“Our Voices Matter” is my own reckoning as a music educator with homeplace in my music classroom using autoethnography as a method. My research is guided by the question “What is homeplace — for myself, my students, and for us together?” Data were collected through personal recollection, journal writing, vignettes, written interviews, public videos of student performances, blog posts, and news articles over a span of ten years of teaching at New Bridges Elementary in Brooklyn, NY. Data were analyzed through bell hooks’ definition of homeplace and Bettina Love’s usage of homeplace. I reckoned with the extent to which I experienced homeplace, perceived homeplace for my students, and actualized a homeplace that is welcoming of both my students and myself. Findings showed that my understanding of homeplace shifted over my ten years of teaching through the interactions with my students, and societal and cultural reckonings that inevitably affected the shared classroom space with my students. My use of language, content I taught, and personal voice were affected by pivotal experiences throughout my teaching career and personal life that started separately but ultimately intersected in my music classroom. The Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements collectively played active roles in the lived experiences of my students and me. The influences and intersections of these two movements in my elementary classroom led to multiple reckonings through unapologetic freedom dreaming where my students and I visioned futures that prioritize our racial identities, whole selves, and joy through music making, creating, and coexistence in shared space. In this study, I illuminate the complexities of my personal teaching practice and experience as a music educator that is inclusive of but also goes beyond music for music’s sake. The findings of my study may spark new understandings for educators about the ways that one’s positionalities and lived experiences affect the music classroom space. The findings may also be useful for those teachers grappling with the critical movements in our society which affect both our students and ourselves and require discussion and reckoning within the classroom. Although the findings are not meant to be extrapolated to any reader’s own classroom or students, this study reflects the emotional and mental shifts that have occurred in my teaching and being and as such may ignite personal reflection and shifts for the reader.

The concept of community cohesion is the centrepiece of the policy that was formulated by the British government in response to the urban disturbances in northern English towns during 2001. A number of official reports identified lack of community cohesion as the critical factor. The central argument for community cohesion, the self-segregation thesis, was based on evidence from Bradford. The core idea, parallel lives, was first articulated in the Ouseley Report and incorporated into the Cantle Report and subsequent government reports into the 2001 disturbances. The Commission for Integration and Cohesion widened the concept of community cohesion, which encompassed faith and ethnic groups, to include income and generation, suggesting that the concept was more complex than earlier definitions allowed. However, the increasing concern with terrorism has meant that Muslims remain the focus of debates on cohesion, and a conflation of the community cohesion programme with the government's anti-terrorism strategy is evident in the policy literature. Samad's article is based on research carried out in Bradford to unearth and explore the factors that enhance or undermine community cohesion in those areas where there are established Muslim communities and, additionally, those in which Muslim migrants have recently arrived. It scrutinizes the debate on a number of issues: the difficulties in defining and implementing community cohesion policy, and the issues of segregation, social capital, transnationalism and belonging. This data-driven analysis takes the main areas of debate and tests them with evidence from Bradford. The research findings challenge some of the fundamental assumptions that have informed government policy by providing new evidence that throws light on central aspects of the debate. The need to reflect on these assumptions became more relevant after the English riots of 2011, centred in London, and the subsequent necessity to develop an effective strategy that engages with their root causes.

Creating cross-cultural understanding amongst students and incorporating music from various cultures around the world has become essential in the field of music education, but still has a long way to go to become more mainstream. The incorporation of world music in teacher preparation programs and music classrooms varies greatly. While many researchers have studied these elements separately, very little research exists on the connection between the type of music teacher preparation, performance life outside the classroom, and world music experiences a teacher creates in the curriculum. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between: type of music teacher preparation, performance life outside of school, and world music experiences an individual teacher incorporates into their curriculum. This study used the sequential explanatory design model using a survey instrument (n=11) and participant interviews (n=9). Specifically, participants included secondary general music teachers working in Quaker schools in the United States with at least a bachelor's degree in music education. Quaker educators were included due to the population’s virtual exclusion from all current literature as well as their progressive outlook on education and inclusivity. Findings suggest that Quaker educators overwhelmingly have a desire to teach music from various cultures and utilize it in their classrooms mostly from professional development opportunities, despite their overall lack of training during their undergraduate coursework. While generalizable findings were difficult to explain due to a low number of participants in the survey, the qualitative interview data sheds a unique outlook on Quaker school teacher background and experience with world music. Implications for the field of music education and further research opportunities are also discussed. / Music Education

