Nation and gender in higher classical music education: Intersectional perspectives

Project leader:

Ann Werner

Funder:

Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies

Type of award:

Grant for positions or stipends

Total funding:

155,000 SEK

This book tackles ideas and norms on nation and gender in higher classical music education today. It is the first book aiming to answer the core question of how nation and gender is shaped in higher classical music education in the borderlands of Western and Eastern Europe. The book argues that European classical music heritage is highly nationalised and gendered in a culture of (former) empires and male geniuses. The tensions around nation and gender are investigated thematically in the book through a theoretically informed timely question. It builds on unique empirical research, where the authors have conducted a study with interviews, participant observation and policy analysis. Further, it draws on scholarly discussion on nation and gender and the changing discourses and practices of higher music education, when discussing the empirical material from The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Estonia), The Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland) and The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (Hungary). The book tells a story about how nation and gender is shaped in the borderlands of Europe. The classical music tradition here is expressed through ideas and experiences of East and West, and shaped in higher classical music education institutions today, in times of nationalism, neoliberalism, anti-gender movements, war, and other political tensions. The book is aimed at students and researchers in the fields of Music Education, Gender Studies, Musicology.