Education Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2018
Journal
International Journal of Music Education
Volume
36
Issue
1
First Page
47
Last Page
57
URL with Digital Object Identifier
https://doi.org/10.1177/0255761417703783
Abstract
In this article I explore the relationships between identities and musicking in Grenada, West Indies, taking into account the understandings of community and nationhood that foreground and inform identity discourse in the Grenadian context. Through the dual lenses of music education and ethnomusicology, I analyze musicking and music education initiatives intended to “rescue” Grenadian identity and Grenadian values as articulated by an older generation of Grenadians and by governmental agencies. I argue that musicking in Grenada is intertwined with identity in complex ways, and that there is a perceived lack of transmission of folk musicking practices whose consequences extend well beyond losing musical traditions. This article illuminates conflicts of identity, the deep sense of loss of “who we are” that has occurred in Grenadian society in recent times, and controversies of music transmission.
