Cultural Considerations: A List of Terms and Personal Thoughts

As I keep investigating this idea of culture and what it means to me as a music therapist in my midwestern town with my clients from all over the country, I find myself going in circles. There are so many different things to consider when you start to look at culture, that I think I may need a course in sociology to help me figure things out. Hmm. I may look into a MOOC to see if I can find such a course. I bet I could, and I could get CMTEs because this has a definite application to my work as a board-certified music therapist.

I digress.

As I am thinking and experiencing cultural awareness, I am finding that I really don't know that much about it. I mean, sure, I understand the basic concepts that our culture is shaped by many influences. I know that my experiences are not the same as others who have not had the same influences in their lives as me, but there is so much to consider outside of the idea of basic cultural influences. Here are some of the terms that I am starting to collect as part of this journey...

• cultural appropriation/misappropriation
• colonialism
• strategic anti-essentialism
• icongraphy
• cultural borrowing
• enculturation
• cultural diffusion
• xenocentrism
• syncretism
• conflation
• ethnocentrism
• cultural cringe

So many things to think about and to be aware of in this process of enriching my understanding of culture and what it means to be a human in this world of ours.

Here's what I know about me.

I am a middle-aged (shudder) woman who has caucasian features. I live in the Midwestern United States after living on both coasts for a time and after being born in Texas. I speak English as my first language, and I choose to be liberal-Presbyterian in my spiritual practices. My family (on all sides) has been in the United States for a long time - the only branch of the family that was not here before the country became a country was my father's father's side - they arrived in 1832 (as far as we can track). Everyone else was here before 1776 - some were here by choice, some were sentenced to be here...ah, family! We suspect that my great-great-grandmother was from the Cherokee nation, but we will never be able to prove that fact - it was NEVER mentioned back in that time. I have not done a genetic screening, and will probably never do such a screening, so I am not sure what my genetic code indicates. I just don't really care. I have an idea where my ancestors came from, and that's good enough for me.

I try to accept each person as a person first. I know that I have prejudices and biases and specific responses to people based on my cultural background and my experiences in this lifetime. That is unavoidable, but I acknowledge those responses and try to work through them to find the person who is there. I also know that my responses can be misinterpreted based on the experiences, attitudes, and biases of others. I never intend to go out into the world to hurt the feelings of others. I am awkward when interacting with people in situations where I am not comfortable. I am less awkward in the music therapy environment where my interactions are defined and familiar to me. 

I am a product of my culture, but I also seek to know more about other cultures. Do I do this in an attempt to become a person from that other culture? Of course not! I know that I will never assimilate completely into another culture, but I also believe that I am enriched by learning about other cultures and the people that represent those cultures to me. I have learned about people who live all over the world, and I think that my life and understanding has been enriched by my knowledge.

I have always been someone who enjoyed the concept of "the Great American Melting Pot." Wow - I bet I just offended someone with that very statement... well, you can certainly stop reading if you are offended. I like the idea that this country is a place where I can be who I am and you can be who you are and that we will find a way to be us together. I'm not sure that everyone feels this way, but I know that I do. I enjoy hearing about what someone else has experienced, what he/she thinks, and what he/she wants from life. That's one of the ways that I grow as a human being. Hearing about how others experience the world is a way to realize that my own experience is not the only one out there. I can then accept the knowledge shared by others and make what I want with it - in a way that allows for and encourages growth without full assimilation into something that is not mine.

As a music therapist, I try to use music from many different cultures. I always start with client preference - of course - and that leads me into using music that is not my preference. There are barriers to using client-preferred music once you start looking into all of these thoughts about cultural appropriation and assimilation. Can I, a caucasian middle-aged woman, really understand what a performer who is not a caucasian middle-aged woman is trying to convey? What about going farther than the performer into the situation of the composer? Can I really understand what it is like to be young and living in an urban setting in 2019? I am not familiar with those experiences. They are not my own, but they may be the experiences of my clients. Does my lack of experience dictate that I am not able to listen to or use this music in a therapeutic setting? I think not, but others would argue that I shouldn't. For me, the acknowledgement that this is not my experience is a starting point for learning and growing to appreciate the cultural aspects that my clients bring to our mutual music therapy interactions. I may be the expert in using music to affect specific therapeutic goals, but I am not the expert in what music my client will respond to best - the client is. Right? 

Am I just spinning my wheels in the cultural quagmire? Yep. Welcome to my brain. Once the wheels start to spin, I know that it is a good time to walk away from the computer and think some more. Thanks for hanging in here.