A Comparative Review of Music Education in Mainland China and the United States: From Nationalism to Multiculturalism

Authors

  • Wai-Chung Ho Hong Kong Baptist University

Keywords:

comparative education

Abstract

This paper will attempt to compare interactions between social changes and the integration of nationalism and multiculturalism in the context of music education, by focusing on the ways in which the governmental politics of Mainland China and the United States have managed nationalism and diversity in school music. It explores the ways in which music education, in response to different socio-political contexts, relates to the teaching of both musical and non-musical meanings in the dual context of nationalism and multiculturalism, and discusses some of the challenges facing music education in music classrooms today in these two nations. It argues that the interplay of tensions in the current wave of nationalism and multiculturalism seen in both Mainland China and the United States show the enduring nature of state ideologies in a dynamic, contentious process of social construction.

Author Biography

  • Wai-Chung Ho, Hong Kong Baptist University
    Wai-Chung Ho completed her Doctor of Philosophy in music education at the Institute of Education, University of London, in 1996. She is a professor in the Department of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her substantive research interests are the sociology of music, music education curricula, parental involvement and music learning, popular music and music education, and the comparative study of East Asian music education.

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Published

2016-06-29

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 2 (2016)

Section

General Refereed Papers

License

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