The United States has many problems currently, the most persistent of which is the issue of race, and the problem of Mass Incarceration. This thesis addresses what Mass Incarceration is, as well as developing a theoretical understanding of how to overcome Mass Incarceration through the music of Kendrick Lamar and The Black Lives Matter Movement. This thesis presents the questions: What is the era of Mass Incarceration? How does Kendrick Lamar's music inform the problems of Mass Incarceration? How does The Back Lives Matter Movement use this information to create a solidarity movement against the oppression of African Americans? What does this mean going forward? Creating a synthesis of Mass Incarceration, the music of Kendrick Lamar, and The Black Lives Matter Movement, that overlaps and propels an intersection of culture and activism that inform one another. This all leads to the main takeaway of the thesis, that attempts to provide an interpretive understanding that pop culture, social media, and activism have created a different civil sphere, a Black public sphere that informs and educates through different avenues. All in all this thesis shows that music, social movements, and policy are all interconnected, and the music of Kendrick Lamar and the activism of The Black Lives Matter Movement provide a catalyst for change in the era of Mass Incarceration. / Master of Arts / The United States has many problems currently, the most persistent of which is the issue of race, and the problem of Mass Incarceration. This thesis addresses what Mass Incarceration is, as well as developing a theoretical understanding of how to overcome Mass Incarceration through the music of Kendrick Lamar and The Black Lives Matter Movement. This thesis presents the questions: What is the era of Mass Incarceration? How does Kendrick Lamar’s music inform the problems of Mass Incarceration? How does The Back Lives Matter Movement use this information to create a solidarity movement against the oppression of African Americans? What does this mean going forward? Creating a synthesis of Mass Incarceration, the music of Kendrick Lamar, and The Black Lives Matter Movement, that overlaps and propels an intersection of culture and activism that inform one another. This all leads to the main takeaway of the thesis, that attempts to provide an interpretive understanding that pop culture, social media, and activism have created a different civil sphere, a Black public sphere that informs and educates through different avenues. All in all this thesis shows that music, social movements, and policy are all interconnected, and the music of Kendrick Lamar and the activism of The Black Lives Matter Movement provide a catalyst for change in the era of Mass Incarceration.

It’s about how researching pipes, a part of infrastructure and everyday life, can be a tool to see inequality in our society. To see how class issues and the consequences of capitalism are present in every corner of our everyday lives.   It has to do with seeing our cities as organisms, as bodies, connected by systems. Systems, transferring matter around, making the organism live and function. But the systems can be infected, and that will affect us.    It’s about connecting systems, to expose what’s hidden; the pipes buried in the grown, together with corporations’ greed.   It’s about depicting systems, with systems. Using weaving to produce material. To make components. Give the work ability to be in a state of possible transformation.   To make a visual comment, to start a conversation through craft.   It’s about creating systems, to make systems, that speaks of systems.

