Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Musics in the Curriculum: Political, Educational, and Cultural Perspectives

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Musics in the Curriculum: Political, Educational, and Cultural Perspectives Peter Dunbar-Hall University of Sydney, Australia In a recent series ofarticles, Andrea Boyea1 investigates pedagogic implications of the inclusion of Native American musics in the curriculum. In her analysis of the situation, she deconstructs problems which arise in this undertaking-notonlymusical andpedagogicones, but issues of aesthetics and ways in which "Western views about music are not necessarily shared by native peoples for whom musics have been inseparable from cultures."2 While not wishing to imply a nativist stance in which all indigenous peoples are grouped together as an object of investigation or are imbued with the same problems and status, many of the issues raised by Boyea in relation to Native American musics inAmericanmusic education also applyto attempts to include the musics of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI)3 peoples in Australian music education. In concert with Boyea's research, investigation of these issues from an Australian perspective may offer directions in which music education can move in its incorporation of the musics of indigenous peoples in colonized countries into school-based music curriculums. In Australia, these issues have a number of sources. Among them, recent expectations that ATSI cultures and histories would become core topics of all Australian schooling, but a contradictory situation in pre-service music education training by which few music educators have backgrounds in either the music or the philosophical or pedagogic methods to teach it, results in ambiguityoverhow ATSImusics canbe included in the music curriculum. This is compounded by the political implications ofthe study ofATSI materials. To some, teaching ATSI cultures is an act of reconciliation between indigenousandnon-indigenousAustralians, away ofredressing past treatment ofATSI peoples and their present condition. To others, the political implications of the situation are reasons for not teaching this music and a similar "deep ambivalence with historical and cultural roots," which Boyea4 notes as affecting the teaching of Native American musics, permeates attempts to teachATSImusics inAustralian schools. Aspects of cultural diffusion, stereotyping of ATSI peoples by reference to specific types of music, and confusion over the reasons for teaching ATSI musics, all contribute to a problematic situation with little chance of immediate resolution. This siteofcurriculumperplexityisanalyzedherefrom threeperspectivestoillustratethepressureswhich affect music educators' attempts to fulfill the various expectations of the Australian school music curriculum. These are the Australian political context and its influence onthe inclusion of ATSI topics in Australian education; implications of the ways ATSI musics are represented in music syllabi in different parts of Australia; and cultural implications of the pedagogic methods through which ATSI musics are taught. The Australian Political Context New syllabi issued in 1994 for secondary school music in New South Wales (NSW) introduced significant changes to the content, delivery, and assessment of music education in that state.5 Among these was the mandating ofan Australian focus in the choice ofmusic for study and within this subject area the listing of©Philosophy ofMusic Education Review 10, no 1 (Spring 2002):18-26. Peter Dunbar-Hall 19 "traditional and contemporary music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples" as a suggested application ofit.6 In 1998 a new K-6 Creative Arts support document for primary (elementary) education in the same state echoed this innovation with a substantial 'Aboriginal Perspectives' statement. According to this statement, primary school children are to learn about "the uniqueness of Aboriginal arts, history and culture . . . and the significance ofAboriginal arts in contributing to ideas of Australia and Australian identities."7 The appearance of ATSI musics and cultures in NSW syllabi occurred during a period ofintense activityin access to, informationabout, and teaching ofAustralian indigenous cultures. It followed a decade of national attention to the studyofindigenousAustralians inthedistribution of documents covering resources and teaching methods for this topic. During this time in various parts ofAustralia studyofindigenous Australians also entered non-music syllabi in two ways: inthe introduction ofsyllabi for a new topic in schools, Aboriginal Studies, andthroughindigenoustopics appearing in syllabi forAustralian Studies.8 This period was one of debate over the position of indigenous peoples in the Australian polity, of significant federal enactment of policies concerning indigenous rights, and of pro-active attemptsatreconciliationbetweenallAustralians, indigenous and non-indigenous alike. From an...