Asian American identity in the collegiate music school setting

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of three Asian American students in a collegiate music school setting. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to discuss how their families influenced their decision of pursue a career in music and how they might have experienced discrimination, both within and outside of the musical realm. Findings suggest that (a) each participant valued their family highly, but for two of the three participants, majoring in music was a discouraged endeavor, (b) the three participants all felt stereotyped by their ethnicities, most often as model minority individuals with high intelligence and strong work ethic, and (c) two of three participants felt as though the Asian American perspective was often left out of conversations of diversity and oppression. These findings highlight the presence of model minority stereotypes within a collegiate music school, a setting which little research concerning model minority stereotyping and the experiences of Asian Americans has been conducted.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.Mus.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Music Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Swift, Justin Lawrence

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sweet, Bridget
• Gallo, Donna
• Kruse, Adam

• Asian American, Stereotypes, Model Minority, Ethnic Identity, Discrimination

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2019 Justin Swift

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/104939

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/104939