Depuis quelques années, la montée du mouvement Black Lives Matter a permis de voir une résurgence de mobilisations visant à contrer le racisme vécu plus particulièrement par les personnes noires. Comme dans d'autres régions occidentales, la ville de Québec a été la scène de quelques mobilisations. Ce mémoire cherche à comprendre la manière dont le militantisme de personnes noires au sein d'actions collectives antiracistes se manifeste dans la ville de Québec. En s'appuyant sur la théorie critique de la race et en utilisant une méthodologie de recherche qualitative, dix entretiens semi-dirigés ont été menés avec des personnes noires qui ont été impliquées, soit en tant qu'organisateur·trice·s ou participant·e·s au sein de mobilisations collectives antiracistes qui ont eu lieu dans la ville de Québec de 2017 à 2022. Il ressort des résultats de recherche que les individus engagé·e·s sont généralement des personnes qui vivent en Occident depuis longtemps. L'expérience du racisme et la reconnaissance de son impact négatif sur le vécu d'autres personnes noires semblent être des sources de motivation à s'engager. Alors que certains facteurs contribuent positivement à leur capacité à se mobiliser, tels que la stabilité professionnelle, un niveau d'éducation élevé, une forte personnalité et le soutien d'un réseau social, d'autres facteurs tels que la charge lourde de leur implication militante, la peur de subir des répercussions négatives conséquentes à leur engagement et parfois le manque d'inclusivité dans les milieux antiracistes peuvent entraver leur implication militante et même contribuer à la détérioration de leur bien-être mental. L'analyse des résultats met également en lumière trois types de registres d'actions collectives antiracistes : socioculturel, sensibilisation et protestation. Ces actions sont souvent portées par des organisations à but non lucratif qui favorisent le consensus comme mode de prise de décision et qui tendent à travailler ensemble. Le principal constat qui émerge des résultats au sujet de la perception de l'impact du militantisme antiraciste dans la ville de Québec est que cette mobilisation aurait très peu d'impacts sur le plan des changements sociopolitiques antiracistes à cause de la difficulté de faire reconnaitre l'existence du racisme dans la ville de Québec, du peu de personnes mobilisées lors des actions et du manque de moyens financiers et matériels des organisations. Malgré cela, il apparait tout de même que les mobilisations antiracistes auraient contribué à créer un sentiment de communauté et de solidarité entre les personnes engagées et à rendre les enjeux de racisme plus faciles à aborder dans la ville de Québec selon les participants·e·s, dénotant ainsi qu'il y aurait eu une certaine sensibilisation sur la reconnaissance du racisme. / In recent years, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has led to a resurgence of mobilizations aimed at countering the racism experienced more particularly by black people. As in other Western regions, Quebec was the scene of some mobilizations. This dissertation seeks to understand how the activism of black people manifests itself within anti-racist collective actions in Quebec City. Drawing on critical race theory and using qualitative research methodology, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with Black people who were involved, either as organizers or participants within collective anti-racist mobilizations that took place in Quebec City from 2017 to 2022. It appears from the research results that the individuals involved are generally people who have been living in the West for a long time. The experience of racism and the recognition of its negative impact on the lives of other Black people appear to be sources of motivation for their engagement. While some factors positively contribute to their ability to mobilize, such as professional stability, a high level of education, a strong personality and the support of a social network, other factors such as the heavy burden of their activist involvement, the fear of facing negative repercussions due to their engagement and, at times, the lack of inclusiveness in anti-racist environments can hinder their activism and even contribute to the deterioration of their mental well-being. The analysis of the results also highlights three types of registers of anti-racist collective actions: sociocultural, awareness-raising and protest. These actions are often carried out by non-profit organizations which favor consensus as a method of decision-making and which tend to work together. The main finding from the results on the perception of the impact of anti-racist activism in Quebec City is that this mobilization would have very little impact on anti-racist sociopolitical changes due to the difficulty to acknowledge the existence of racism in Quebec City, the limited number of people mobilized during the actions and the lack of financial and material resources for organizations. Despite this, it appears that anti-racist mobilizations have contributed to creating a sense of community and solidarity between the people involved and have made issues of racism easier to address in Quebec City according to the participants, indicating that there has been some awareness regarding the recognition of racism.

This study explores the spontaneous singing of three- and four-year-old children at home, with emphasis on how young children use singing in their everyday lives. Spontaneous singing pervades the everyday lives of young children and can provide insights into a child's musical and extra-musical experience at home. Although several studies have examined spontaneous singing in educational settings, young children's musical lives at home are rarely studied in detail. The home is a difficult space to access, and data collection methods often rely on parental reporting. As a result, some types of singing have been overlooked. Located within the sociocultural theoretical tradition, this thesis draws on and develops theories of musical agency to explore how children act musically to engage with others and manage their own experience. Audio data were collected using LENA all-day recording technology supplemented by semi-structured parental interviews. Over 183 hours of audio recording were collected from 15 children (7 boys, 8 girls), aged between 3:0 and 4:10 years (average age 3:8). The children were recorded for continuous periods during their normal everyday routines. The recordings contained more than nine hours of spontaneous singing in total. The data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis with an element of embedded numerical analysis. Interpretive analysis indicated that the children sang to act on themselves and manage social interactions. Spontaneous singing was used as a tool through which the children could realise personal and social agency and influence themselves and others. The children used different modes of singing in social and solitary contexts, demonstrating knowledge of culturally meaningful ways of singing. The home musical environment, and particularly parental singing, appeared to influence the way young children use singing in their everyday lives. This research used an innovative methodology to access young children’s singing in the home. The findings contribute to a greater understanding of young children’s musical behaviours and the home musical lives of young children. Further, the thesis provides an original contribution to the understanding of how young children use spontaneous singing as musical agents acting in and on the world around them. This research has educational implications relating to the way young children’s musicality is understood and encouraged and the importance of music in young children’s lives.

