Interculturalism, Interculturaldad, and Music Educa2on

Abstract

Diversity has long been an area of interest for music education. Interculturalism, with its emphasis on cultural competence, dialogue, and humility, has emerged as a popular concept for the negotiation of difference in music education. Based on an examination of the international non-governmental organization-sponsored intercultural music exchange program, Ethno World, the authors ask, “In what ways can the intercultural activities of the Ethno World program be understood in light of Global North and South experiences, and what implications might these activities hold for music education?” Deploying the postcolonial framework of coloniality and the Central-South American concept of inter-culturalidad, the authors argue that intercultural efforts in music education must be care-ful not to inadvertently deepen Global North-South divisions by treating interculturalism as a problem of knowledge, thereby overlooking or bracketing out colonial histories that benefit those in the Global North at the expense of those in the Global South.