation, bringing works of underrepresented composers to higher education music study and performance offers a means to foster DEI and more cultural awareness in North American arts curriculum.