The aim of this study was to explore how the Black Lives Matter movement was constructed on Instagram by American television channels the week after George Floyd was killed. The purpose was to answer the following questions; (1) What proportion of the posts were dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement during the chosen week? (2) How was George Floyd and Derek Chauvin portrayed on the media ́s Instagram? (3) What words and images were used to describe the Black Lives Matter movement? (4) What similarities and differences can be found between the channels ́ portrayals of the Black Lives Matter movement? The approach chosen was a multi-method research, thus using a both qualitative and quantitative design. Based on this method 112 Instagram posts uploaded between May 27th and June 2nd, 2020 were analyzed. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are the largest news channels in the United States and therefore chosen for this study. Our study concluded that the overall presentation of the Black Lives Matter movement was positive, in terms of the total reporting from all three channels. Observing the channels separately, CNN and MSNBC mostly portrayed it positively, while Fox News mostly negatively. According to our analysis, the reason why the posts could be perceived in this way was based on the words used and images displayed. The words death, looter, and violence provided a negative understanding of the situation. Whereas the words such as loving, solidarity and freedom created a positive appearance. Overall the study found that the proportion of reporting on Black Lives Matter was vast in comparison to other news stories on all three channels. However, one of the substantial differences between them was the portrayal of the offender Derek Chauvin and the victim George Floyd.

Black Lives Matter rörelsen engagerade människor både internationellt och nationellt under våren 2020. Företag var inte sena med att ta ställning och visa deras stöd i frågan, vilket ledde till olika typer av reaktioner bland deras konsumenter. Denna studie ämnar undersöka svenska konsumenters attityd gentemot företag som använder sig av brand activism som svar på sociala rörelser, där Black Lives Matter valts som empiriskt kontext. Studien ämnar också besvara vilka de viktigaste aspekterna bakom konsumenters attityd är. En förstudie har gjorts genom netnografi och empiri har samlats in genom en webbenkät med 260 svenska respondenter. Studiens analys och resultat tyder på att respondenternas generella inställning till brand activism är positiv i de fall då respondenterna anser att den sociala rörelsen som stöttas är viktig. Det finns dock tre dimensioner som påverkar den övergripande attityden. Dessa är autentiskt innehåll, attityd gentemot företaget och värdet i handlingar. Inom dessa dimensioner utrönas flertalet teman där företagets historia och storlek, innehållet i själva budskapet samt att det genomsyrar organisationen är de viktigaste. Vidare är även temana utbildande, genuin och handlingskraftig kommunikation inom brand activism viktiga delar att ta med sig från resultatet. / The Black Lives Matter movement engaged people both internationally and nationally in the spring of 2020. Companies were not late to join in and show their support in favour of the movement, which led to various reactions among their consumers. This study aims to examine the attitude of Swedish consumers towards companies that use brand activism as a response to social movements, where the Black Lives Matter movement serves as an empirical context. The study also intends to answer what the key aspects behind the studied consumer attitudes are. A prestudy has been done through netnography and empirical data has been collected for the main study through a web survey with 260 Swedish respondents. The study’s analysis and results indicate that the respondents’ general attitude towards the use of brand activism is positive in cases where the respondents believe that the social movement being endorsed is of importance. However, there are three dimensions that affect the overall attitude. These are authentic content, attitude towards the company and the value of actions. Within these dimensions several themes are identified, where the company’s history and size, the content of the message itself and that it permeates the organization are the most important. Furthermore, the themes of educational, genuine and actionable communication within brand activism are also important takeaways from the result.

Police brutality is a problematic feature of the American society that has caused civil unrest among the vast majority. The excessive use of force from American police forces sparked off a wave of protests during 2020 in which people called for the abolishment of unnecessary and unethical police violence against civilians. The importance of the Black Lives Matter movement has been highlighted by the authoritarian response to the protests and the inhumane treatment of ethnic minorities in the United States. But given the strong protection of the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly in the U.S. constitution, the problem seems to be intertwined with inappropriate attitudes of officials rather than written shortcomings in the law. In this thesis, I investigate how structural racism has affected the freedom of assembly in the United States, which is done through a critical review of relevant literature and documents concerning contemporary challenges for the Black Lives Matter movement. Various reports have addressed the mishandling of Black Lives Matter protests from American police forces and their arbitrarily use of the law to disperse them, e.g., by classifying predominantly peaceful demonstrations as “unlawful assemblies”. This is the kind of dishonest behaviour that I scrutinize further in this study, which is of great importance since it affects peoples’ human rights and ultimately threatens the collective well-being of the American people.  I also investigate and critically discuss the components of a sustainable understanding of the freedom of assembly, which is done through a theoretical analysis of the views of Ronald Dworkin and Jeremy Waldron. From this analysis, I learn about substantial problems that may arise from different theoretical understandings of this right and about the importance of spreading awareness of different forms of racism. Only by acknowledging the existence of racism in our societies, we can protect vulnerable groups from derogatory behaviours and together achieve social justice.