Campus Talk: Racialized Aesthetics in Music by Dr. Chris Jenkins

“I propose that aesthetics, a philosophy of the beautiful, is a useful framework to examine the racialization of music education…Because tastemakers and gatekeepers of the dominant group set standards that subordinate or exclude other aesthetics, members of other groups can either retain their aesthetic standards and risk exclusion, or assimilate. To varying degrees, many choose to alternate between the two. They express the aesthetic reflective of their home culture in their personal life, and adhere to the dominant aesthetic in the professional sphere and in mainstream social situations.” (Jenkins, 2024, pp. 16 - 18)